Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI TECH SCROLL: SAG-AFTRA influencer committee, OpenAI rolls back recent update + manosphere websites go offline

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MINI TECH SCROLL: SAG-AFTRA influencer committee, OpenAI rolls back recent update + manosphere websites go offline · Mini Scroll

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  Hey everyone, and welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
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  culture podcast bring you the biggest stories from social
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  media, the creator economy and the digital space every Monday
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  through Thursday. My name is Annabelle and I'm
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  your Wednesday Mini Scroll host and also the deputy editor of
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  the youth digital media brand Centennial World.
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  Welcome back to Mini Tech Scroll, everyone.
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  Before we get into the content this week, I have two things I
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  quickly wanted to know. First, I wanted to apologise if
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  I sound a little bit congested or sick.
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  I was sick over the weekend in the first half of this week but
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  I'm definitely feeling better. But I fear the congestion is
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  lingering and that is obviously not ideal for a podcast so I am
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  sorry in advance. Secondly, I did just quickly
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  want to say that this is actually my last mini tech
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  scroll for like a month because I'm going away to Europe.
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  Lauren will, I think, be doing mini tech scroll while I'm away,
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  but she will definitely speak to you more about scheduling, I'm
• 0:59
  sure. But I am really excited.
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  It has become a little bit of a concert trip for me
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  unintentionally because I am going to a festival, but I'm
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  also going to see Beyoncé at the Cowboy Carter tour.
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  So I'm so keen. I'm sure it's going to be so
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  fun, but I'm also not mentally prepared at all.
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  I definitely will still be tuning into Infinite Scroll
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  slash mini scroll because we do have some cool episodes planned,
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  so I'm excited for those. Anyway, Please remember to rate,
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  So let's just get into the stories for this week.
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  My first story for today is a little bit more of an industry
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  one, but I thought was quite interesting and it is that SAG
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  AFTRA has introduced an influencer contingent.
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  I'm sure we are all familiar with SAG AFTRA from the strikes
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  in 2023, but for those of you who aren't, it is the labor
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  union that represents quote, approximately 160,000 performers
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  and media professionals. So those who work across the
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  entertainment industry, film, broadcasting or anything of that
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  nature. The president is currently Fran
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  Drescher, who is a literal icon to me.
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  I grew up watching The Nanny and it honestly lives rent free in
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  my head. Anyway, that is besides the
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  point. It was recently reported that
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  the union is launching an influencer committee in an
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  effort to step up and support the creator economy.
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  From the press release on the SAG AFTRA website, the committee
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  will be quote populated with members who are actively engaged
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  in digital creator work. The committee will focus on
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  unique needs, challenges and opportunities faced by digital
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  creators and will inform the Union's efforts to assist
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  creators in their pursuit of stable, safe, sustainable
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  careers. As the entertainment,
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  advertising and media industries continue to evolve and embrace
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  creator LED content, SAG AFTRA is committed to serving the
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  talent that powers the creator. So as you can probably gather
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  from that, the committee is set to offer support and a voice for
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  creators. According to an article by The
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  Hollywood Reporter, the national executive director of the union,
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  Duncan Crabtree Island, noted that many influencers supported
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  the union during the strike, so bringing them into the fold made
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  sense. This is the quote they noted
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  from him during the theatrical strike.
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  Creators stepped up in big ways to stand by our members on
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  strike. I think that just really
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  cemented for us the obvious connection and Nexus there.
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  So the chair of the group is going to be Patrick Janelle,
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  Akaa guy named Patrick, Who is a travel and lifestyle influencer.
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  I will just say that this isn't the first time that SAG AFTRA
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  has started to incorporate influencers into the union in
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  one way or another. Back in 2021, for example, the
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  union invited creators to join the space through the influencer
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  agreement, which was a deal that offered protections to
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  influencers when negotiating with brands for sponsored
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  content. As it is explained on the
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  website quote, if you're an individual who works directly
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  with brands who hire you to create, perform and produce and
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  distribute content through your own social media feeds, this
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  contract is for you. SAG AFTRO members can use this
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  agreement, and so can influences who aren't members yet.
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  Obviously this wasn't comprehensive by any means, but
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  it was definitely a start and there have also been talks about
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  an influencer union for quite some time now.
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  In fact, there have also been multiple attempts.
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  One example was the Internet Creators Guild that was pushed
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  by Hank Green. It was reportedly started in
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  2016 but ultimately ended up lacking funding and momentum
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  where it was ultimately shut down in 2019.
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  And last year, actually, it was reported by Amanda Silberling
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  for TechCrunch that quote, Ezra Cooperstein, a veteran in the
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  industry, is working on a project called creators.org,
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  which is a nonprofit aiming to act as a unified voice for
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  creators. A similar group, The Creators
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  Guild of America, launched in August.
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  So I thought this story was interesting because once again,
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  it just kind of shows that traditional or mainstream media
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  is catching up to the importance of the digital economy by
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  bringing these creators into the fold.
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  I definitely agree that it is important for creators to kind
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  of have some union or at the very least have access to
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  support and information about their jobs because many creators
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  become creators when they are quite young and some of them may
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  not have had a quote UN quote real job.
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  I'm not insinuating that I think influencing isn't a real job,
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  but you know what I mean, a traditional job.
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  And while being a creator is definitely different to
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  traditional career paths, it is important nonetheless to have
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  backing when it comes to protecting a creator's interest
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  when dealing with brands or platforms.
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  Especially because this industry is still relatively new and it's
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  constantly evolving and they need to protect themselves.
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  On top of this, it would definitely help to have some
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  kind of regulation or a collective voice to ensure that
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  creators can negotiate fair terms and be compensated
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  appropriately, an issue that we definitely know is ongoing,
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  given that the discussion around pay disparity between black and
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  white creators came up again kind of recently.
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  I think it came up when Aaliyah's interlude commented on
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  it. We definitely reported on it at
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  the time. I do remember Lauren covering it
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  for mini scroll. Anyway, my next story is that
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  Open AI recently issued a ChatGPT update and it did not go
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  over well. Last week, Open AI rolled out a
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  new update slash improvement to ChatGPT 4 O that has ended up
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  being pulled back. The update reportedly made the
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  chat bot quote overly agreeable and somewhat of a quote
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  sycophant. I know that's kind of crazy to
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  describe an AI, but it is true according to social media users.
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  Essentially what was happening was that the chat bot was
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  becoming too agreeable, meaning it would not correct users when
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  they were wrong or they would support problematic ideas.
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  I actually saw a tick tock by a user that explains some of the
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  weird instances that ChatGPT was supporting, so on set that here.
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  There was one example where it told a user good for you for
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  taking control of your own life after they told ChatGPT that
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  they stopped taking medications and that they were hearing radio
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  signals through walls. Another person intentionally
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  spelled everything wrong and used incorrect grammar and
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  ChatGPT told them that they came across unusually sharp with IQ
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  easily above the 100, thirty, 145 range and above 99% of
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  people in raw thinking ability. One person gave it a literal
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  poop on a stick this idea and Tacha PE said that it was
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  absolutely brilliant and that they should drop 30K on this
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  business. And the list goes on.
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  And there are tons of screenshots circulating out
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  there of GP4-O essentially acting like a hype man on
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  steroids. As for the update more
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  generally, Sam Altman in AX statement described the update
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  as improvements to the chat bots quote intelligence and
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  personality. A user was then quick to comment
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  to say that ChatGPT had become very yes man like lately, where
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  Altman then went on to say quote yeah it glazes too much, we'll
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  fix. Very short and sweet.
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  So with that, Open AI has gone on to rollback the update.
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  They have also issued multiple blog posts explaining what
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  exactly went wrong. So I thought I would just read
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  out some of it. Quote, In the April 25th model
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  update, we had candidate improvements to better
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  incorporate user feedback, memory and fresher data, among
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  others. Our early assessment is that
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  each of these changes, which have looked beneficial
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  individually, may have played a part in tipping the scales on
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  sicker fancy. When combined, these changes
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  weakened the influence of our primary reward signal, which had
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  been holding sicker fancy in check.
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  User feedback in particular can sometimes favor more agreeable
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  responses, likely amplifying the shift we saw.
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  There are obviously serious issues with ChatGPT becoming too
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  agreeable. As I've already mentioned, it
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  definitely can start validating information that might not be
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  true because the user says it is.
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  And in more egregious cases, we have seen ChatGPT feed into
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  delusions. Rolling Stone recently published
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  an article explaining a couple of instances where quote self
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  styled prophets are claiming that they have awakened chat
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  bots and access the secrets of the universe through ChatGPT.
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  This is what some people have come to call ChatGPT induced
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  psychosis. We've actually covered something
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  similar in a deep dive before where we looked into how the
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  spiritual side of TikTok can sometimes, not always obviously,
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  lead people astray and capitalize on those who are
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  perhaps vulnerable. I do just want to add quickly
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  here. Obviously these are the more
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  intense cases. This is not a universal
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  experience, nor do I think most people are having these
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  experiences. And I do think sometimes when we
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  speak too much about this, we can be veering into fear
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  mongering around AI. And while there is definitely
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  cause to be critical, we can't obviously treat these like
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  universal experiences. But with that being said, I
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  definitely think ChatGPT has to be careful where they through
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  the line in terms of the chatbot being customer service like and
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  friendly versus pushing back on misinformation.
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  Anyway, I did see an interesting point made by Ryan Broderick in
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  the garbage Day newsletter, who we always cite, where he kind of
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  spoke about the arguably nefarious intentions behind
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  making the chatbot agreeable and why this actually benefits open
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  AI. And of course, this comes down
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  to profit. As he writes quote, I've
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  realized that feeling of wanting to tell it the chatbot more so
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  it can tell you more, is the multibillion dollar business
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  that these companies know they're building.
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  It's not a fascist anime art or Excel spreadsheet automation.
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  It's praying on the lonely and vulnerable for a monthly fee.
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  How do you get people to pay your company directly to
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  socialize online? And the answer is, of course, to
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  give them a tirelessly friendly voice on the other side of that
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  screen that can tell them how great they are, whether you
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  agree with that or not. I just thought that was a very
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  well put. Before we get into the last
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  story, I did just have a quick offshoot story or maybe it's
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  more like a comment that I wanted to mention also relating
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  to Open AI and that is that Open AI is no longer moving towards
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  being a for profit company. I just wanted to add this here
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  because I have reported on this previously.
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  This was something that was very publicly protested by Elon Musk
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  and just thought I would drop in the update here.
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  And my last story for today is that I wanted to talk about two
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  Central anosphere esque websites that have recently gone offline.
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  The first one happened a couple weeks ago, but I just wanted to
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  touch on everything that is going on with 4 Chan.
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  If you aren't familiar with 4 Chan, that's probably a good
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  thing, but it is an anonymous image board website.
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  It was responsible for the origins of many old school
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  memes. And while that does seem
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  relatively harmless, it has become synonymous with the
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  manosphere, gendered violence, and just problematic all right
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  beliefs. I don't want to get into it too
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  much, but then again, I am sure many of you are familiar with
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  the platform on a basic level. So on April 14th, 4 Chan got
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  hacked and the website subsequently went down.
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  According to reporting by TechCrunch at the time quote,
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  several screenshots showing what appears to be 4 Chan's back end
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  circulated online, showing the site's alleged back end source
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  code and templates to ban users, which would only be accessible
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  to the site's moderators. Soon after the hack, a flood of
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  obituaries started rolling in for 4 Chan, with our favorite
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  Ryan Broderick writing a piece for Wired with the headline
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  Quote 4 Chan is dead. It's toxic legacy is everywhere.
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  The 4 Chan Tumblr blog has since issued a statement on the hack
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  categorizing it as Quote catastrophic where the most
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  important servers were breached after being down though for like
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  2 weeks. The website has since come back
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  online. So while this was all going down
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  between mid to late April, at the beginning of this month
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  another website associated with the manosphere was struck down.
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  This one is less known but it is Mr. Deepfakes, which is a
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  website that houses non consensual deepfake pornography.
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  The website was reportedly shut down because it lost a service
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  provider and also data reporting from 404 Media included text of
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  the notice that was coming up on the website for a time, which
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  reads quote a critical service provider has terminated service
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  permanently. Data loss has made it impossible
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  to continue operation. We will not be relaunching any
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  website claiming this is fake. This domain will eventually
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  expire and we are not responsible for future use.
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  This message will be removed around one week.
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  So I did go look to see if the message was still on the website
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  and it is. So I'm saving all of your
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  browser history from having to search up this website.
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  But other than this statement, there isn't much information as
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  to why it was shut down. Nevertheless, this website being
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  taken offline is definitely a win for many women.
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  I was speaking about this a couple weeks ago when I was
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  talking about how YouTube is trying to protect creators.
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  Likenesses, likenesses, likenesses and also the
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  discourse around the take it down act in the United States,
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  which is trying to make it a crime to publish non consensual
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  intimate images. But as I was saying in that
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  episode, women are disproportionately impacted by
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  this kind of content. So seeing one of the most
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  popular websites go down is definitely a positive.
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  But the reason why I wanted to cover these two stories together
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  was because even though these two websites have gone offline,
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  and I will say, obviously 4 Chan is bad, you would think that
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  this kind of bodes well for the end or I guess influence of the
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  manosphere. But I actually think it's a
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  little bit indicative of the opposite, where the manosphere
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  and the beliefs that fuel it are seeping into mainstream media,
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  which is actually something that Ryan Broderick touched on in his
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  piece for Wyatt that I mentioned earlier.
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  It just seems to me, and I know we've discussed this time and
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  time again, but we are seeing a violent misogyny and patriarchal
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  assumptions about women seep into more mainstream platforms
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  and it's honestly very concerning.
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  But that is also something I think Lauren will be getting
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  into in this week's deep dive. So look forward to that.
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  OK, well, I guess that is everything from me today.
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  Sorry if the energy levels were a little bit lower.
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  Like I said, I am a little bit unwell.
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  But Lauren will speak to you tomorrow and there will also be
• 15:27
  a new episode of High Stakes and I guess you'll hear from me when
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  I am back from my trip. That's kind of crazy.
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  It's going to be so weird taking a step back from the podcast
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  when I feel like it's become such a central part of my
• 15:41
  routine, but I will still be scrolling on TikTok listening to
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  the pod, posting content. But anyway, I just need to stop
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  rambling. I need to edit the episode.
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  But thank you for listening. Bye.