The Algorithm Eats First: The Tyranny of the Feed

The algorithmic T-Rex is vast, relentless; and we – creators, critics, audiences – are its dinner, writes Iain Overton

Image created by Iain Overton with ChatGPT

There was a time – some readers may still recall it – when books were judged, not before, but after they had been read. An era that obeyed chronology: when articles were first opened and then they were "liked". When a film critic's verdict could even shape a box office hit.

But that time seems to be in danger. In its place looms a Frankenstinian monster. It’s a seemingly unstoppable digital beast: the algorithmic Tyrannosaurus Rex. We can see it fast approaching in our rear-view mirrors; it is vast, anticipatory, and relentless. And we – creators, critics, audiences – are its dinner.

The signs are everywhere. In July 2025, The New York Times abruptly reassigned four of its leading arts critics – Margaret Lyons, Jon Pareles, Jesse Green, and Zach Woolfe – to undefined “new roles.” Their replacements, it was said, would help the paper reach audiences through “essays, story forms, videos and other platforms.” That is: not through criticism, but through circulation. The critic is being recast - not as arbiter, but as content.

For a while, the internet promised us all the Utopian promise of cultural liberation. Anyone could create, anyone could critique. The age of billionaire news-baron gatekeepers seemed to be coming to an end; we all could glitter and find creative success, rising upon a tide of likes and reposts. It was a democracy in creation and critique where gift and graft would get you through. But now that Protestant-work-ethic-will-lead-to-success framing of creative labour seems to be increasingly diminishing.

Instead, a ‘techno-craft’ system appears to be emerging. Tech entrepreneurs, buoyed by libertarian dogma, have built platforms that reward their bank balances and the user with offering up provocation over substance. Measured, thoughtful criticism risks being consumed in the ever-bullish search for viewer engagement. Judgement is emerging before experience: the algorithm-charged review does not wait for publication, it predicts it.