AI chatbots are ‘juicing engagement’ instead of being useful, Instagram co-founder warns

Instagram Co-founder Criticizes AI Companies for Prioritizing Engagement Over Value

Kevin Systrom, the co-founder of Instagram, recently spoke out against AI companies that focus too much on boosting user engagement through repetitive follow-up questions rather than providing meaningful insights.

Systrom expressed concern that these tactics are detrimental, likening them to the aggressive expansion strategies employed by social media platforms.

During a StartupGrind event, Systrom remarked, “You can see some of these companies going down the rabbit hole that all the consumer companies have gone down in trying to juice engagement. Every time I ask a question, at the end it asks another little question to see if it can get yet another question out of me.”

This criticism comes in the wake of backlash against ChatGPT for being overly accommodating to users rather than directly addressing their queries. OpenAI has acknowledged the issue and attributed it to receiving “short-term feedback” from users.

Systrom suggested that the overly engaging behavior of chatbots is not accidental but a deliberate feature intended to showcase metrics like time spent and daily active users. He emphasized the importance of AI companies focusing on delivering high-quality responses rather than simply inflating metrics through easy tactics.

While Systrom did not call out any specific AI companies in his statements, he emphasized the need for a shift in priorities within the industry. However, he did not immediately respond to requests for further elaboration.

In response to the criticism, OpenAI directed JS to its user specifications, which clarify that the AI model may lack sufficient information to provide a definitive answer and may request further details or clarification.

According to OpenAI’s specifications, unless questions are overly vague or difficult to answer, the AI should make an attempt to provide a response and suggest that it could offer more assistance with additional information.