From Boring 2 Bingeable: Building Curated Content Experiences and AI and the Limits of Language

From Boring 2 Bingeable: Building Curated Content Experiences and AI and the Limits of Language

Unveiling the Challenges of Curated Content Experiences and AI's Limited Understanding

Introduction:
In today's digital landscape, where content is constantly being produced and consumed, businesses face the challenge of creating engaging and valuable experiences for their audience. The traditional playbook of creating more and more content has proven to be flawed, as it leads to a decrease in quality and engagement. Additionally, the rise of gated content in the past decade has made curation more valuable than creation. On the other hand, artificial intelligence (AI) systems, although impressive, are limited by the nature of language itself. In this article, we will explore the common points between building curated content experiences and the limits of AI's understanding of language, shedding light on the challenges and offering actionable advice.

The Flawed Playbook of Content Creation:
As businesses strive to reach their audience through owned channels, the law of diminishing returns inevitably comes into play. The strategy of producing more content to maintain results leads to a hamster wheel of average content creation. Quality suffers, and the audience becomes less engaged. This flaw in the playbook highlights the need for a proper balance between content creation and curation. By curating content that adds value and removes friction from the audience's experience, businesses can transform their strategy from boring to bingeable.

The Value of Curation:
Gated content rose in popularity when consumers were not accustomed to curated experiences. However, as the audience evolved, the value of curation became more apparent. The act of curating content for the audience, whether by recycling existing content or sharing relevant content, can create brand rabbit holes that keep the audience engaged and immersed in the experience. By meeting the audience where they are and providing them with a curated journey, businesses can enhance their content strategy and foster a binge-worthy experience.

The Limits of AI's Understanding:
While AI systems have become increasingly smart, there is a growing realization of their limitations in understanding language. The problem does not lie in the AI itself but rather in the limited nature of language. Language, in its various forms, is a specific type of knowledge representation that excels at expressing discrete objects and properties. However, it falls short when it comes to conveying nuanced patterns of information and context-sensitive understanding. AI systems, such as language learning models (LLMs), rely on context to discern patterns and make plausible predictions. However, their understanding of language remains shallow compared to the full-bodied thinking seen in humans.

Overcoming the Limitations:
To overcome the limitations of AI's understanding of language, it is crucial to recognize the importance of nonlinguistic knowledge representation. Iconic knowledge, such as images, recordings, graphs, and maps, can express information in accessible ways. Additionally, trained neural networks possess distributed knowledge, also known as know-how and muscle memory, which allows them to grasp context-sensitive patterns. By leveraging these nonlinguistic representational schemes, businesses can enhance the capabilities of AI systems and bridge the gap between language and practical usage.

Actionable Advice:

1. Find the Balance: Instead of solely focusing on content creation, allocate time and resources to curating valuable content for your audience. Create brand rabbit holes that keep them engaged and immersed in your curated experiences.

2. Embrace Nonlinguistic Representation: Explore the use of images, recordings, graphs, and maps to convey information in a more accessible and engaging way. Leverage the power of trained neural networks to enhance context-sensitive understanding.

3. Prioritize Background Knowledge: Recognize that comprehension goes beyond the surface-level understanding of language. Invest in building the background knowledge of your audience to facilitate deeper comprehension and engagement with your content.

Conclusion:
Building curated content experiences and understanding the limits of AI's language comprehension are two interconnected challenges in the digital landscape. By finding the right balance between content creation and curation, businesses can create binge-worthy experiences for their audience. Moreover, by embracing nonlinguistic representation and prioritizing background knowledge, they can enhance the capabilities of AI systems and bridge the gap between language and practical usage. In a world where content is abundant, the key to success lies in providing value and removing friction from the audience's journey.