Well then, back to being grim again or else people will think I’m a bot lol.
It's really that bad. At least half to ¾ of all political speech on the internet is AI (or generative software) generated.
This forum doesn't see a lot of that because of the nature of the forum....but what has been termed "useful idiots" bring in this information and repeat it.
But chances are if you are having a politically engaged conversation with someone on Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, and etc and the other person is being polite instead of snarky....it's an AI.
All those "friend requests" or followers whom you don't know are usually "bots" of some form looking to track you and keep your posts focused in ways you can't even imagine.
Let me explain it this way.
A year's worth of sermons by a good persuasive pastor does not equal 20 minutes with your friends as far as influencing your behavior and thinking. Now if these "friends" are people you think you know on-line....
And these people are really AIs used to influence your opinions and perceptions....they control the questions you ponder even though you believe you generated the questions yourself.
That's the insidious nature of predictive algorithms.