I think if there's one thing the ongoing scourge of Nicole has been good for, it's showing me the mindboggling number of instances I wasn't previously aware of
To be serious for a moment, I fear that Nicole is a proof-of-concept from some oppressive, anti-democratic regime like China, Russia or the US.
Next time around, it will be election interference content and toxic right-wing hate speech.
I am confident that the Fediverse will continue to kick bot-ass like we did with Nicole, but a large scale campaign mass-creating accounts, supported by an argumentative AI will surely be a challenge for anyone to combat.