I'm reading "They’re Famous. They’re Everywhere. And They’re Fake. Influencers like Lil’ Miquela and Mia Zelu have millions of followers and generate serious income, despite being created with artificial intelligence" (NYT).
1. Who's "Ms. Kahn"? Who cares?
2. I like how they put "authentic" in quotes.
3. What's the difference between A.I. "influencers" like Miquela and old-time ad mascots like Tony the Tiger and the Trix rabbit?
4. You know who else can be in Hong Kong and then in New York an hour later? Santa Claus. Kids have accepted his dictates as long as I can remember. At least Miquela isn't demanding that we be "good" and threatening us with a list. Or is it only a matter of time?
5. Here is what reality must compete with:
7. What if the people you met in real life were like Miquela, putting their plastic cup on their head and affecting an expression of inane ecstasy? And maybe they already are... and have been for a long time. I went running to find this passage from "My Dinner With André," a movie that came out more than 40 years ago:
... I turned the television on, and there was this guy who had just won the something something, you know, some sports event, some kind of a great big check and some kind of huge silver bottle, and he, you know, you know, he couldn’t stuff the check in the bottle, and he put the bottle in front of his nose and pretended it was his face, you know, he wasn’t really listening to the guy who was interviewing him, but he was smiling, huh, malevolently at his friends, and I looked at that guy and I thought “What a horrible, empty, manipulative rat.” Then I thought, “That guy is me.”
8. Writing #7 — "What if the people you met" — made me think of an old song that I gradually realized was "Who Are the Brain Police?"
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18 comments:
Santa Claus sent my mom a bag of switches to use on us when we got uppity with her, and filled our stockings full of coal.
Now that's some authentic bad-assery.
Fakery writ large. It's a plastic scene.
Max Headroom 2025 - “A Little More Authentic”
Go on, tell me people are smart. I dare you.
I hope the kids out there eventually revolt against or simply ignore this kind of manipulative crap.
a nice long walk.
A.I. has just informed me that the name of the Lucky Charms mascot is Lucky the Leprechaun which comes as a complete and total disappointment but I learned how to spell leprechaun so that's something.
I don't see what the problem is here. Exactly how "authentic" is your average female influencer, podcaster, blogger, entertainer, or just female in general? I mean, let's see both the Before and After photos that confirm the amount of "editing" or image recreation that took place. As in boobjob, nosejob, botox, hair dye/wig, trowel-applied makeup, etc.
We guys already accept enormous levels of inauthenticity. In fact we love it for the fantasy it creates for both of us. We get that it's annoying because AI can do it even better. But we're still good with the human version of female inauthenticity. Really.
Is this guy AI... or drugs?
I never want my daughter to date a self-styled "rapper".
I never want my son to date a self-styled "influencer".
Are they actually influencing anything? Apart from very short lived minor ‘pop’ stupidities, there are just followers and ad revenue.
Makeup wearing is for looking better even in unreal life. Presumably the more naked version would be awful.
"influencer" = Don't be yourself - follow the rules.
Or "trend setter".
a few examples:
• The THEY/THEM progressive social contagion.
• Gray interior design
• Black and white interior design
• Glossy Anna Wintour Fashion magazines
Influencers everywhere hate this simple trick.
Won't somebody please think of the Influencers.
The only thing someone referring to themselves as an "influencer" has ever influenced me into doing, was rolling my eyes.
"The only thing someone referring to themselves as an "influencer" has ever influenced me into doing, was rolling my eyes."
I with you, Kak. But I have the same reaction when I hear someone is "an activist".
"You know who else can be in Hong Kong and then in New York an hour later? Santa Claus."
Captain Kirk can do it in an instant.
Bilocation. Padre Pio approves. RR, JSM
The secret of life is authenticity — when you can fake that, you've got it made.
My social media activities rarely if ever expose me to "influencers" so despite being "everywhere" I'm proud to say I've never heard of these two. With AI advancing as fast as it is, it won't be long before telling who is real and who is fake on the internet will be impossible. Welcome to the future.
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