AI-Driven Algorithm Increases Screen Time Of Facebook, Instagram Users

Meta has revealed that the screen time of its Facebook and Instagram users has significantly increased ever since a new AI-driven algorithm was introduced, as per an Independent report. The improvement to the tech giant's AI system has led to an eight per cent increase in the amount of time spent on Facebook and a six per cent increase on Instagram by users, the latest quarterly results published on Wednesday (Oct 30) highlighted. Although the report did not specify how much extra time the average user was spending on the two social media platforms, a Statista report suggests that users in India were spending just under 20 hours per month on Facebook and over 13 hours on Instagram between 2019 and 2021.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is betting heavily on the technology and has hinted at pushing a new feed that will serve exclusively AI-generated content.

"I think we're going to add a whole new category of content which is AI-generated or AI-summarised content, or existing content pulled together by AI in some way," Zuckerberg said during an earning call.

While some tech titans are wary of the impact of AI, Zuckerberg has gone all-in on the technology. During a Congress hearing, Zuckerberg urged the US government to "engage with AI to support innovation".

"This is an emerging technology, there are important equities to balance here, and the government is ultimately responsible for that," said Zuckerberg, adding that it was "better that the standard is set by American companies that can work with our government to shape these models on important issues".

Notably, Meta was not among the signatories of a new AI Pact, which saw over 100 companies pledge to "drive trustworthy and safe AI development".

Also read | Why Is Instagram Deliberately Lowering Quality of Some Videos?

Instagram lowering quality of videos

While Meta moves towards building an AI feed, Instagram head, Adam Mosseri recently disclosed that the platform was lowering the quality of less popular videos, leading to severe backlash from the users.

"In general, we want to show the highest-quality video we can. But if something isn't watched for a long time - because the vast majority of views are in the beginning - we will move to a lower-quality video. And then if it's watched again a lot then we'll re-render the higher quality video," said Mosseri.

Both Instagram and Facebook started as photo-sharing platforms, but they have quickly transformed into TikTok-style short video apps, incentivising reels to drive user engagement and revenue.