Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI TECH SCROLL: AI artist hits Billboard charts, male newsfluencers dominate + are AI browsers a security threat?

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MINI TECH SCROLL: AI artist hits Billboard charts, male newsfluencers dominate + are AI browsers a security threat? · Mini Scroll

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  This episode of Mini Tech Scroll is brought to you by Blackbird,
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  a venture capital firm investing in Aussie and Kiwi startups From
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  the very beginning, Blackbird invests in all kinds of
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  technology. So if you have a big idea but
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  notes. Hey everyone, and welcome to
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  Mini Scroll, the daily Internet culture podcast bring you the
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  biggest stories from social media, the creator economy, and
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  the digital space every Monday through Thursday and sometimes
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  Fridays. My name is Annabelle and I'm
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  your Wednesday Mini Tech Scroll host and also the deputy editor
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  of the youth digital media brand Centennial World.
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  Welcome back to Mini Tech Scroll for another week.
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  This is our first week in the new office.
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  This is my first time recording in the new office, so if I feel
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  a little bit off, I think it's just because I'm getting used to
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  the space. I know it like looks the same
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  for you guys, but it's just a much bigger room, a different
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  lighting on the wall basically, so I hope it looks good because
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  We also have a buy me a coffee link in our description if you
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  want to check that out, But let's just get right into the
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  content for today. The first thing we need to talk
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  about is how we have officially had the first AI artist debut on
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  a radio Billboard chart. So I have literally seen this
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  all over my For You page, but if you haven't, an AI generated
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  artist named Zania Monet is quote the first AI powered
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  artist to debut on an airplay chart this week.
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  As per Billboard, Zania is an artist who was created by a
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  Mississippi based poet, Talisha Nikki Jones, and she reportedly
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  uses an AI music tool called Suno to create the music for
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  Zania. Zinnia appears as a black woman
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  and I'll insert some videos on the screen for those of you who
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  are watching, and she seemingly produces contemporary R&B style
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  music. I've seen a lot of people
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  comparing her to my girl Beyoncé, and I can definitely
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  hear some influence there, but obviously no one can top the
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  Queen. Now, Zinnia has charted on
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  several Billboard charts up until this point, but why she is
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  currently making the news is that she has earned enough radio
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  airplay to debut on the Billboard radio chart.
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  The song in question is 1 called How Was I Supposed to Know?
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  And that has actually also made the rounds on TikTok.
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  But before this, she debuted on the Billboard charts for quote,
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  Hot Gospel songs with Let Go, Let Go which climbed to #3 on
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  the chart and Hot RB songs with How Was I Supposed to Know which
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  hit #20 at its peak. I also should add here that
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  Zinnia is buying means the first AI artist to chart on Billboard,
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  but she is definitely the first one to kind of break out of the
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  digital space and have radio appeal.
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  And after she initially started getting buzzed, there was an
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  alleged bidding war to sign her with office up in the millions.
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  Which is crazy to think about when it is an AI generated
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  persona who wouldn't be able to tour maybe in the same way as a
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  human artist. And that is honestly where
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  artists make so much of their money.
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  But it was reported in the end that Hallwood Media ultimately
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  signed her to a multimillion dollar deal.
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  There is obviously a lot to say about this story, and I do think
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  we can make quite a few comparisons to Tilly Norwood,
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  who was the AI actress that recently made waves in the
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  industry that I reported on a couple weeks ago.
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  But while I was preparing this story, I did scroll through
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  Zinnia's TikTok content. At the time of recording she is
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  sitting at around 450K followers with some of her most popular
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  videos getting millions and millions of views.
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  And the comment sections of her videos are a little bit sauce.
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  I won't lie, you have a lot of people who are hyping her up,
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  which I think could be bots. They kind of have the vibe of
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  bot generated comments, but then you also have others questioning
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  whether she is a real person or not.
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  Once again showing how it is getting harder and harder to
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  differentiate between AI content and human content online.
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  I also saw an interesting take by a creator named Zowie.
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  I think that's how you pronounce it.
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  I'm not 100% sure but I have referenced her here before.
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  She is a tech content creator and also a VC.
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  But in her video talking about Zinnia, she posed a couple of
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  interesting questions that I also think are important to
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  raise. First she asked who actually
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  gets paid when the artist is AI? Is it the platform that is
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  helping Talisha Jones produce the music?
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  Or is it Talisha herself? And then she also wondered who
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  we can actually qualify as the artist.
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  I think these two questions will only be answered as this kind of
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  first wave of AI artists and performers come through.
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  So I do think that is just something that the industry will
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  eventually have to sort out. So everyone says that they don't
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  want AI music, but one of the newest artists climbing the
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  Billboard charts right now isn't even human.
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  There are a lot of questions that come up to mind for me.
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  Like who actually gets paid here?
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  Is it Suno or Talisha Jones or the artist that her model was
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  trained on? And who is the actual artist
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  here? Is it Talisha Jones or Suno the
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  software? On top of this, she also added
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  that down the line she could see the introduction of certain
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  categories in award shows that focus on AI generated music,
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  which I could also see being the case unless the industry really
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  is trying to separate itself from endorsing this kind of
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  music. Something that I wanted to add
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  to this conversation though is what this kind of AI generated
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  artist means for representation. On the one hand, I do think you
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  could make the argument that these artists create more
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  diversity in the industry through diversity of
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  opportunity. Like maybe someone is a
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  brilliant songwriter or poet, but they can't actually sing.
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  I don't know if that is a valid argument, but I think we can't
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  ignore that. I do think it's also worth
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  asking whether these types of artists are taking opportunities
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  away from real people who can represent marginalized groups
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  and minorities. But I'm curious to hear what you
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  guys think about this, especially around the questions
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  of compensation that the Tik Toker raised.
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  If Talisha isn't the one being paid.
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  It does feel like the industry is just finding a new way to
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  profit off the image and sound of black R&B artists without
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  fair recognition or reward. I'm not sure where I sit on this
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  as a whole yet. I feel like I really have to
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  think about it and see how the industry and consumers react to
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  these kind of artists. But I'm definitely curious to
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  hear your thoughts. Actually have another piece of
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  music industry cross AI news that dropped this week.
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  This is a little bit of a tangent, but Universal Music is
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  teaming up with AI music platform Video after settling A
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  lawsuit with them. So the lawsuit was a copyright
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  issue, which is something that we have become accustomed to
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  with AI generation. At this point.
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  Universal basically hopes to prove how various AI generated
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  songs on Udio resembled or mimicked Universal owned music.
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  As part of the agreement, they will now be teaming up on a new
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  streaming platform, which is being billed as part Spotify,
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  part creator driven, part social network, according to the
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  Rolling Stone. Per the publication quote.
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  The idea, execs for both companies tell Rolling Stone is
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  a service that, with artist permission, will allow listeners
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  to use AI to revamp well known songs, utilize singers, actual
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  voices for new creations, and mash up multiple artist styles,
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  among other innovations. On top of this, on this new
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  platform, no AI creations can be downloaded or posted outside the
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  platform and it seems that users will only be allowed to work
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  with songs and creators who have opted in.
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  It kind of seems like Universal is trying to find a more
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  permanent solution to all the copyright issues that are coming
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  up with AI because there clearly seems to be a demand among
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  audiences to make AI generated music.
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  Whether that is a desire to consume it, I'm not so sure.
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  I think it's a little bit different, but obviously when
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  consumers and users create AI music and post it elsewhere, it
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  can be a form of stealing and will likely hurt many people in
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  the industry like producers and writers down the line.
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  So it does kind of seem like Universal is trying to strike a
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  balance between what is happening online and what
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  consumers are already doing and protecting artists.
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  I'm not too sure if this will be successful, but I'm intrigued to
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  see what actually happens with this platform.
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  OK, the next story I have for you guys today is all about this
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  report that has recently come about news fluences.
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  The report was released by Reuters Institute for the Study
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  of Journalism, which is the UK based Research Institute and
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  think tank based at the University of Oxford.
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  Last week they published a report all about news fluences.
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  The whole thing is like 80 pages so there is a lot in there.
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  I would definitely recommend reading it though, I found it
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  super interesting. But before we get into some of
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  the key findings, I did just want to note the research
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  methodology because after doing my honours year at university I
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  realized how important that is. So most of the data came from
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  the Reuters Institute Digital News Report surveys through 2024
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  and 2025. The researchers also used open
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  text response boxes to collect the data and it was across 24
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  countries through Europe, the Americas, Africa and the Asia
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  Pacific. I thought though I would go
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  through some of the more useful findings or interesting findings
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  in the report. And the first thing that I found
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  to be quite useful is how the research is differentiated
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  between different types of news creators.
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  And they broke it down into 4 categories.
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  The first was commentary, which is like the Joe Rogan's of the
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  world. These creators are often
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  polarizing and maybe a little bit controversial given that
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  they are unconstrained by the rules around traditional media
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  and also rage bait. This type of content is just
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  what gets engagement online at the moment as we all know.
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  The next type of creator though was news and investigation
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  creators. So these are creators or citizen
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  journalists who maybe break news but also create meticulously
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  researched content. The next was explanation driven
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  creators, and these are people who give context and explain the
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  news quite simply and getting down to the basics, which is
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  often catering to younger audiences.
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  And lastly, the report notes the specialists who are creators or
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  journalists who specialize in a certain topic.
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  And the report actually uses Taylor Lorenz here as an
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  example. Aside from these news fluencies
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  slash news creators, the report also notes the existence of news
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  adjacent creators who, quote, rarely talk about news and
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  politics. But the size of their audience,
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  which is often larger than those in the first section, and the
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  trust and authenticity that they have built up can still have a
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  powerful impact on political debates.
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  And an example of this is someone like Alex Cooper.
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  Anyway, I thought that was quite a useful way to qualify
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  different types of news creators because I do think they often
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  get lumped together as one type of creator when there definitely
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  is a lot of different niches within this corner of the
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  Internet. Anyway, let's get into some of
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  the key findings, which is probably the most interesting
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  part of the report. The research has found that
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  there are significant differences between countries as
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  far as the impact of news creators.
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  I was surprised to learn that some of the places where news
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  creators are the most influential are places like
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  Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. And by contrast, Japan and the
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  UK and the Netherlands were some of the places where these
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  creators are the least influential or impactful.
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  Off the back of this, another finding was that creator
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  consumption is generally national or local in nature,
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  meaning users tend to consume domestic creators.
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  This definitely doesn't surprise me.
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  I feel like I would see a lot of Australian news creators
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  compared to someone abroad because why is it relevant to
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  them? But the report also does note a
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  significant overlap in English speaking countries, which I can
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  definitely see in terms of how many creators the United States
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  would export to places like Australia.
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  But perhaps the most egregious finding, and potentially
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  upsetting finding, is that news creators and personalities tend
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  to be men. I fear it's not really a
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  surprise, but it is always confronting to see it in the
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  data. So the researchers found that
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  85% of the top 15 news content creators are men across the 24
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  countries. This oversaturation of men is
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  especially pervasive in political commentary, which also
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  doesn't surprise me since our audience is mostly based in the
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  US and Australia. I thought I would share that in
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  Australia, 13 out of the top 15 news creators that were listed
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  were men, compared to 12 out of 15 in the United States.
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  And also a lot of the most frequently mentioned creators
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  actually crossed over. It seemed that the Philippines
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  actually had the lowest proportion of men, with only
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  seven out of 15 being mentioned. I will say that this isn't the
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  first piece of research that has come out that has made this
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  conclusion. I remember data by the Pew
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  Research Center last year found that online news influences are
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  predominantly men and more likely to be conservative.
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  In their study, the center found that 62% were men, with a
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  slightly larger share identifying as Republican
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  conservative or pro Donald Trump than as Democratic liberal or
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  pro Kamala Harris. Obviously this was conducted
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  during the 2024 presidential election there.
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  Interestingly though, TikTok stood out with a smaller gender
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  gap and a more balanced political representation where
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  it was the only platform where left-leaning creators
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  outnumbered their right wing counterparts.
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  But yes, I would definitely recommend if you're interested,
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  checking out the Pew Research data as well as the report that
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  was just released. I have obviously highlighted the
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  key findings, but it also includes a country by country
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  comparison, which I thought was really interesting and telling.
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  But I am also the reason why I wanted to report on this,
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  though, was especially in light of the Teen Vogue story that
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  Lauren covered yesterday where the politics team was eliminated
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  and Black journalists were laid off.
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  We often talk about social media as a space that's opened up
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  opportunities for storytelling and information sharing.
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  And there is definitely truth to that.
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  Like there are so many citizen journalists and digital creators
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  online that are platforming stories that matter to
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  minorities and marginalized community that would not be
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  covered otherwise. But at the top, we still see the
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  same patterns as traditional media.
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  It's still mostly men who are delivering the news and decide
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  what's important in more mainstream capacities.
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  Of course, part of this is the platform's fault.
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  Platforms rarely do enough to limit misogyny and harassment
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  towards women, ultimately silencing many women's voices as
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  they seek to kind of protect themselves.
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  This is something we see especially on YouTube, which the
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  report also happens to find as the most important platform for
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  news creators. So this only father stifles
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  women in these spaces. But anyway, I guess the moral of
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  the story is to keep platforming women and gender diverse folk
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  and just more diverse news creators so we can ensure
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  inclusivity, diversity, representation and coverage and
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  perspectives in the news. Because that is honestly what is
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  very important. And finally, the last quick
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  story I actually wanted to mention today is the
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  conversation going around at the moment about AI browsers and how
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  they are actually a security risk.
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  I've seen numerous articles published over the past week
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  from publications like The Verge, NBC News, and Futurism
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  talking about the risks with AI browsers like Chachi, BT's
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  Atlas, or Microsoft's Copilot mode.
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  As reported by The Verge quote, in the past few weeks alone,
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  researchers have uncovered vulnerabilities in Atlas
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  allowing attackers to take advantage of Chat GPT's memory
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  to inject malicious code, grant themselves access privileges, or
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  deploy malware. Flaws discovered in Comet could
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  allow attackers to hijack the browser's AI with hidden
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  instructions. Some of these threats are unique
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  to AI browsers compared to standard browsers due to the
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  memory functions like The Verge mentioned.
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  So that is when the AI basically learns from everything a user
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  might do. But also there is just a general
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  threat, I guess, when rolling out new technology, when
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  developers are working on products, there will be certain
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  weaknesses that they may not even realize that only come to
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  the fore through hacking, which is unfortunate, but I fear that
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  is the reality. Despite these various security
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  risks, Robin Hart for The Verge contends that AI is where the
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  worst threats are brewing. Quote.
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  The biggest challenge comes with AI agents that act on behalf of
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  the user. Like humans, they're capable of
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  visiting suspect websites, clicking on dodgy links, and
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  inputting sensitive information into places sensitive
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  information shouldn't go. But unlike humans, they lack the
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  learned common sense that helps keep us safe online.
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  So I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens and
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  how the AI browsers develop. I'm curious if any of you have
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  opted to use AI browsers if this is something you've come across.
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  But yeah, leave your thoughts in the comments.
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  Well that is everything from mini text scroll today.
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  I hope you guys enjoyed. I won't lie, I did feel a little
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  bit weird in this room, but I think we'll get used to it.
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  Lauren will speak to you guys tomorrow and I will see you next
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  week. Thanks for listening.
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  Bye.