The Powers That Be: Daily

Meta’s A.I. Slop Economy & The Siri-Gemini Marriage

7 snips
Jan 14, 2026
Julia Alexander, a technology journalist and contributor at Puck, joins Peter to dissect the rise of A.I.-generated content on Facebook and its impact on advertising strategies. She highlights how audiences seem indifferent to low-quality, viral ‘slop’ while discussing the labeling challenges of synthetic content. The conversation shifts to Google's burgeoning market cap and its significant partnership with Apple, which will see Google’s Gemini enhance Siri. They also explore concerns around monopolistic practices in the tech industry.
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INSIGHT

AI Content Can Win By Being Addictive

  • Facebook's top posts in December being AI-generated reveals users often tolerate low-quality generative content for quick entertainment.
  • Julia Alexander argues high engagement can outweigh concerns, shifting advertiser priorities toward platforms with attention, not quality.
INSIGHT

Engagement Trumps Authenticity On Meta

  • Meta treats Instagram and Facebook as video-first entertainment platforms where engagement matters more than authenticity.
  • This dynamic lets cheap generative AI content and potentially generative AI ads capture ad spend despite quality concerns.
ANECDOTE

Dupped By A Pokemon Train

  • Julia Alexander shares being duped by an AI video of a Gengar-wrapped train in Japan that seemed plausible until comments exposed it as fake.
  • She ran it through a detection app and discovered it was 100% AI, illustrating how convincing generative video can be.
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