Getting ‘roasted’ online is a time-honored trend that sees your photos or social media profiles scorched by a clever put-down or three. It’s often self-inflicted by requests from thick-skinned fans who ask particularly talented roasters to target them. Now, there’s a new roaster on the scene, flambeing hundreds of thousands of Instagram users: ChatGPT. The “Ask ChatGPT to Roast Your Feed in One Paragraph” trend is exactly what the label says. People are asking the AI chatbot to look at their Instagram page and mock them in often very specific and mean ways.
It’s simple enough to participate. You need an Instagram page and the ChatGPT app. It doesn’t work on the web portal for some reason. Take a screenshot of your Instagram page and submit it to ChatGPT with the prompt: “Roast my Instagram feed in one paragraph.” Then, try not to cry too much. As an example, the screenshot below of the TechRadar Instagram led to the following roast from ChatGPT:
“Your Instagram feed looks like it was curated by a tech reviewer who’s been trapped in a gadget expo for too long—complete with enough smartphone close-ups to make your screen shatter out of boredom. From AI tricks on the latest Galaxy to what feels like the 1,000th shot of a Google Pixel, it’s like a never-ending loop of “Look what’s in my hand today!” Even your “what to watch this weekend” posts seem like they’re just taking a break between unboxings. If “one more shiny new thing” was a feed, this would be it.”
AI Trend Setter
It’s the kind of simple and easy trend that gets a lot of shares on Instagram Stories, so it’s easy to see why it took off. And while it may not be the first time AI tools have assisted trends and fads on social media, it stands out for being about text. Usually, AI-based trends rely on image filters or generated photos of users in different environments or with a shared look or style. The ChatGPT roasting challenge relies entirely on the chatbot’s ability to analyze images and come up with humorous ways to make fun of the images. It’s also a notable achievement in walking the line where it can be funny without (so far as is known) crossing the line into wildly inappropriate commentary. The guardrails set up by OpenAI seem to be working in this case.
As for the (non-AI) originator of the trend, they remain anonymous. It appears to have begun with a German account dedicated to books, but the creator has not revealed who they are behind the account. While it may not seem a big deal, this trend may represent a major shift in how we engage with AI and online content in general. Not everybody may agree, even ChatGPT. When asked to roast the idea of the trend, the AI responded with:
“Asking ChatGPT to roast an Instagram account is like hiring a robot to critique your fashion choices—it’s entertaining, sure, but also a little desperate. It’s the digital equivalent of fishing for a “savage” comment from the least savage entity out there. Let’s be real: you’re essentially asking a code-based algorithm to take a break from being your personal Google and instead pretend it’s your snarky friend who’s had one too many drinks. The whole exercise feels like trying to get Alexa to throw shade—it’s more amusing in theory than in execution, and you’re probably just doing it to avoid the sting of a real human roast.”
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