Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI TECH SCROLL: Jack Schlossberg logs off, Roblox, Discord, OpenAI and Google launch ROOST + Elon Musk bids to buy OpenAI

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MINI TECH SCROLL: Jack Schlossberg logs off, Roblox, Discord, OpenAI and Google launch ROOST + Elon Musk bids to buy OpenAI · Mini Scroll

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  Hey everyone and welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
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  culture podcast bringing 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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  I hope everyone is having a great week.
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  Since I last spoke to you guys, I have spent the first half of
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  my week recovering from seeing Charlie XCX at a festival on the
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  weekend. She was genuinely so good and I
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  can't stop thinking about her performance so I am anxiously
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  waiting for more TikTok videos from her festival run here in
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  Australia to show up on my four year page.
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  But that I don't really have much to say this week other than
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  Please remember to write, review and subscribe.
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  And let's just get right into the stories.
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  So the first story I have this week, to be honest, is not
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  really tech, but it is kind of political adjacent.
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  And I have just really been wanting to talk about it.
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  And this is what happens when you give me an opportunity to
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  host a podcast. We need to break down everything
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  that has recently happened with Jack Schlossberg.
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  Firstly, if you are unfamiliar with Jack, he is the grandson of
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  U.S. President John F Kennedy and
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  other than being part of one of the most prolific US political
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  dynasties, he has gained popularity among Gen.
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  Z for his unhinged social media posts and also he was Vogue's
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  political correspondent during the campaign last year.
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  Through his posts, it was clear that his online presence was a
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  departure from the traditional image of the Kennedy family.
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  Past generations have really maintained a polished,
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  statesmanlike public persona, whereas Jack kind of leaned into
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  the chaos. The social media posts in
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  question could really be anything from comparing himself
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  to Audrey Hepburn to making videos during the 2024 U.S.
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  presidential campaign, essentially trolling now Vice
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  President JD Vance. Hi JD, it's me Jack.
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  I'm at Kamala HQ and I miss you and I was just thinking about
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  you and wondering why you refuse to accept the results of the
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  2020 election. That's bad, JD.
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  No matter how eccentric much of his content was, social media
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  users really loved it and you would see his comment sections
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  flooded with comments like this man has no drafts or this man
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  has never had a second thought. Because truly his content was so
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  chaotic and aside from really building up his online presence
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  last year, whether it be for the right or wrong reasons, he has
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  completely pivoted. Last week he deleted all of his
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  social media after posting a rather cryptic message on X that
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  read quote. I'm sorry to everyone I heard I
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  was wrong. I'm deleting all my social media
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  forever it's been fun. Thanks anyway everyone.
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  So the reason why I wanted to report on this is to cover some
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  of the theories floating around online as to why he
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  spontaneously deleted his social media presence.
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  And the first theory is a little bit techie so it felt like it
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  fit in mini scroll tech a little bit.
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  With that preface, some users claim that his decision to
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  delete his social media has something to do with censorship,
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  especially as the Internet and its platforms move further and
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  further to the right. I don't think this is
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  necessarily the reason why Jack left the platform, but I do
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  think it's an interesting point to consider.
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  Over the past few weeks, there has been a lot of conversation
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  around censorship on social media, with many people on the
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  left side of politics feeling the need to speak and algo speak
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  more frequently. We covered that here on Mini
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  Scroll when I spoke about the cute winter boots trend, but I
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  haven't necessarily thought about this shift in terms of
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  platforms essentially D platforming figures that don't
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  push out their agenda. Well, I don't think we are
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  necessarily there quite yet. I definitely think it is
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  something to look out for if social media platforms continue
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  sliding further and further towards one end of the political
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  spectrum. Aside from the discussions
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  around censorship, there are three other main theories that
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  are probably more likely. The first is around mental
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  health and burnout. Given the intensity of the US
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  political climate at the moment, it's entirely plausible that
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  Jack simply needed to disengage. Many political commentators and
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  public figures have stepped away from social media after
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  prolonged exposure to online criticism and hostility.
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  And of course, the pressures of being a Kennedy, especially 1
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  actively engaging a political discourse, could have
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  exacerbated that need for a break.
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  And I think it's totally acceptable for anyone,
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  especially with everything going on right now in the political
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  space, in the digital space, to need to take a break, whether
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  you're a public figure or not. The second theory is his
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  political ambitions. So this theory is basically that
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  Jack is scrubbing his digital footprint ahead of a future
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  campaign run for some type of elected position.
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  This does make sense because his posts, while entertaining, could
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  be a liability if you ever sought office.
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  And the third theory is that his departure from social media has
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  come off the back of a feud with an American political
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  commentator named Megyn Kelly. And this appears to be the most
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  immediate trigger. Jack posted a video to social
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  media where he criticized Megyn Kelly's beliefs.
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  Hey. Hey, Megyn Kelly.
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  It's me, Jack Flosberg. You insulted me.
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  And so I'm just checking in, starting a dialogue, seeing if
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  you're OK. The two genders rule must be
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  tough. And stop attacking trans people.
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  You do it for a living professionally on your show.
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  I don't really get that. I don't get what makes that so
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  fun for you. And then on February 5th, Daily
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  Mail writer Maureen Callahan wrote an article essentially
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  calling Jack self absorbed and privileged.
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  Many people have said that this article was quite savage.
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  Jack later tweeted angrily about the journalist and the host, and
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  then he left social media. As of the time I was researching
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  this, he hasn't returned to the digital space, but he did appear
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  on Jen Psaki's podcast, who is a political commentator and a
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  former government official of both the Obama and Trump
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  administrations. Regardless of the reason behind
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  his exit, Jack's trajectory really shows us that political
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  figures engaging with social media in an era where virality
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  is king is definitely a double edged sword.
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  Whether this is just a temporary break or a strategic rebrand, or
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  maybe just the end of his online persona, it shows us that no
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  one, Kennedy or not, can operate while being so chronically
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  online forever, even if it helps energize young people.
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  So thank you for letting me talk about Jack Schlossberg because I
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  was deeply invested in his content last year.
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  But let's just get back to the tech world.
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  So the next story I wanted to touch on was that Roblox,
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  Discord, Open AI, and Google have come together to establish
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  a new child safety group. I'm sure that everyone listening
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  to this podcast is at least familiar with Open AI and
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  Google, but Roblox and Discord may be a little bit more niche.
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  So if you are unfamiliar, Roblox is an online games platform that
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  allows users to play games that they've made or games by other
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  users. It's typically known as a
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  platform that is dominated by Jen Elf, but I will say that
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  older people do use the platform, including myself.
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  I have been known to play a game of dress to impress or two.
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  And according to 2023 data reported by The Verge, more than
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  half of the platform's users are older than 13.
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  And the platform's fastest growing demographic at the time
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  of this report was users between 17 and 24 years old.
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  OK, so we've got Roblox covered. And Discord is, of course,
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  popular among gaming communities and is a voice, video and text
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  chat app where people can join different servers around
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  specific interests. It is also popular among younger
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  users. This coalition of Roblox,
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  Discord, Open AI, and Google have established the robust Open
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  Online Safety Tools Initiative, or Roost for short.
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  It was unveiled at the recent French AI Action Summit.
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  So the goal of Roost is to essentially make safety
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  technologies more accessible to companies by providing free open
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  source AI tools for identifying, reviewing and reporting child
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  sexual abuse material. Over the first four years, Roost
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  has secured more than $27 million in funding from leading
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  philanthropists and major technology companies.
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  Something like this has been a long time coming and will be
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  super important to prevent danger for children online.
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  As Jess Weatherbed writes for The Verge quote, the Roost
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  announcement comes amid a huge regulatory battle regarding
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  child safety on social media and online platforms, with companies
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  seeking to appease lawmakers with self regulation methods.
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  The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports
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  that suspected Child Exploitation increased by 12%
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  between 2022 and 2023. In this article, Weatherbed
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  continues by noting that platforms like Discord and
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  Roblox are particularly culpable because of their young user
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  base, pointing specifically to a California lawsuit that was
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  filed in 2022 which claimed that platforms failed to stop adults
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  from messaging children without supervision.
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  When it comes to Roost, and Roblox specifically, according
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  to reporting from Fast Company Quote, among the tools Roblox
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  has developed is an open source AI model that analyzes audio
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  clips to detect profanity, racism, bullying, sexting, and
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  other disallowed content. While I do think that this is a
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  solid step forward, especially with many tech giants on board,
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  I will say that much of the information around the
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  initiative is rather vague. I will give this a little bit of
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  slack because it is such a recent announcement, but based
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  on what we have so far, I will say that relying on AI
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  moderators is good, but not foolproof.
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  Though much of the commentary I've seen so far around Roost
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  has been positive, I have seen a couple of comments from users,
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  particularly on Blue Sky, saying that they hope this initiative
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  won't decrease human moderators, who often play an important role
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  alongside AI when it comes to detecting concerning behavior on
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  these platforms. My last story for today is about
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  Elon Musk and Open AI. I don't really want to bring up
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  Elon Musk every week on this podcast, but I fear there has
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  been some updates that are worth discussing today.
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  I will not be getting into all the doge discourse, which is the
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  Department of Government efficiency or of course the
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  meme, but we're not getting into that today.
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  So Elon Musk has made a bid to purchase Open AI, which is
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  obviously the company behind ChatGPT.
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  Elon Musk alongside a team of investors submitted as 97.6
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  billion bid to purchase Open AI earlier this week.
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  You may be thinking that this isn't exactly out of character
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  for Elon Musk considering he did buy Twitter, but there is
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  another layer to this bid. As reported by Brian Heater for
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  TechCrunch quote, the unsolicited bid is the latest
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  escalation by Musk in his war with Co founder Sam Altman with
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  whom he Co founded Open AI with numerous other individuals back
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  in 2015. If you're unfamiliar with this,
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  Elon Musk ended up leaving Open AI in 2018 and from memory, it
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  was a little bit around conflict of interest stuff with Tesla,
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  but also differing visions for the company.
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  Open AI has become extremely valuable since then, not just on
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  the generative AI front, but also it is working to develop
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  its own chips, which is essential for innovation.
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  Since leaving, Musk has become embroiled in a legal battle with
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  Open AI, making things harder for the company to move from a
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  nonprofit to for profit company. Quote.
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  The Musk LED team is positioning the move as a bid to refocus
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  Open AI on open sourced AI, as was its initial aim.
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  Heater continues for TechCrunch. I will just add for context that
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  Open AI has called Elon Musk's legal claims as baseless and
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  overreaching. But besides all this, in the
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  Sizzle newsletter, Cam Wilson adds that Elon's move to buy
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  Open AI is also an attempt to make it, quote, harder for Open
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  AI to lowball its own value as part of its planned transition
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  to a for profit company, which would presumably have big tax
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  implication. As you would expect after
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  hearing all of this back and forth, Sam Altman did refuse the
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  offer he took to X and wrote quote, no thank you, but we will
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  buy Twitter for 9.74 billion if you want.
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  I will just say his response was a little bit cheeky given that
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  he said Twitter instead of X and also moved the decimal point in
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  Elon's bid for Open AI. Just one space to the left.
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  I worry we cannot get through one week without the tech Bros
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  fighting it out. Anyway, that is everything from
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  me for today. I really hope you enjoyed this
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  week's episode. Please remember to rate, review,
• 12:38
  and subscribe. Once again.
• 12:40
  We are on the journey to 1K Spotify star reviews as I say
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  every week at this point. But I will see you next
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  Wednesday and Lauren will speak to you tomorrow.
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  Thanks. Bye.