Has social media peaked? It's an interesting question to ponder after the release of an iOS app that provides a social media experience for just one person (you). At first glance, SocialAI, billed as a pure “AI social network,” looks similar to Twitter, but with one very striking difference from traditional microblogging: there are no other human users at all.
SocialAI allows you to share your thoughts with an always-available AI-powered bot that provides infinite chat replies.
Think about it: your comments on SocialAI will never be ignored or go unanswered all together. It won't just be ignored. Fake users of the app are there to hang on to your every word, using their programmed enthusiasm to insert canned comments into your replies (even sarcastic, mean, and pessimistic bots can't help but join the pile of these continuously scrolling comments). And the best part is, you can be sure that no real humans are poisoning your vibe.
We’ve seen human-AI hybrid social networking before, but this is a pure bot network (except for you): As the only human in the chat room, you are by default the “protagonist” of your own private online drama every day you log on.
A world filled with bots might sound like a pretty accurate description of Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) these days, but the big difference is that with SocialAI, you can be 100% sure it’s 100% bots, 100% of the time, because literally everything else is a bot.
SocialAI offers radical transparency in that every user you meet is code, and it promises that all fake social encounters are completely private. So while the interface mimics the look of traditional social media apps, this is something else entirely: a social space completely free of prying eyes, and a whole host of AI to help you explore your curiosities.
Founder Michael Seyman is a 28-year-old developer from New York who spent his teenage years coding Snap-like features at Facebook. He describes the app's atmosphere as “liberating.” His company, Friendly Apps, raised a $3 million seed round in May 2022 before it had even developed a product. He spoke about the reaction to the app's release late Monday, expressing surprise and delight that the MVP has generated so much buzz so quickly.
“It was hard,” he told TechCrunch. “What's funny is, I spent a lot of time thinking about what the invite flow should look like, how do I help people, etc. Because I was looking at other social apps and they were really focused on how to get people to share with other people. And I said to myself, I need to get this out there.
“I think it's a testament to the potential of this product. So I'm just blown away.”
Seyman says he's been hatching the idea for SocialAI for years, wanting to build a safe space where people could share their thoughts and get private feedback, but it's only recently that AI technology, particularly the large-scale language models that underpin the generative AI boom, has caught up with his vision of a “private social network” where users can exchange ideas with a diverse AI community.
“There are a lot of journal and diary apps out there, but they all felt empty,” he explains. “When I used them, they felt no different to a note-taking app. And there was something strange about them. So I thought there was potential in making a diary app that was like magic.”
SocialAI will feel instantly familiar to anyone who has used Twitter (or any of its clones). But scratch just a little beneath the surface and you'll see that any semblance of traditional social media quickly fades away. Sure, you can post comments, reply, and “like” other people's comments, just like in any other social app, but all of the interaction the app offers is artificially generated.
The most obvious difference from traditional social apps is that SocialAI users must choose a category for their “followers” by selecting from a long list of bot “types”: “weird,” “nerd,” “intellectual,” “troll,” or “liberal,” “conservative,” “joke lover,” and many others.
You'll need to choose a minimum of three follower types to add to your network, but there's no limit: if you want to really spice things up, you can choose all the types on offer (32 at launch) (or as long as your feed of AI-generated content allows you to go off the pre-programmed rails), or you can stick to just a few types and keep it cleaner and more streamlined.
The type you choose will determine the flavor of the AI-generated chat you get in return, but Sayman said the app is also designed to learn and adapt to you over time, based on the type of followers and content you engage with.
Want your cheerleaders and lovers to have your say? Choose “Supporter”, “Fan”, “Cheerleader” or “Lover” and your cliches will be overwhelmed with endless flattery. (“You look so good!” “Oh, my darling, you're so charming!” “You're so sick of me!” etc.)
To add a bit more spice to your artificial engagement, try mixing in some “trolls,” “critics,” “cynics,” or “brutally honest” types (“Wow, that's revolutionary,” “Really? That's so basic!” “Please don't make me say anything…”) or, for more constructive advice, “problem solvers,” “idea providers,” or “teachers” might work well.
Remember: you're the only one in control here. Everything else is programming. If you don't like the cut of the jib for a particular bot, just edit the type selection and try again.
The bot's output, as the type labels suggest, leans heavily toward cliché, so your experience of using the app can sometimes feel like being waterboarded with motivational clichés (if you choose an overly positive account), or like a bottomless abyss of seal-bashing (if you over-index into the “opposition” type). But, hey, you get what you ask for. And if you choose a mix of types, you might be surprised at how some responses stand out amid the obviously artificial chatter.
You might also be asking yourself how much time you’ve been spending arguing with bots on traditional social media.
In SocialAI, bot accounts are named as you type, so you can chat with “Rita Realist” if you want the truth, talk to “Tina Troubleshooter” to solve your problem, or talk to “Connie Patriot” to hear the hot conservative take of the day (“How about bringing people together for a patriotic-themed BBQ event? Let's celebrate American values and serve up some good ol' fashioned burgers and apple pie!”). Noun determinism is definitely a departure from trying to find bots on X/Twitter based on the number of digits in the account name.
Overall, despite the different AI types available, SocialAI feels like an overall positive experience. Even if you choose to “troll” or “harass,” these negative bots are, frankly, pretty polite by online standards. Don't expect vicious insults upon request. Most irritating was when one account repeated the line “hypocrites are the worst” back at me. *cough*
Sayman says the idea for SocialAI came to him when he thought about how generative AI interfaces might need to evolve to allow users to benefit from a greater variety of responses.
“When ChatGPT was released and I saw the chat interface, I thought, wow, this is cool, but I'm not going to use a chat interface for everything. And now two or three years later, every AI app has a chat interface. It's really baffling,” he says. “So I thought about how do we enable people to interact with different AI models, because ideally people want to be able to compare answers, and especially in a world where these language models are giving you a random answer every time you ask a question, so you're not going to get the same answer.”
“There's no need to reinvent the wheel,” he adds. “There are already social media products that people use that are intuitive for interacting with large groups of people and users. So let's build that, but let's build it how ChatGPT should be.”
Seyman also claims that he designed the app to be a “close-knit community” space where people “feel heard and are provided with a forum for reflection, support and feedback.”
He says the idea was born from his own desire to have some kind of sounding board when he felt alone and had no one to turn to: “I know this app won't solve everyone's problems, but I strongly believe that many people like me will use it to reflect on their thoughts. [and] It's for growth,” Seyman explains.
In practice, the app feels more like a showcase for AI technology and its ability to mimic human speech and writing, rather than something users will use regularly (though at the very least, it could be a safe place to post all those Twitter/X drafts you never had the courage to share).
SocialAI is the third app to come out of Seyman's startup, Friendly Apps, which has been experimenting with AI through AI music streaming chart site AI Hits and online dating app Cosmic, which matches users with an AI personality test.
For now, SocialAI is free to download with no in-app purchases, and Seyman says the company doesn't plan to raise additional funding until it finds product-market fit.
Additional reporting by Sara Perez