Skip to main content

'Cheapfake' AI Celeb Videos Are Rage-Baiting People on YouTube

4 months 1 week ago
WIRED identified 120 YouTube channels creating AI-generated celebrity confrontation/rage-baiting videos using still images and artificial voiceovers (rather than deepfake technology). One channel, Talk Show Gold, accumulated 88,000 subscribers with a fake Mark Wahlberg and Joy Behar confrontation that drew 460,000 views. YouTube removed 37 flagged channels following WIRED's inquiry, including Celebrity Central and United News. The platform updated its policies on July 15 requiring disclosure when content shows real people doing things they didn't do. University of Bristol cognitive psychologist Simon Clark characterized the videos as "cheapfakes" that exploit emotional triggers despite their unsophisticated production. Most channels operate from outside the United States and display signs of coordinated content farming operations.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

msmash

Are you willing to pay $100k a year per developer on AI?

4 months 1 week ago
Or, more? Eventually, AI companies will stop selling their services as a loss leader, and then the AI "cost-savings" will disappear like dew on a hot summer morning

Bosses throughout the world love the idea of using AI to replace employees. They can talk all they want about how much more efficient everyone will be with AI, but the truth is if they can fire staffers, their bottom line looks better, their stock price goes up, and the CEO makes a ton more money.…

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

New Zealand's Population Exodus Hits 13-Year High as Economy Worsens

4 months 1 week ago
New Zealand citizens leaving the country have hit the highest levels in 13 years, with more than a third of those emigrating aged under 30 years as unemployment rises and economic growth remains soft. From a report: Data released by Statistics New Zealand on Friday showed 71,800 New Zealand citizens departed New Zealand in the year ended June 2025, up from 67,500 in the previous 12-month period and below the record 72,400 in the year ended February 2012. New Zealand's net migration, which is the number of those arriving minus those leaving, also fell with foreign nationals moving to the country of 5.3 million nearly halving from 2024.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

msmash