Ruby Thelot Says 25% of 1,000 Viral Dating Videos Were Negative as AI Hype Warps Trend Metrics
Updated
Updated · WIRED · Aug 12
Ruby Thelot Says 25% of 1,000 Viral Dating Videos Were Negative as AI Hype Warps Trend Metrics
1 articles · Updated · WIRED · Aug 12
Summary
WIRED’s interview with NYU researcher Ruby Thelot argues virality is no longer a reliable gauge of cultural relevance because platforms now optimize content for views rather than lasting value.
Goodhart’s law helps explain that shift, he said: once virality became the target, creators learned to engineer attention that may never translate into mainstream adoption.
About 25% of roughly 1,000 Instagram and TikTok dating videos with more than 1 million views were negative, Thelot said, suggesting the “dating burnout” narrative is overstated.
Prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket look less like pure finance than participatory culture, he said, with betting serving as a way for young users to feel closer to media and each other.
On AI, Thelot rejected doomsday claims, arguing society’s bottlenecks are coordination and values—not intelligence alone—and warning that quantifying intelligence can sideline emotional, artistic and bodily forms of human capability.