Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI TECH SCROLL: Adobe bullied off Bluesky, OpenAI social network, YouTube protects creators against deepfakes + tween boys are podcasting

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MINI TECH SCROLL: Adobe bullied off Bluesky, OpenAI social network, YouTube protects creators against deepfakes + tween boys are podcasting · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  Hey everyone, and welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
• 0:03
  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 am
• 0:11
  your Wednesday Mini Scroll host and also.
• 0:13
  The deputy editor of The Youth. Digital media brand Centennial
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  world. Welcome back to mini Tech scroll
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  everyone. If you are watching this week,
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  you will notice that my hair. Is very curly it.
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  Is in its natural form today which we.
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  Love although. I do not know how it looks with
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  the headphones over it so. Hopefully.
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  It doesn't look. Too crazy.
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  But at the end of the day. This is a podcast, so the
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  priority should be audio. But.
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  We are back. For another.
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  Week of Stories. This week Lauren and Alex have
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  been joking with me about how many Tech scroll is literally me
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  just taking the listeners hostage for like 15 minutes and
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  talking about whatever I. Want to talk about whether it is
• 0:53
  tech or not? And honestly, it's kind of true.
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  Because I feel. Like half the time I'm like
• 0:57
  sorry this isn't really tech and then talk about random tech
• 1:01
  adjacent. Stories but with like a.
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  Political spin on them so I hope you're enjoying that other than
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  that Please remember to rate review and subscribe to infinite
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  subscribers on YouTube. So please help us get there.
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  If you haven't. Subscribed already.
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  But let's just get into the content for this week.
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  My first story today happened last week and is a little bit
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  more of a long. Serious story to start off with,
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  but it is how Adobe. Recently got.
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  Bullied off blue sky? I am sure you are all familiar
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  with. Blue sky, but.
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  Just in case you aren't. It is what?
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  People consider as the most formidable competitor to.
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  Twitter it operates. Similarly with text post being
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  the main form of communication on the platform.
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  But I will. Say.
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  The platform does lean towards the left.
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  Politically, which is obviously a big.
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  Difference from X these days nonetheless.
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  Last week, Adobe. Finally joined the platform and
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  they shared a welcome post. That read quote Hey, we're
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  Adobe. We're here to connect with the
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  artists, designers and storytellers who bring ideas.
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  To life What's? Fueling your creativity right
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  now? Drop a reply.
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  Tag a creator or share your latest work.
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  We'd love to see what inspires you.
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  Now obviously that post does seem quite harmless, but the
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  welcome. Post quickly got ratioed.
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  If you don't know what that means, that time is very popular
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  online, specifically on Twitter I think, but it means that a
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  post has received more negative or kind of critical feedback
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  rather than positive engagement. Most of the.
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  Backlash towards. The platform on Blue Sky isn't
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  necessarily unwarranted, but it was arguably misdirected.
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  What I mean by? That is, that the gripes of
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  users are fair. But I don't know if blue sky was
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  necessarily. The best place to air.
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  Them nevertheless I. Thought I would.
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  Read what 1 user wrote so you kind of get the.
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  Idea of what people are so frustrated with Adobe about so
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  they said quote after decades. Paying for your apps, watching
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  them become bloated messes. Full of useless.
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  Features, experiencing your overpriced subscriptions and
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  seeing your embrace of Gen. AI.
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  I'm happily living. Adobe free after.
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  Cancelling last year I also saw some blue.
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  Sky Posts. That were encouraging users to.
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  Flood Adobe's replies with a picture that showed.
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  Alternative platforms to use for different editing functions.
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  Meanwhile, while some users were kind of taking this more
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  seriously. Others were.
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  Obviously making a meme of this all where one popular comment
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  was. A copy pasta of The Curse of
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  RAW, which was. Kind of funny, but like also
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  kind of crazy. As you probably gathered from
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  the post though. Many people have an issue with.
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  The way Adobe is. Leaning into AI.
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  Last year, Adobe. Found itself in the center of
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  controversy after implying that it would use content that had
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  been uploaded to the platforms to train AI models internal.
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  Records acquired by. Business Insider even showed
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  that some of the employees were. Frustrated by the.
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  Company's decisions, One Slack message.
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  Wrote quote. If our goal is truly to
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  prioritize our users. Best interest, which, to be
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  honest, I sometimes question. It's astonishing how poor our
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  communication can be. The general perception is Adobe
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  is an evil company. That will do.
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  Whatever it takes to F its users.
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  Aside from this recent criticism, there has been like a
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  negative. Attitude towards Adobe for
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  years, particularly how? They managed to monopolize
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  editing and as a result making it very.
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  Difficult. To access anything.
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  Without a subscription. I saw one TikTok explain this
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  really well, so I'll inside it here.
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  Adobe has cemented themselves as an industry standard.
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  And this creates a cycle where in order to get a job, you need
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  to know how to work Adobe software.
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  So colleges teach it and so graduates know how to work it.
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  And so when graduates get jobs, if the jobs do not yet have
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  software, they get Adobe software.
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  And then anyone else coming onto the team needs to know how to
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  work Adobe software. And it goes around and around.
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  And what Adobe did with this is they made it impossible to buy
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  their software. They moved it all to a
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  subscription service. So now if companies want to
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  continue doing business, they need to keep buying the software
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  over and over and over and over again at rates that just keep
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  going up. The next thing Adobe did was
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  they set up a platform that was, in theory, a way for people to
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  sell stock photography. And then once millions and
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  millions and millions and millions of images had been
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  uploaded, Adobe was like, Oh, yeah, by the way, you gave us
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  permission in your license agreement to scrape all this for
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  AI. They used incredibly vague
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  language before people had even heard of AI scraping and used it
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  to scrape all this data. And by the time people realized
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  that that's what they had agreed to, it was already too late.
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  Anyway, back to the blue sky of it all.
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  Adobe would. Go on to delete their welcome.
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  Post but their. Account is still active on the
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  platform. Many social media users still
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  consider this a. Victory.
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  Happy that. They kind of drove the company
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  to delete. The post I thought.
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  What Ryan Broderick? Wrote about this.
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  Whole situation in the Garbage day newsletter was kind of a
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  funny take on. It, he said quote if I was a.
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  Predatory subscription only software monopoly that recently
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  went all in on AI. I don't think I'd make it an
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  account on a website full. Of leftist fairies.
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  But hey, that's. Just me.
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  All in all, I don't think this was necessarily a good response
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  by Adobe. It's really important for
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  companies when they're showing up online to.
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  Look like they're. Dealing with issues and
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  addressing criticism on social media, but.
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  What they did? Is very much.
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  The opposite. I also think this incident shows
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  how different political cultures on social media platforms can
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  influence how. Users approach corporations.
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  In other news Related. To a Twitter.
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  Alternative I have a. Quick offshoot story.
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  And that is that Open AI is reportedly working on its own
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  social media platform that would.
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  Be like XI saw this reported by The Verge just.
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  Before I sat down to record so I don't have too much information
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  on this. But as reported by Kylie.
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  Robinson and Alex Heath quote Open AI is working on its own X
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  like social network, according to multiple sources familiar
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  with the matter. While the project.
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  Is still in. Early stages we're.
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  Told there's an internal prototype focused on Chat GPT's
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  image generation that has a. Social Feed CEO.
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  Sam Altman has been privately asking outsiders.
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  For advice about the project, our sources say.
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  Obviously if an open AI LED X type platform comes about, this
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  will probably make the rivalry between the tech Bros even
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  worse. I did cover the so-called.
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  Rivalry between Elon Musk and Sam Altman earlier this year
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  when Elon made a. Bid to purchase.
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  Open AI. But obviously this is all very.
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  Early and who knows if this will even happen, but I just thought
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  it was an interesting little tidbit.
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  About where? Open AI.
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  Sees itself. Going anyway, the next real.
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  Story I have. Is an update coming out of
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  YouTube and how the platform is doubling down on protecting a
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  creator's likeness. On April 9th, the platform
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  announced that it is supporting the No Fakes Act, which is
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  legislation that has previously been introduced into the US
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  Congress. But it essentially is seeking
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  to, quote, protect intellectual property rights in the voice and
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  visual likeness of individuals and for other.
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  Purposes. So it is essentially trying to
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  standardize this protection when it comes to AI generated content
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  that pulls from a person's likeness.
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  And for more context, the full name of the legislation is
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  actually Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep
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  Entertainment Safe. Act which obviously.
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  As an acronym. Is no fakes.
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  Since being introduced, the bill has gained support from various
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  entertainment organizations like SAG.
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  After all. I never know how to say that, to
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  be honest. And the Recording Industry
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  Association, but it hasn't been. Without its criticism.
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  Particularly around issues of. Free speech.
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  The liability of. Platforms and just kind of
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  generally vague language, but. This.
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  Reportedly has been refreshed since its original introduction.
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  The bill includes a notice and takedown provision where
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  platforms would be exempt for hosting deepfakes and other
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  quote unauthorized digital replicas as long as they.
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  Act quickly to address it. And in this context, an
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  unauthorized. Digital.
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  Replica is essentially AI generated content that mirrors
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  someone's likeness. So YouTube has expressed its.
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  Support for the No Fakes Act. As well as.
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  The Take it Down act which makes it a crime to publish non
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  consensual intimate images, including AI generated ones.
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  Obviously, this also forces social media sites to have
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  processes in place to remove said content.
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  This is obviously. Extremely important.
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  We have seen time and time again the danger of deep fakes online.
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  I mean, last year we saw. Falsified sexually.
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  The explicit images. Of Taylor Swift.
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  Rack up around 40 million views before being removed.
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  And of course. With.
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  AI generated intimate, not safe for work content.
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  This is an issue that disproportionately effects women
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  online. For years, obviously.
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  Women have endured. The.
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  Objectification and sexualization of their identity
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  and likeness online without their consent but.
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  Obviously. As AI advances, we are seeing
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  unregulated avenues emerge for Internet users to.
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  Act out certain fantasies that they.
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  Couldn't. Otherwise, aside from.
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  Supporting this legislation, YouTube has also announced the
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  expansion of its. Pilot.
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  Likeness management technology. To creators.
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  The company originally introduced its detection program
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  in partnership with. The creative arts.
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  Agency or CAA last year, but from all the recent reporting I
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  have seen it is being shared with some of the top creators on
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  the platform including but not limited to Mr. Beast, Doctor
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  Mike Marquez, Brownlee along with others.
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  I don't think this is the full list and I couldn't exactly find
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  the full list, but from all the reports that mention a list.
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  Of creators. There does seem to be a gender
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  imbalance with more men receiving access to this pilot
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  program, and while they may just be the top creators, and they
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  are. Obviously at risk of.
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  AI generated content that takes their likeness.
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  I wish this. Would be more.
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  Accessible. Across the board and I'm sure.
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  It will be. But you know, the sooner the.
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  Better As for what the creators will do with.
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  The pilot program. Sarah Perez.
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  Reports for TechCrunch. Quote during the testing period.
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  YouTube. Will work with the creators to
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  scale the. Technology and refine its
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  controls. The program will expand to reach
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  more creators. Over the year.
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  Ahead the company also. Said, however, YouTube.
• 11:20
  Didn't say when it expects the likeness detective system to
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  launch more publicly. Overall, I think this is
• 11:26
  definitely. A good move because this type.
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  Of content is only going to become more widespread and it
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  has major consequences for misinformation as well as
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  obviously AI generated not safe for work content and obviously
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  legislation moves quite slowly so I'm.
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  Glad that aside. From just supporting the
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  legislation, they are doing their own thing.
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  Anyway, my next story is a little bit more Internet culture
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  E and is actually pulling from an article from the Cut, but it.
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  Is all about how. Tweens are starting podcasts.
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  This piece was written by EJ Dixon, who we often cite in our
• 11:59
  Sobstack newsletter. But she started.
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  By referencing a podcast called MD Foodie.
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  Boys, which is hosted by 4 Eighth Grade BFS.
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  As Dixon notes. Quote It feels a.
• 12:11
  Bit like watching Joe Rogan, except cursing isn't allowed and
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  the discussion topics are about double stuffed Oreos instead of
• 12:18
  IVA, mectin and ayahuasca. She explains that the podcast
• 12:21
  gained popularity last year when one of the hosts.
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  Brothers who also access the podcast.
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  Social media manager. Posted a TikTok video about
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  celery that started to go. Viral The Instagram now sits
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  AT219K followers. With their tik.
• 12:35
  T.O.K just under 100K followers. As you probably would have
• 12:38
  guessed by. The name.
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  On the podcast they. Discuss food and.
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  They also have. Different nicknames, one of them
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  is Mclovin, like from Superbad. They have also made significant
• 12:49
  waves in the podcasting world already, even going to the bar
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  stool office recently and meeting Dave Portnoy Dixon.
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  Also adds that this. Obviously isn't the only tween
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  slash teen run podcast. She does know a couple of
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  examples, one of them being Girl Talk which includes 4 teenage.
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  Girls who quote. Expose all things about their
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  boyfriends, cheating exes, social media insecurity,
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  hygiene, parents, and more. I think this is a really
• 13:13
  interesting development because we've obviously seen tween and
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  kid influences for years at this point, with many of them
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  starting on YouTube. Or TikTok.
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  Or obviously being part of a family vlogging channel, which
• 13:23
  is not. Good, but obviously.
• 13:25
  With a general trend in the online world seemingly moving
• 13:29
  towards podcasting, I can see how podcasting has become
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  another place for them to expand into.
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  I'm obviously in two minds about.
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  All of this. Because first, I know just how
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  fun it can be being a tween or a young teenager to watch people
• 13:44
  your own age just vlogging or chatting.
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  Like I grew. Up watching the likes of makeup
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  by Mandy 24, also known as a Man of Steel, and later Emma
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  Chamberlain, who. Are both around my?
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  Age and it just hits different watching people in your own age
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  demographic, so I can see why. There is a.
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  Place for this kind of content, but now we just have it so much
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  more context than we did back in the 20 tens around how how the
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  digital space works and how influencing them operates.
• 14:12
  It is so clear. How overwhelming going viral can
• 14:15
  be and developing a following can be at such a young age.
• 14:18
  Also, since podcasting is a relatively nascent industry,
• 14:23
  there is no way that there is enough protection around these
• 14:26
  young. Podcasters.
• 14:27
  It is safe to say though, that with the rise of kid.
• 14:31
  Fluences and this niche of podcasting, it definitely raises
• 14:35
  some interesting questions around the line between hobbies
• 14:38
  and labor and profit, as well as consent versus control and at
• 14:42
  the end of the. Day that just.
• 14:43
  Definitely needs to be. Guardrails to protect.
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  Teen and young. Podcasters especially.
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  When they are out there doing it themselves also, I can't help
• 14:51
  but find it maybe a little bit concerning that many of these
• 14:55
  young boys would probably be inspired by the likes.
• 14:58
  Of Bastille, Joe. Rogan and Theo Von Of course,
• 15:02
  these podcasts may not be inherently political.
• 15:05
  But they would. Lean towards the right
• 15:08
  politically and with that context and the rise of the
• 15:10
  manosphere and just the general direction.
• 15:13
  Of the digital space as it veers towards.
• 15:15
  Conservatism. I don't know if this source of
• 15:18
  inspiration is a positive thing, but then again, they can make it
• 15:22
  their own thing. As well also.
• 15:23
  Just before we finished up, I just wanted to know that there
• 15:26
  is a lot happening with the Meta antitrust trial at the moment,
• 15:30
  which has come up since the. U.S.
• 15:32
  Federal Trade. Commission says that Meta has
• 15:34
  monopolized the social media market.
• 15:36
  Through. Purchasing Instagram and
• 15:38
  WhatsApp over the years, Honestly I'm not.
• 15:41
  Entirely sure, if you guys. Would be interested in that.
• 15:43
  Because it feels. Like a bit more of.
• 15:45
  A crossover of. Politics and tech.
• 15:47
  As opposed. To tech and Internet culture
• 15:50
  which is I feel like more where infinite scroll and mini scroll.
• 15:53
  Lives so I. I didn't.
• 15:54
  Choose to cover it this week but I just wanted.
• 15:56
  To flag it in case you wanted the rundown.
• 15:59
  I'd be happy to throw it in. To a later.
• 16:01
  Episode. OK, well I guess that is.
• 16:04
  Everything from me today. Lauren will obviously be jumping
• 16:07
  back on the pod tomorrow and there will also be a new
• 16:10
  episode. Of high stakes, otherwise I will
• 16:13
  just. Speak.
• 16:13
  To you next. Week, thanks for listening.
• 16:15
  Bye.