60. The AI Jesus Trap

5 May 2024

I.

For a while, I was bombarded by a friend who was caught in a bizarre Facebook trap. Pictures of a Jesus figure, apparently made from vegetables, bottles or other materials, kept appearing on his timeline. The captions contained random hashtags, such as #ScarlettJohansson or #cabincrew. The comments consisted solely of the word ‘Amen’.

At one point, I found myself caught in the trap too and decided to find out what was going on. It turns out that Facebook is being flooded with images created using AI. They are deliberately super bizarre, so that you’re quickly tempted to share them with friends. It’s not always entirely innocent, mind you. I wrote a piece about it on NU.nl.

After writing the article, I’m left feeling disillusioned. Mainly because of the realisation that everything surrounding this AI Jesus trap can be put together without any human intervention. AI creates the images, shares them and reacts to them. It’s a spiral of internet madness that I don’t think I was quite ready for. 404media also wrote about AI spam on social media and deliberately avoids calling it ‘the death of the internet’, preferring instead to speak of ‘the zombie internet’.

II.

In the latest Suske en Wiske album Klaartje Wakker, Klaas Vaak, the man who puts people to sleep by sprinkling sand in their eyes, is a superhero. His counterpart, Klaartje Wakker, becomes jealous and hatches a plan to keep people awake forever. Then she discovers the effect of mobile phones. Wiske can’t sleep a wink because she’s messaging all night long.

Aunt Sidonia steps in and locks Wiske’s phone in a safe. “It’s not fair,” says Wiske. “Now I’m missing all the important messages! What Lizzie had on her sandwich! Or whether Mo’s cat is still purring. And whether Aliyah has bought those new shoes! And I have to post memes! And Toktak videos! How am I going to survive this?”

When Klaartje Wakker discovers the power of the blue light, she makes sure she absorbs that power. She then ensures that everyone sees that light, and people slowly turn into zombies. And that’s when Suske, Lambik and Jerom spring into action.

I thought it was a nice touch, Klaartje Wakker as the counterpart to Klaas Vaak, who turns her screen addiction into her evil superpower. So Suske and Wiske are moving with the times. I had a good laugh a few times at this entertaining story with a message.

III.

Be warned: AI films are really on their way. This week, AI creator Runway organised its second AI Film Festival. We’ll soon be able to watch the winners’ videos online. Last year’s finalists are also available online.

One of those finalists was Expanded Childhood, a short film in which creator Sam Lawton shows slides of childhood photos. He then lets AI imagine what is happening outside the frames. This creates a strange form of nostalgia, because after the additions, the human memories suddenly become strange and distant. For example, the image generator distorts body parts and makes backgrounds melt.

Last year, 300 videos were submitted to the Runway film festival. This year, there were ten times as many.

The jury includes Paul Trillo, a director who also uses artificial intelligence himself. This week he released a music video for the track The Hardest Part by Washed Out. Not made with Runway, but with Sora, OpenAI’s video programme still shrouded in secrecy.

If you can’t get enough, here’s also [an AI interpretation of ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBJatkcofgU)*[The Simpsons](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBJatkcofgU)*[ in the 1950s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBJatkcofgU).

PS.

Last week, based on a few previews, I wrote that the AI gadget Rabbit R1 seemed likely to be more popular than the Humane AI Pin. Well, it turns out that reviewers are also not impressed by this bright orange device. Clunky, awkward, slow and with poor battery life. So we can pretty much write off the first generation of AI assistants. Although, according to the Wall Street Journal, we’re overlooking those Ray-Ban glasses from Meta.

Blogger Francisco van Jole visited the museum in Brussels where the series of ceramic devil figurines created by Nick Cave is currently on display. A lovely report featuring a brilliant quote from his father, which is hard to argue with: “You don’t have to believe in God, but you see the devil every five minutes”.

These are the first moving images from Megalopolis, the new film by Francis Ford Coppola. It’s his great passion project, a sci-fi epic starring Adam Driver, Zendaya and Shia LaBeouf. I’m really starting to get excited about this.

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Aaron Sorkin is working on a sequel to The Social Network, a 2010 film by director David Fincher starring Jesse Eisenberg about the origins of Facebook. Although, a sequel, albeit more in a spiritual sense. “I blame Facebook for 6 January,” says Sorkin. On that date, Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol. So his new film script may well be about Facebook’s mismanagement leading up to the storming. We’ll have to wait and see.

> Sorkin: “If Mark Zuckerberg woke up tomorrow morning and realised there is nothing you can buy for 120 billion dollars that you can’t buy for 119 billion dollars, ‘So how about if I make a little bit less money? I’ll prioritise integrity over growth.’ Yes, you can do that by simply swapping a one for a zero and a zero for a one.” > >

Perhaps platforms like Facebook, Instagram and X have made us forget what websites were meant for, argues The New Yorker. Now that these platforms are turning into AI spam machines and crying out for attention with increasing desperation, a small counter-movement is slowly emerging. I’m embracing that trend and often write about it on this blog. “For all those publications that have spent years chasing clicks through roundabout means, this might be the moment to revamp their website.”

In my exploration of this year’s Best Kept Secret programme, I’ve already come across a few gems that I might otherwise have missed.

Chorus by Mildlife. Automatic was another great album, but I’d completely missed the fact that the Australians had released a new one. Perfect jazz fusion for the summer.
All Born Screaming by St. Vincent. Listened to it non-stop last week; an excellent indie album. The title track is the last song and my favourite so far.
I Thought I Was Better Than You by Baxter Dury. A lovely hazy track. This chap is sometimes described as the British Serge Gainsbourg. Apparently he’s a delightfully arrogant performer too. I’ve found my ideal alternative to Disclosure on BKS.
Ramona by Grace Cummings. What a cracking voice, and musically it’s wonderfully theatrical and orchestral too. In the vein of Weyes Blood, Lana del Rey and… Bob Dylan. The album title refers to his song To Ramona.

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Someone has a Fallout-style RPG that you can play in Excel.

And someone else has created a literal Doom Scroll. As in: scroll to play the game Doom. A short demo.

Wes Anderson, together with Rupert Friend and Jason Schwartzman, made a short commercial for Montblanc, known for its Meisterstück fountain pens that cost as much as a new iPhone. Anderson also designed a fountain pen for the brand, which is due to be launched next year.

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I spoke to Tim Kuik, who is stepping down as director of the BREIN Foundation after 25 years. He might never have become ‘the most hated man on the internet’ if Steven Spielberg hadn’t made E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The farewell interview is on NU.nl.

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