There are 70,000 songs uploaded to Spotify every day. Standing out requires more than talent; it requires constant, exhausting marketing.

Lena thought about Echo. She thought about the algorithm that had seen a pattern in 200 million lonely people—people who paused romantic dramas at the exact moment a character said, “You don’t have to be strong all the time.” People who rewatched scenes of two enemies sitting in silence on a park bench. People who, late at night, searched for “funny animal videos” but watched the ones where the animal was clearly sad.

AI-generated videos where a person’s face and voice are replaced with another’s. While used for harmless memes and dubbing foreign films, deepfakes are also a major concern for misinformation and non-consensual pornography. Media literacy is becoming an essential skill for consumers.

Video games, esports, and augmented or virtual reality experiences.

Every platform claims to offer personalization. But algorithms optimize for what you will watch next (engagement), not what is good for you (enrichment, surprise, diversity).