The Surveillance Generation

Feb 11, 2025

The conversation dives into the emerging creator economy, highlighting how AI-driven agents are reshaping commerce and attention. Phillip and Brian explore the instincts of Generation Alpha towards algorithmic curation and the market challenges faced by creators like Mr. Beast. They discuss how commerce is evolving into a connective tissue for digital interactions, while emphasizing that today's youth are the 'surveillance generation.' As AI becomes more prevalent, its implications for consumer behavior and the future of automated agents in the market are thoroughly examined.

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ANECDOTE

Mr. Beast's Feastables

Phillip and Brian discuss Mr. Beast's Feastables chocolate bars gathering dust at Target.
They question the long-term viability of creator-led trends like Mr. Beast's ventures.

INSIGHT

Agentic Attention Economy

The hosts discuss the future of the creator economy and its overlap with the attention economy.
They ponder the role of AI-driven agents in shaping consumer attention and purchasing decisions.

INSIGHT

Gen Alpha and Attention Management

Gen Alpha instinctively curates their algorithms by giving negative attention signals to disliked content.
This generation understands attention management and its impact on their digital experience.

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Phillip and Brian look into tomorrow’s creator economy, shaped by the role of AI-driven agents in commerce and attention as currency. While rising generations invisibly develop instincts for algorithmic curation, Mr. Beast’s Feastables collect dust in your local Walgreens. PLUS: We bring you along to our NRF panel discussion alongside our friends from BigCommerce.

Velocity Over Volume

Key takeaways:

Mr. Beast on Colin and Samir: His too many failed sidequests reveal a bigger picture about the viability of creator-led trends in the long term.
The future of creator-driven consumer trends is agent-driven.
Gen Alpha is a surveillance generation, and attention as currency is instinctual.
Commerce is not just a transaction layer but an infrastructure that connects different facets of the digital world, and is the backbone for emerging tech trends.
[00:07:40] “If the future of the attention economy is agentic…Do creators have some role to play in agent attention?” – Phillip
[00:08:35] “The creator economy is a form of patronage.” – Phillip
[00:11:35] “Gen Alpha is a surveillance generation…my children know instinctively that they’re constantly being surveilled. They give negative attention signals to things they don’t like.” – Phillip
[00:21:10] “There’s going to continue to be bots in the world, and we are going to hate them.” – Brian
[00:18:00] “The problem with running AI as effectively an API with a brain of its own is that it becomes completely impossible to diagnose when things go wrong. And that’s going to drive people crazy.” – Brian
[00:22:00] “There's going to be entire categories that emerge just for creators to try to find alpha and arbitrage in the system.” – Phillip

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