Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth.

Today on Breakpoint, speaker and author Abdou Murray warns against using technology to escape reality.

Right now, Rita Realist is telling a young lady named Annabelle that the poem Annabelle posted online is groundbreaking.

So is Connie Patriot and several

hundred thousand others. Though they're all cheering the same poem, none of them really mean it. In fact,

they are incapable of meaning it. This is social AI, an app that looks like X, but isn't. You

post and millions of followers reply instantly. You literally build your

follower base by picking from a menu that can include supporters, critics, trolls, conservatives,

or liberals, and your feed fills with bots calibrated to your specifications. Social

AI's founder promotes it as liberating because users can't be canceled by their followers.

And that's because no actual person is reacting. This is far different than fake bot accounts

on X that either puff up follower accounts or troll someone without their knowledge. With social

AI, in a sea of millions of engaged followers, there's only one human, you, and you know it.

Saying something, especially something true but unpopular, in public takes courage to risk

being misread, ridden off, or socially ruined. Social AI removes those risks and thus

the courage. In fairness, there could be a legitimate use for social

AI. Floating a controversial stance past invented critics before posting to truly social media

might sharpen one's point or heightened impact. But social AI is not marketed as a risk

rehearsal tool, but a risk-removed world. This is part of a growing escapist trend.

Venture capitalist Mark Andresen claims that some of us have reality privilege. We live in a

world, rich, even overflowing with glorious substance and many fascinating people to talk to.

Most others aren't so privileged living in bleak or challenging circumstances.

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