Update
Caught a thread of reflection today riding the subway. I looked up and everyone was looking down at their phones. I looked down and I saw AI content everywhere.
Observation
When I first arrived in Korea 10 years ago, smartphones were common, but not yet everywhere. On the subway, maybe one in five were scrolling. Most stared ahead, or nodded off, or glanced back at you.
Now, it’s hard to find a single rider without their head tilted forward. The change came slowly and then all at once. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind it. I like to be in my own bubble when commuting. Just one day, we all looked up and realized everyone was looking down.
That’s how I feel about AI-generated content now.
Fully AI generated reels, shorts and TikToks are now commonplace: AI voice, AI captions, AI script and AI influencer. Twitter accounts posting manufactured insights that feel like déjà vu. AI-generated replies, blog posts, playlists. A blanket of content with no fingerprints. Though, it’s not AI that’s the problem. It’s the way we’ve given it the wheel and walked away.
A lot of it is coming from solo devs and startups. Builders like me who see AI content as leverage, an opportunity. But instead of pairing with the tool, we’ve let it churn unattended. Headless automation at scale. SEO blogs with no author. Bots replying for growth. Feeds made of filler. It's not malicious. It’s just... lazy.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen it. This force transcends technology. It happened with spam mail then email. Now it’s AI slop.
That’s why I find MidJourney’s technology choices so interesting. They chose not to release an API. No mass scheduling, no automated prompting. Every image you see was typed out by someone, in real time. There’s friction. And that friction - intentional - preserves quality. There’s taste, not just output.
Black Forest Labs (creators of the Flux AI image model) posted a blog fairly recently and the image they used stuck with me. It was a darkroom. Red ambient light, an array of tools spread out on the table. Developer fluid. Hands shaping exposure. That’s what good AI work feels like to me. Like photography in its early days, misunderstood, mechanical, almost too easy. But actually full of choices.
Photography let us upload the visual world. AI is different. It doesn't just capture, it composes. It suggests what could be based on what has been. It’s not light it plays with, it’s inference. Meaning. Possibility.
Capsule Note
Spam is a force of nature and it’s coming with us.
Signing off, message set for future delivery.
–David