Filed under: Attitude & Aptitude, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Consultants, Egovertising, Finance, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Money, Standards, Strategy, Technology
One of the topics that is everywhere right now is the topic of AI.
What I find particularly amazing is how many people are talking with such certainty about it, given the reality is it’s still in its early days of infancy and possibility.
The reality is – like most things – it will likely have good and bad uses.
As I wrote a while back, my brilliant son – Otis – has dysgraphia.
Dysgraphia is a form of dyslexia … except it’s less about mixing letters and more about a difficulty in writing them. In essence, dysgraphia has an impact on your motor skills and while it won’t affect his ability to learn, it will affect how he does it and what he may be able to do because of it.
More than that, there’s no ‘cure’, but with things like ChatGPT … I can see how AI could enable him to express his stories and imagination that otherwise, he would struggle to convey.
I cannot tell you how much that fills me with joy and it serves as a good reminder to stop judging and evaluating new technology by the rules, standards and experience of established technology.
But we do.
We all do.
Desperate to throw our opinion in the ring with the confidence and certainty of a mediocre white man.
[That’s for you, Chelsea]
However the recent story of Twitch streamer, Atrioc, highlights how AI can definitely be used for terrible, terrible things.
Brandon ‘Atrioc’ Ewing was live-streaming when he accidentally showed a tab that showed he had been visiting a deepfake pornography site featuring popular female Twitch streamers.
Popular female Twitch streamers he had previously claimed were his friends.
As if that wasn’t despicable enough, the site he was on requires a subscription to view its content and the page he was on was centred entirely around making deepfakes of famous Twitch streamers … which means he didn’t just choose to do it, he paid for the privilege of doing it.
Paid. For. It.
Which highlights another narrative that maybe we should also be considering about AI.
Maybe we need to discuss the character of the developers behind the tech rather than simply arguing about the value or threat of the tech.
Or said another way …
Why aren’t we having conversations about why investors place greater value on speed of monetisation than focusing on educational or humanitarian benefits of tech.
Please do not me wrong.
I’m not making any excuse for Atrioc … that fucker made his choice and there’s no way he gets to blame that on anyone else but himself … however for all the talk about the good or bad of AI, I’m not seeing much conversation about the character of the people behind it – technically and financially – when ultimately, it’s their intent and influence that shapes what it is and what it can become.
As the old saying goes, follow the money and you find the truth.
The industries problem is we have too many following their ego.
Coming from me, that say’s a lot. Hahaha.
Filed under: Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Consultants, Corporate Evil, Crap Marketing Ideas From History!, Culture, Embarrassing Moments, Marketing, Marketing Fail
Sorry Lee, but seriously … WTF?
You need to tell Mr B to ditch the management consultants and get people who actually know the soul of the brand.
Or at the very least, people who will say, “this is a terrible idea”.
I can’t even work out who this is for …
Most young people won’t know who the fuck the Pistols were.
And the people who do know are self aware enough to know how tragic this makes them look.
I know the history between the two brands but …. nooooooooooooo.
No, no, no, no, no.
And it is underpinned by Mastercard.
The ‘priceless’ people.
How can you all get it so wrong?
Well, I know how … but come on, even Stevie Wonder can see how bad an idea this is.
I appreciate you will have personally had nothing to do with it, but christ on a bike.
I bet you’re grateful comments are still turned off? Hahaha.
I’m genuinely so upset about this, but I am also willing to sort you out. For a price, hahaha.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Management, Planners, Planners Making A Complete Tit Of Themselves And Bless, Planning, Point Of View, Positioning
Yes it’s true.
I’m being ‘featured’ in a strategy app.
I can hear Andy now, losing his shit over an app for strategists.
However, on the brightside, it’s for 4+ year olds, which probably reinforces his point.
But better yet, it’s an app for strategic ‘models’ which – anyone who knows me will know – is my kind-of pet loathing. But the guy behind it, Ilya – not to be mistaken for the manipulative, wannabe-intellectual, bully from a previous life – is a top bloke and is doing it because he wants to help young planners feel they have something they can refer to given the industry has increasingly stopped investing in training and instead, outsourced it to people who teach solid basics but wrap it up as if they deserve an OBE for services to business. Or something.
Of course, this my rant is undermined by the fact I am being highlighted as ‘writing the forward’ … but I’m still dead chuffed and honoured to be asked, if only because it’s one thing Otis is slightly impressed with. And to me, that’s worth everything. So thank you Ilya and hope it is useful to all the planners out there with the title, but also the insecurity.
OK Andy, I’m waiting for your email/text/call of pisstaking.
