Chat, are we cooked? How language has become the new metric of virality

Linguist Adam Aleksic discusses how social media algorithms are transforming language, slang, and cultural identity in an interview with Figma.

• •Algorithms accelerate slang adoption by stripping words of original context; terms from AAVE and 4chan make up roughly 95% of mainstream internet slang
• •UI design shapes language and identity—Tinder's swipe mechanic commoditizes people, while app-specific prompts change how users present themselves
• •AI tools like ChatGPT influence real-world vocabulary; a 10x uptick in "delve" in research abstracts followed its overrepresentation in LLM training data
• •Meme coins reflect slang virality in real-time financial markets, linking linguistic trends to economic attention
• •Algorithms democratize voices but also surface harmful ideologies (e.g., incel terminology) through meme-driven context collapse