Mark Zuckerberg’s work is not about making the world a better place. Nor is it about connecting us with our loved ones or rekindling old friendships. Rather, Zuckerberg’s singular focus is to keep us glued to our screens.
This has been the mission with Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp for 20 years. It was never really about allowing us to share photos, comments, and experiences with our contacts; instead, it has always been about keeping us hooked at any cost. When basic connectivity stopped being sufficient, we saw the introduction of the News Feed on Facebook. As that began to fade in effectiveness, the platform rolled out Stories, Reels, and an incessant stream of short videos, leading us down the rabbit hole of doomscrolling .
All of these strategies proved successful, making Zuckerberg and his empire some of the biggest winners in the internet landscape and amassing massive revenues through advertising. However, Zuckerberg has recently recognized that social networks face their greatest existential threat ever: AI .
Artificial intelligence is doing what no other application or platform has managed in recent years: it’s stealing users away from Facebook and Instagram, as well as TikTok and YouTube. Every moment a user spends on ChatGPT asking questions—or increasingly conversing—represents a moment they’re not scrolling through social media.
This is a serious concern for tech giants like Google, ByteDance, and Twitter, for they now risk losing the economy of attention to AI. There are millions of users turning to bots for companionship, support, or even as virtual friends—those loyal and perfect companions that meet personal needs more effectively than social networks. Users are veering towards platforms like ChatGPT or Replika instead of scrolling through social feeds.
The Race for the Attention Economy
Big Tech companies have taken notice. They understand that the economy of attention is slipping away, so they are scrambling to reclaim it. This has prompted massive investments in developing their own AI models and infrastructures that enable continuous interaction with machines.
If users aren’t engaging as much with Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, or YouTube, that’s no problem for tech giants. They’re ready with their proprietary AIs, such as Grok, Doubao, or Gemini, which all seek to entice users to communicate with them instead of opting for services like ChatGPT. If social networks no longer suffice, they assure users that interaction with them can meet their conversational needs.
Zuckerberg epitomizes this obsessive drive for AI. Following the setback —at least for now—of his metaverse project, he has doubled down on creating an ecosystem teeming with “AI Slop” across his platforms. Additionally, recognizing that his original open model didn’t stick, he has assembled a new, elite task force focused on achieving dominance in the AI race . Notably, this race is not just about the technology, but more profoundly about capturing our attention .
This phenomenon is mirrored in Elon Musk’s efforts with Xai and its Grok bot, which has found a foothold within the Twitter platform, albeit not in the official AI capacity. Similarly, Google’s Gemini has the clear advantage of being the default AI across billions of Android devices. Even Microsoft seeks to leverage the same dynamics with its Co-Pilot feature.
Such AIs undoubtedly provide us with numerous benefits and utilities, yet Big Tech understands that beneath these advantages lies an even more critical objective: whoever conquers the AI race will control the economy of attention . The company emerging victorious will effectively have its AI intricately intertwined with our digital lives, monopolizing our time and focus.
In conclusion, the quest for engagement is transforming the technological landscape, with companies racing to dominate user attention through innovative AI solutions. As interactivity evolves and our online habits shift, one thing is sure: the future of social networking will hinge significantly on who can best capture and retain our fleeting attention.