Cybernews podcast #42: AI goes pop culture

From Scarlet Johansson to Jennifer Lopez, everyone seems to be talking about artificial intelligence (AI). So, naturally, we decided to talk about celebrities talking about AI.

Google search feeds on satire

Remember the drama between Scarlett Johansson and OpenAI? The voice it used for its ChatGPT eerily sounded like the famous Hollywood actress. "Shocked, angered, and in disbelief,” she was.

The internet is not letting the topic go. The Onion, a famous satire online magazine, ran the following topic this week: “Jerky, 7-Fingered Scarlett Johansson Appears In Video To Express Full-Fledged Approval Of OpenAI.”

Only she didn’t. The Onion has been there for years, long before the flood of fake news that AI made possible. We know it, you know it. But Google, apparently, doesn't. Its new feature, AI Overview, tapped into sources like The Onion when answering people’s queries online, and the results are hilarious.

Predictably, Google has partially blamed this on users – it just wasn’t trained on such random questions as how many rocks one should eat per day, and these results allegedly “aren’t representative of most people’s experiences.”

Atlas making a buzz

Once a niche topic, AI has now made its way into Hollywood. Atlas, the new Netflix movie with AI-powered robots, is making quite a stir. It’s about a genocidal bot threatening the earth with extinction and fighting it out with its human sister Atlas on another planet.

We should fear it, it’s scary, says Jennifer Lopez, the protagonist of the movie. She bases these fears on her personal experience when ads for skincare products she knew nothing about manipulated pictures of her face covered in wrinkles.

Since celebrities are talking about AI, it’s bound to go more mainstream than it already has. But are we ready for ethical debates about AI at the dinner table?

Will you miss your job when AI steals it?

Job seekers are now tapping into AI to boost their resumes. Also, as per the latest report by PwC, AI could help you boost your pay by up to 25%.

You’ll surely miss the good salary once AI steals your job. But will you miss the job itself? Owlchemy Labs, a Texas firm, has recently introduced its Job Simulator and Vacation simulator games to the Apple Vision Pro. Job Simulator is set in a world where robots have replaced human jobs. If you miss your duties, well, you can go into the virtual world and pretend to work.

“Players can relive the glory days of work by simulating the ins and outs of being a gourmet chef, an office worker, a convenience store clerk, and more.”

Another best-selling title that they introduced to the Apple Vision Pro is Vacation Simulator.

“Following record enrollment in the Job Simulator, robots set out to uncover what else humans did besides ‘job’. [...] Visit the vibrant world of Vacation Island and make real memories of a simulated vacation.”

Kayne West’s Yeezy Cybertruck that never was

Last week, we brought you news about one of the dumbest car chases in history, where a car thief in Delaware was caught after police used a car tracking app to instantly locate the Tesla Cybertruck that he stole.

This week, another story – the one that actually never was – caught my attention. In the TikTok video, Kanye West’s pyramid-shaped vehicle is seen driving down a ramp. It claims to be a customized Tesla car.

The video sent social media into a frenzy. But aren’t we all just a little bit obsessed with Cybertrucks?

While on TikTok, I checked out other viral Tesla videos. One shows a guy trying to fill up his Cybertruck with gas. Another features a white self-driving Tesla on the road with its driver sound asleep.