Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI TECH SCROLL: TikTok Shop GPS scandal, licensing likeness on TikTok, GPT-5 update + Lil Miquela x Nancy Pelosi

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MINI TECH SCROLL: TikTok Shop GPS scandal, licensing likeness on TikTok, GPT-5 update + Lil Miquela x Nancy Pelosi · Mini Scroll

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  This episode of Mini Tech Scroll is brought to you by Blackbird,
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  application. Hey everyone, and welcome to
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  Mini Scroll, the daily Internet culture podcast.
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  Bring me the biggest stories from social media, the creator
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  economy and the digital space every Monday through Thursday.
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  My name is Annabelle and I am your Wednesday Mini Tech Scroll
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  host and also the deputy editor of the youth digital media brand
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  Centennial Weld. Welcome back to Mini Tech
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  Scroll, everyone. I can't believe this is our
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  first episode of the week. Obviously, Lauren has been sick
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  and then I was sick last week. So winter is really getting the
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  best of. I thought it was so funny that I
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  couldn't do my job because I lost my voice.
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  Like never in my life did I think that this would be where
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  I'm at. But even though we've had a
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  quiet week so far, I think the rest of the week should be a
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  return to regular scheduled programming.
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  So thank you everyone for being so patient.
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  But other than that, Please remember to rate, review and
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  subscribe. And also feel free to check out
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  the Buy me a Coffee link in the description if you are so
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  inclined. OK, let's just get into to the
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  content for this week. I will say I feel like there
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  have been a lot of random, maybe smaller stories pop up in the
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  past week. So we won't have time to get
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  through all of them. But I have picked the ones that
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  I don't know if you would have heard of or the ones that I kind
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  of thought you would find the most interesting.
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  So yes, let's get into it. My first story that I wanted to
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  talk about today was one that I saw reported by 404 Media and it
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  was about an item that is being sold on TikTok shop.
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  According to Rosie Thomas for the publication, GPS Track are
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  being sold on TikTok shop and are being marketed as tools to
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  track and even stalk a romantic partner.
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  As she explained quote four O 4 media found a handful of
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  accounts promoting these types of trackers and there are
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  several different versions on the TikTok shop.
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  Once a user clicks from the videos into TikTok shop, the
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  algorithm began to show us many more listings.
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  One of the clips we saw has 86,000 likes and links to a
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  tracker that had 32,000 sales. Another from the same vendor
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  currently has 97,000 sales and there are several accounts
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  offering the same products with similar branding and scripts.
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  In the comment of one of the videos a user says quote I
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  bought some and put it on the cars of girls I find attractive
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  at the gym. The original poster response
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  with OK questionable to say the least.
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  The article did mention one account specifically which I did
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  try and check out myself but it appears it has been deleted
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  since then. That being said though, I did
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  come across one myself that was literally selling a GPS tracker
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  with the hook that someone should buy it if they think
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  their wife is cheating on them. I will insert that clip now so
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  you can hear it for yourself. Suspect your wife is cheating on
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  you? Maybe it's time for you to get
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  this. It's not an air tag, it's a real
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  GPS tracker. Unlike the air tag, this one
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  doesn't send alerts or sounds to let you know it's being tracked.
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  It's a little black device with a magnet and you can hide it
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  anywhere. It comes with data, so even if
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  it goes to the other side of the world, you can still track it.
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  I came across quite a few of these videos, many of which had
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  the small little paid partnership banner at the
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  bottom. So this obviously suggested that
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  it was being paid for by the brand or some kind of
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  partnership. And like I said, many of them
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  had similar marketing, which makes me think whether this
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  messaging is coming from the brand itself.
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  But either way, I feel like it would have to be okayed by the
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  brand if it's a paid partnership.
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  So that's already pretty unfortunate.
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  And just a little bit sauce. Obviously I understand how
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  location tracking can be useful. I literally have all of my
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  friends locations on find my, but the way this is all being
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  marketed is just so icky. It's essentially normalizing
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  stalk away, which is often putting women in harm's way,
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  even though I saw a lot of these as paid partnerships.
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  The four O 4 article though does note that many of these GPS
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  trackers are being sold on TikTok shop like I've already
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  mentioned, but we don't have TikTok shop here in Australia.
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  So I couldn't obviously check that for myself.
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  And that also explains, I think, why I saw a lot of paid
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  partnerships. But I think this kind of shows
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  why I wanted to cover this story because I feel like it indicates
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  just how unregulated TikTok Shop is in practice.
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  To be fair, the discourse around questionable products being sold
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  on TikTok Shop is nothing new. I think that is basically being
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  around since TikTok Shop was first rolled out in the US in
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  September 2023, where a vast majority of users were
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  frustrated by the uptake. At the time, I saw many claiming
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  that it pushed promotional content and allowed for the sale
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  of counterfeit goods and just makes the app feel overall
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  dystopian, which I definitely kind of agree with, but I
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  haven't seen too much commentary about how the seeming lack of
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  regulation on TikTok Shop is actually dangerous rather than
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  just annoying. Having said that, I did go have
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  a look at the prohibited products policy on the US TikTok
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  Shop website to see what exactly is and isn't allowed to be sold
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  on TikTok Shop. And there was an extensive list,
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  but among the list was quote, security and privacy products.
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  As it's written, UN quote security and privacy products
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  are prohibited from sale on TikTok shop.
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  It then goes on to list a whole bunch of categories which
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  included quote any other products that may violate or
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  facilitate the violation of an individual's privacy.
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  And I feel like it's definitely safe to say that these GPSS fall
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  into this category, especially by the way that they're
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  marketed. Even though this is the case, it
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  clearly hasn't stopped these kinds of products from being
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  sold on the platform. I do think it is a bit of a
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  whack A mole game with the amount of products available on
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  TikTok Shop, but I also don't really think that is a kind of
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  excuse on TikTok Shop. My next story for today is based
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  on another article that I thought was kind of interesting
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  that I've come across recently and it's all about AI avatars
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  and selling likeness. So I saw this piece in the New
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  York Times and it spoke about this one man named Scott Jack
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  Mean. I'm so sorry if I pronounced
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  that wrong. I probably did.
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  But he sold his likeness and is now seeing his face pop up in
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  different ads and a wide range of ads at that.
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  He has reportedly seen an avatar who looks like him trying to
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  sell supplements and another one doing a Spanish speaking ad and
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  he doesn't speak Spanish, the piece reads.
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  Quote The ads were made using his digital avatar, fueled by
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  artificial intelligence, after he licensed his likeness to
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  TikTok last year. Now a version of Mr. Jackman is
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  out on the Internet peddling whatever the advertiser might
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  want him to sell, as long as it complies with TikTok marketing
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  guidelines. It's what Mr. Jackman signed up
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  for, but now that he has seen his avatar out in the wild, he
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  has regrets. So Scott is reportedly part of
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  the AI avatars that TikTok introduced in the middle of last
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  year. These avatars were basically
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  available for brands to use to promote a certain product.
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  There are reportedly a variety of them available where the
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  brand can essentially select which avatar they feel fits the
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  messaging of the product. I thought this story was
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  important to include because arguably this is a budding area
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  of the digital economy and I feel like it's valid to presume
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  that with these people selling their likeness that they would
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  be paid a decent amount of money, especially because this
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  likeness can be used to promote anything.
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  But according to Scott's experience, this isn't
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  necessarily the case. According to the article, Scott
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  had been paid $750 and a trip to the Bay Area for the work.
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  Other unnamed and named people feature in the story and they
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  had a similar experience with most being paid under $1000.
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  And to make that is worse, these people do not receive any
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  royalties when businesses use their avatars.
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  Obviously this benefits TikTok and the brands that are using
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  these avatars despite the ethical questions around it,
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  because at the end of the day, they are looking at the bottom
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  line and cutting costs. But in the article, the
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  journalist kind of position Scott as feeling uncomfortable
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  with his decision. And I feel like that's
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  definitely understandable. But I do think it puts it even
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  more in perspective about how weird and what an outer body
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  experience it can be to see yourself in AI generated
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  content. And of course, that is even when
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  you consent to it alone, when you don't.
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  This is a bit of a tangent, but I recently started reading the
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  new Laura Bates book which is all about AI and sexism, and she
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  explained her experiences of seeing herself in a deep fake
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  and reading about that was definitely really telling.
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  Obviously this is a different circumstance to Scott, but I do
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  imagine some of the same confronting feelings would pop
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  up. Anyway, I can report back when I
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  finished that book. So far I'm enjoying it, but it
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  definitely is intense. But yes, back to the story, I
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  think selling likeness is definitely an interesting
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  concept and one that we'll probably see more and more of
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  because people may do it to make a quick buck or even in the
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  pursuit of fame or virality. While I don't think it's
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  entirely ethical for a whole host of reasons, including the
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  fact that it will put actors out of work, I'm not sure if I can
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  really see brands or tech platforms not going down this
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  path. At the very least there should
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  be guardrails though put in place for what your likeness can
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  be used for if you sell it, and these people should definitely
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  be getting some sort of continuous compensation for the
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  use of their likeness. I do wonder though if government
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  laws against non consensual deep fakes will impact how easy it
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  will become to license likeness. Like I remember a month or so
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  ago I saw headlines talking about how I think it was Denmark
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  was planning on changing copyright law to ensure that
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  everyone has the right to their own body and facial features and
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  voice. But yeah, those are kind of my
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  thoughts on that. I'm sorry.
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  I feel like it was a little bit chaotic, but I thought it was a
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  valid story to include. To end off today, I have two
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  shorter stories. The 1st is an update on the GPT
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  5 rollout. So Lawrence spoke about this
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  last week when I was off sick so I would definitely recommend
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  checking out last weeks episode if you need the whole breakdown.
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  But basically GBT 5 was rolled out and Uses were not happy
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  about it. There were a couple of
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  complaints, but the main one was that Uses felt GBT 5 was kind of
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  cold and distant, especially compared to earlier versions of
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  ChatGPT. I know that may kind of sound
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  crazy to some of you, but many users have built genuine
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  connections with the AI, whether that be a romantic, platonic, or
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  even therapeutic relationship. So the switch up to more formal
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  and maybe more professional tone, if that's even the right
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  word, I don't know, felt very stark to some users.
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  Now, though, it seems that Open AI is responding to the backlash
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  by making GPT Five more friendly and supportive.
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  On August 16th, Open AI shared the update on X writing quote.
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  We're making GPT 5 warmer and friendlier based on the feedback
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  that it felt too formal before. Changes are subtle, but ChatGPT
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  should feel more approachable now.
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  You'll notice small genuine touches like good question or
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  great start, not flattery. Internal tests show no rise of
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  sycophancy compared to the previous GPT 5.
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  Personality changes may take up to a day to roll out.
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  More updates soon. Open AICEO.
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  Sam Altman quoted the tweet, adding most users should like
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  GPT 5 better soon. The change is rolling out over
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  the next day. The real solution here remains
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  letting users customize ChatGPT style much more.
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  We're working on that. I feel like people can use
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  ChatGPT however they want to use ChatGPT.
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  For me, I don't really care if it's friendly or not.
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  I'm not really someone who actively uses it for personal
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  matters. And look, I can definitely
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  understand how it can provide a sense of comfort for people in
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  times where they maybe just feel like they need someone to talk
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  to. But while it can be helpful, we
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  are definitely seeing how this kind of tone has negative
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  effects with people falling into ChatGPT induced psychosis.
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  As we have discussed before, I'm kind of in the camp that if open
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  AI is allowing a more friendly tone from within the AI, they
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  really need appropriate guard rails and safety measures that
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  can prevent users from going down these kind of dangerous
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  paths. I'm not sure if they have that
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  to be quite honest or to be honest if they ever will,
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  because at the end of the day, so many of these companies just
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  care about users, even if it is to the detriment of their mental
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  health or ability to communicate and so on.
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  I'm curious though, what you think about open AI kind of
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  backtracking and rolling out this more friendly approach.
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  Again, please let me know what you think, I'm really curious.
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  OK, my last story for today is one that I needed to talk about
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  and I will admit it is a little bit unserious, but I needed to
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  talk about it because I am simply so confused and it's just
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  crazy. I don't even know if I have a
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  take on it or anything, but we need to talk about how little
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  Michaela collaborated Question Mark with Nancy Pelosi.
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  Genuinely, what is this crossover?
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  We have obviously spoken about little Michaela before, but she
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  is definitely one of the most mainstream fictional slash
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  virtual influences I think we've ever seen.
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  Her main platform is Instagram, and I feel like she's been
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  around for like 10 years at this point.
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  And of course, Nancy Pelosi has long been one of the most
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  influential Democratic politicians in the United
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  States, having served as the speaker of the House of
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  Representatives twice. But four days ago Michaela
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  posted to her Instagram with a picture with the caption quote
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  me vibing to Gracie Abrams and I look up it's literally Speaker
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  Pelosi Shout out outside lands for this iconic link up lol.
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  And the picture was in fact with Nancy Pelosi also it seemed my
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  reaction to this was literally just confusion like what does
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  this mean, why is this necessary?
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  How did this happen? And it seemed people online had
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  like the exact same questions as I did.
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  But I have not seen anyone cover this.
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  And this is exactly why mini text scroll exists.
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  We're filling the gap, I fear. I don't know why this happened.
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  I am wondering if this was just a coincidence, like if the
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  creators or people behind Law Michaela or management or
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  whatever saw Nancy Pelosi and took a picture with her and then
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  like dropped the influencer in. Or I guess a more strategic and
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  or sinister reason would be to use an influencer to father a
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  political cause, which is, of course, something that we've
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  seen more and more lately. Throughout the 2024 presidential
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  election in the United States, there were many rumors swelling
• 14:41
  around the Trump campaign alleging that they were paying
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  influences to support them. I don't really buy that this is
• 14:47
  the case in this instance. It's not like there's a campaign
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  running right now and Michaela is not like super relevant or
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  anything. But I just thought I would point
• 14:55
  this out because I really don't know why this happened and this
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  is a potential, even though I don't really think it's the
• 15:02
  reason why. I guess it could also be though
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  a way for a politician to like express support for AI.
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  But all of this just seems like I'm looking too far into this.
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  I am so confused and I need to know why this happened so badly.
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  This is now my Roman Empire. I need answers.
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  If anyone else shares my interest please let me know.
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  Please share why you think this happened, how this happened.
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  I'm so confused. Like what is 2025?
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  What is the timeline we are living in?
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  Because I actually just don't know anymore.
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  Well that is a bit of a fun one I guess.
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  To end off mini text scroll today.
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  I will be back with another episode next week, presuming I
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  don't lose my voice again. And Lauren will speak to you
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  soon. Thanks for listening.
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  Bye.