Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI TECH SCROLL: Studio Ghibli AI trend, Australian politics x influencer backlash + Substack to roll out video

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MINI TECH SCROLL: Studio Ghibli AI trend, Australian politics x influencer backlash + Substack to roll out video · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  Hey everyone, and welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
• 0:03
  culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
• 0:05
  media, the creator economy and the digital space every Monday
• 0:08
  through Thursday. My name is Annabelle and I'm
• 0:10
  your Wednesday Mini Scroll host and also the deputy editor of
• 0:14
  the youth digital media brand Centennial World.
• 0:17
  If you are watching the podcast, you may have noticed that we
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  have some different decor out today.
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  If you're listening, I have set up a couple cupcakes and a
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  little candle to celebrate one year of mini scroll today.
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  I obviously did not light the candle because that would be a
• 0:35
  fire hazard and also if the candle looks a little bit off, I
• 0:40
  did break it, but we're just going to ignore that.
• 0:43
  Honestly, I can't believe it is only being one year of Mini
• 0:47
  Scroll. Even though I only started
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  hosting it in January, it has been so eventful and honestly,
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  it feels like mini Scroll has been going on for decades at
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  this point. So we just wanted to say thank
• 0:59
  you from the team here at Centennial Weld.
• 1:02
  For all of you who TuneIn to Mini Scroll every day, for all
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  of you who found the podcast through Mini, we love it.
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  So thank you again for tuning in and I guess happy birthday to
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  Mini scroll. Other than all of that, Please
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  remember to rate, review and subscribe to Infinite Scroll.
• 1:21
  And let's just get right into the content for this week.
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  OK, so the first story we have to talk about today is the AI
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  Studio Ghibli trend that has absolutely taken the Internet by
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  storm. I just want to preface before we
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  get into this story that I'm not exactly 100% sure of its
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  pronunciation. I have seen mixed report
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  thoughts over whether it is Studio Ghibli or Studio Ghibli,
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  so if I get it wrong I am very sorry.
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  But if you are unfamiliar with the studio, it is a Japanese
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  animation studio that has quite a distinct animation style.
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  I was introduced to these films through Spirited Away which was
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  a movie released in 2001. It's honestly such a great film
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  but it also traumatized me as like a toddler because I will
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  never forget watching that film and seeing the parents of Tejiro
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  turn into pigs. After that scene, I was truly
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  scared of pigs for a while. But that is irrelevant.
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  Let's just get into this AI trend.
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  This all started after Open AI recently released the Images for
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  ChatGPT tool that allows users to generate images within
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  ChatGPT itself. It's been sold as an upgrade to
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  Opening Eyes previous image generation tools.
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  We don't need to get into all of the technical stuff, but
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  obviously this was very exciting to social media users because we
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  all know how weird AI generated images sometimes turn out.
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  I will just add though that this update has faced some criticism
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  because it doesn't include any visual watermarks or indicators
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  that suggest that these images are AI generated, but it is
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  reportedly included in the metadata of the image.
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  Anyway, after this update was rolled out, social media users
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  started using the tool to make existing pictures look like they
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  were created by Studio Ghibli. I'm not 100% sure how this trend
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  started. It seems to have started from a
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  viral tweet by a former Amazon engineer whose name is Grant
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  Slatton, who shared a post writing quote.
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  Tremendous alpha right now and sending your wife photos of
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  y'all converted into Studio Ghibli anime.
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  Nonetheless, it did start off quite wholesome with people
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  uploading pictures of themselves, pictures of their
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  pets and also families to see what they would look like within
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  this specific animation styles. As things so often do on the
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  Internet, it was quickly taken in a bit of a weird direction
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  and for lack of a better word, a problematic 1.
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  Of course, the most public example of this actually came
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  from the White House. The official White House account
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  on X took to the platform to share a studio giblified picture
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  of a woman who was arrested earlier this month by US
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  Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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  Not only is this just weird coming from an official account
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  and feels like some kind of chronically online propaganda,
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  but it is obviously extremely insensitive.
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  I honestly don't really want to get into this too much, but it
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  really shows an honestly scary vibe shift where you have
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  official accounts like the White House who are almost too
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  obsessed with engagement that it doesn't really matter who they
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  hurt or offend in the process. On top of this, I've said this
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  before and I'll say it again, it just shows how chronically
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  online this administration is in the US, reinforcing the
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  connection between all things politics, tech, and Internet
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  culture, which we will actually get into a little bit more later
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  this episode. But other than the White House,
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  there were other images that were recreated from various
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  traumatic events throughout history.
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  Some included 9/11 and even JFK's assassination.
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  Aside from questions over what we should be asking ChatGPT to
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  recreate, some other important conversations have started
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  circulating. We have spoken a lot on this
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  podcast about the problems with AI pulling from existing data,
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  where many Internet users have likened it to a form of
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  plagiarism, and now similar discourse has started around
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  this image generation tool. Many critics of the update have
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  claimed that Open AI is not doing enough to protect the
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  intellectual property of the artists.
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  When we consider Studio Ghibli as an example, creating these
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  animations is a lot of work, and Open AI is almost knocking it
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  off, for a lack of a better phrase, with this update and
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  allowing these images to be generated.
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  In an article for The Conversation, Kai Rima and
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  Sandra Peter highlighted how this trend has opened up new
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  conversations around copyright. Given that Chat GPC is copying a
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  style quote UN quote and not content itself.
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  The authors go on to note that quote, traditionally, copyright
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  law doesn't protect styles, only specific expressions.
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  This limitation exists for good reason.
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  If someone could monopolize an entire style, it would stifle
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  creative expression for everyone else.
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  The authors continue by noting quote.
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  But there is a difference between general styles and
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  highly distinctive ones that almost become synonymous with
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  someone's identity. With this, many social media
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  users have gone on to point out the irony given that Miyazaki,
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  the founder of Studio Ghibli, has the platform themes around
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  the importance of art and craftsmanship throughout his
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  career. With that being said, he hasn't
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  publicly addressed the trend as of yet, but he has been critical
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  of AI in the past where there is one old clip that has resurfaced
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  of him talking about AI in not such a favorable way.
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  I feel like I can't personally speak to Miyazaki and Studio
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  Ghibli specifically because while I have seen some of their
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  movies, I'm not entirely well versed in the law.
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  But I do think the conversations around copyright and AI
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  generated content in certain styles are very important to
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  have, especially because in a capitalist world that prioritize
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  is this mass production and engagement online, that can
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  obviously be achieved quicker through AII worry for how human
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  creativity will hold up. That might sound a little bit
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  dramatic, but I think it is a valid concern.
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  OK, let's move on to the next story.
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  This one isn't solely tech, but I thought it was just an
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  interesting discussion around the relationship between
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  influences, new media and political reporting.
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  What actually inspired me to talk about this isn't something
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  that we would usually cover because it is quite local, but
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  there are kind of parallel discussions going on in the
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  United States right now, so I thought it would be interesting
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  to touch on them both. OK, so let's start in the
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  Australian context. Recently, Australia's federal
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  budget was handed down and as usual, journalists participated
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  in the traditional budget lock up.
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  This process allows journalists to access budget papers in
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  advance to analyze them before the official announcement.
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  This was nothing out of the usual, but what made headlines
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  was the inclusion of quote UN quote content creators and
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  social media publishers in the lock up.
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  This sparked a lot of controversy, especially from
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  legacy media outlets. A lot of the discussion that has
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  followed has been around the characterization of these
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  digital first publishers and content creators as quote UN
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  quote influences. Now, influenza is by no means a
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  dirty word, but it definitely carries negative connotations.
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  And by characterizing the digital first publishers that
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  were in attendance as influences is not entirely accurate.
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  And while there were quote UN quote content creators in
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  attendance, they weren't just random influences.
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  They are people who have a specialty in political and
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  economic content where the budget is relevant to their
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  content. Never.
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  Nonetheless, their presence was met with criticism largely from
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  traditional media, who questioned their credibility and
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  role in political reporting. Now a similar thing is kind of
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  happening in the USI will just say this is not a perfect
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  comparison, and I think these are very different contexts, but
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  I thought it would be an interesting point of discussion.
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  So last week, Trump's White House invited conservative
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  podcasters to participate in, Quote, Podcast Row, granting
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  them unprecedented access to senior officials.
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  The event also was kind of a job at the Washington press corps,
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  which have been at odds with the Trump administration.
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  I mean, I covered what happened after the Gulf of America drama
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  with the AP. We don't need to get into that
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  again. But as we all have seen by this
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  point, the Trump administration has really embraced new age
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  media. And by no means is this the
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  first administration to do so. I don't know if you guys
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  remember, but Joe Biden collaborated with a lot of
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  content creators, especially during COVID in order to try and
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  encourage young people to get vaccines.
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  But this really speed up during the 2024 election cycle where
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  many people would go on to dub that election as the quote
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  podcast election because we saw Trump and Kamala Harris engage
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  in a variety of podcasts from the Joe Reagan experience to
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  call her daddy in an effort to reach very niche audiences.
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  Like I said, I definitely don't think this is a perfect
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  comparison and I don't want to present it as such.
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  I do think with Trump in power and that kind of history of
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  media manipulation that we've seen complicates this discussion
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  a lot, as does the question whether these alternative media
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  figures are being engaged in good faith.
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  I think this brings us to a key point in both the discussions in
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  the Australian and American context.
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  The core issue here to me is not whether content creators and
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  alternative media should be included in political reporting.
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  The creator economy clearly plays an influential role we
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  have all seen about by this point.
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  The question is whether the right individuals are being
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  invited into these spaces. Ideally, it should be those
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  influencers who have a political bent to their content, and they
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  should obviously have the relevant knowledge and context
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  to present information accurately and responsibly.
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  And also, I think at this point there is far less backlash to
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  incorporating these figures in the US than there is in
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  Australia. Don't get me wrong, you can
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  definitely think that the Trump administration is inviting
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  people that only agree with what they're doing.
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  But I think it's become a little bit more accepted that new media
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  is going to play a kind of role in the political space than it
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  is in Australia. Like, I just thought the
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  backlash to these content creators and new media outlets
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  was just insane. And it kind of shows how behind
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  the Australia media landscape is.
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  At the end of the day, traditional media, I will say,
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  still commands mass audiences. But we know that young people
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  are continuing to consume news from news fluences, digital
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  publishers, and other creators. I do concede that there are
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  definitely concerns about whether some content creators or
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  podcasters lack the journalistic training and integrity needed to
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  report with nuance, potentially leading to misinformation and
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  biased coverage in a bad way. But on the flip side, many of
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  them bring alternative perspectives to the full, which
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  may involve reporting on things from an intersectional point of
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  view. But ultimately, I do kind of
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  think that if young people are consuming content from these
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  digital published podcasters news fluences anyway, it is
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  important to allow them access in a similar way to journalists
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  that may come from the more traditional side of media.
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  I'm also biased because obviously Centennial is a new
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  media company that is independent, but ultimately I
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  think it helps inform young people about what is going on
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  around them and also enhances accessibility to what has
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  traditionally been a difficult subject to understand.
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  OK, I honestly don't know if I articulated my points very well.
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  I would be intrigued to hear what you guys think about the
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  intersection between news fluences, podcasters and content
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  creators in more traditional media spaces, especially when it
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  comes to political reporting. But yeah, let's move on to the
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  last story. This one is way less complex and
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  that is some updates coming out of Sub Stack.
• 13:10
  So if you're unfamiliar with Sub Stack, which you guys honestly
• 13:14
  shouldn't be because our newsletter comes out on Sub
• 13:16
  Stack and you should already be subscribed to it.
• 13:19
  If you aren't subscribed, it comes out every Friday and we
• 13:21
  round up the five biggest think pieces on the Internet each
• 13:24
  week. But anyway, as you may have
• 13:26
  gathered, Sub Stack is a newsletter platform and it used
• 13:30
  to be predominantly used to send out emails to subscribers, but
• 13:33
  it is becoming increasingly like a traditional social media the
• 13:37
  platform. And it seems like this is going
• 13:39
  to continue because it was recently announced that Sub
• 13:41
  Stack is introducing a short form video component to the
• 13:45
  platform. According to recent reporting
• 13:46
  from Fast Company, quote Sub Stack first launched video in
• 13:50
  2022, later introducing an in app media tab in 2024.
• 13:54
  The latest redesign transforms that tab into a scrollable
• 13:57
  TikTok style feed featuring short form videos under 10
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  minutes with long form content and podcast previews expected to
• 14:05
  follow. There is obviously no
• 14:07
  coincidence to the timing of this, considering the deadline
• 14:10
  for the TikTok ban in the United States is coming up very shortly
• 14:13
  on April 5th. I'm sure there will be stuff to
• 14:16
  talk about next week about that, but I'm not going to bore you
• 14:18
  with that again. I feel like I talk about it
• 14:20
  every week, but it is clear that Sub Stack is trying to take
• 14:23
  TikTok spot. This new feed will also be a
• 14:25
  discoverability tool for creators on the platform.
• 14:29
  Much like how the For You page democratized viral fame, this is
• 14:33
  serving a similar function where readers can discover fresh
• 14:36
  voices and opinions beyond who they already subscribed to.
• 14:40
  OK, that is everything from me today.
• 14:43
  I kind of think I rambled a little bit, but that is true.
• 14:47
  Mini Scroll fashion. In honor of Mini Scroll's first
• 14:49
  birthday, if you didn't listen to yesterday's episode, Lauren
• 14:53
  mentioned that she will not be doing Mini Scroll tomorrow
• 14:55
  because she will be in Melbourne, but a new episode of
• 14:58
  High Stakes will be uploaded. So definitely make sure to check
• 15:02
  that out on the Centennial World Podcast Network YouTube channel
• 15:05
  or anywhere you listen to podcasts when you search up High
• 15:08
  Stakes. OK, well, I hope you enjoyed.
• 15:10
  Once again, happy birthday to Minnie Scroll and I will chat to
• 15:14
  you guys next week. Thanks for listening.
• 15:16
  Bye.