AI as Entertainment (arxiv.org)

Recent discussions surrounding generative AI are taking a turn as experts argue that its application in entertainment is rapidly gaining traction, particularly among younger audiences. While the traditional narrative emphasizes AI's role in enhancing productivity and supporting cognitive tasks, a new analysis suggests that the entertainment sector could become a primary business model for major AI corporations. This shift implies significant implications for the infrastructure and technology developed by these companies, highlighting the importance of AI-generated content as a potential revenue source that warrants deeper exploration. The report criticizes the existing evaluation methods for AI, which predominantly focus on minimizing cultural harms. It advocates for a new framework dubbed "thick entertainment," which would assess AI-generated cultural outputs through lenses of meaning-making, identity formation, and social connection, rather than solely aiming to limit negative impacts. This perspective encourages a more nuanced understanding of how AI can enrich human experience beyond mere productivity, suggesting that over time, AI's influence may parallel the social connectivity seen in social media platforms.