Celebrities are selling their souls to AI, Reba McEntire asks Troye Sivan about poppers & maths teacher accidentally shows year 4s 'Winnie the Pooh, Honey and Blood'
The best cringe news of the past week according to yours truly.
Hello friend,
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Now without further ado, let’s get into this week’s newsletter:
WYR sell your soul to AI so people can chat to your fake account or allow Instagram to generate images of you for your profile after you die?
Georjia: Selling my soul to AI so people can chat to a fake account of me doesn’t sound too bad. It’s creepy and basically a Black Mirror episode, and who knows what AI-me would say (Naomi Klein has written a book on her similar experience which I recommend). It could be a good thing for people I don’t want to speak to as they could transfer to that account and then AI-me would chat to them. But is this not just the same as a deep fake? Instagram posting for me after I die is just bizarre. I don’t even post on Instagram anymore so my account would be so much more active even though I’m dead. I’ll take the posting after I died, I’m not sure why it seems safer.
Annika: The fact that AI is becoming so ubiquitous that our WYR centres around it is bad enough, but at least in this hypothetical we have some illusions of consent as to how our identity is being used. Instagram generating images of myself in my memory seems morbid and I’d question how much it would actually help people grieve my death. Obviously, a dead person cannot consent to every single image that’s posted posthumously, but I have to admit that an AI chatbot that’s based on me is far more terrifying, especially since I’m actually alive to witness it, including its potential consequences. Sure, I’d make some money off it and who cares whether there’s an AI-me someone’s chatting to when I know who my real contacts are, but I just think there is so much more room for error with this option than Instagram generating images of me after my death. Crazy (depressing) to think that the first part of this WYR is based on a true news story while the second half is based on a joke from someone on Instagram, and I’d rather choose the latter than the former which actually exists.
Olía: Both options are obviously terrible, and it makes me want to burn all of my devices and the whole world around them. I don’t know who would want to chat to an AI version of myself, but I see its benefits. For example, it could answer Facebook comments from my stupid relatives who I don’t want to talk to. I’m slightly confused by the use of Instagram in my afterlife. What you gonna make bro? You gonna generate a selfie of me in my coffin? For practical considerations, on balance, I’m probably gonna turn myself into a chatbot (I’m scared).
WATERCOOLER CHATS
Are you snerdling in bed right now? Scrolling through your phone and putting off the day’s responsibilities just a little longer? Want to catch up on what’s been happening online and offline before you face the world? No worries friend, we got you.
Here are our favourite headlines you can bring up during conversations you’d rather not have:
This week’s WYR refers to a story about
Celebrities selling their souls to AI for a buck, so you can talk to their extended digital consciousness over chat and sell more of your attention
a guy’s idea (/joke) for Instagram to launch ‘Instagram Afterlife Mode’, using AI to continue posting photos of a user after they pass away
The girlies are fighting! Swifties unleashed their wrath on Olivia Wilde after she shared a screenshot of a tweet that read “I wish Taylor Swift was in love with a climate scientist.” What makes this funnier is that the original tweet was obviously throwing shade at celebrities doing nothing about the climate crisis, Olivia Wilde included lmao.
A maths teacher accidentally showed year 4 students 20 to 30 minutes of the slasher film Winnie the Pooh, Honey and Blood. According to a parent, the students selected the movie.
Ngl, only just found out the Jenners have a brother - even better that the revelation came through a post sharing he makes coffee with his wife’s breast milk. It’s giving Homelander in The Boys:
You might have a friend who’s rich and famous, but are they Gwyneth-Paltrow-using-her-Oscar-as-a-door-stopper-rich-and-famous?
The woman from the Christian Girl Autumn meme has finally arrived in Vermont for her annual photoshoot: And now she’s doing transitions on TikTok!!
Shoutout to the activist throwing glitter at Keir Starmer stating that
“True democracy is citizen-led. Politics needs an update.”
“We demand a people’s house. We are in crisis.”
The activist is from a new group called People Demand Democracy.
This week’s palate cleanser: Will Ferrell turning tf up on USC family weekend.
Speaking of celebrities trying to make a buck, the new Just Eat song has dropped, featuring some familiar faces.
Talk about adding fuel to the fire: Jada Pinkett Smith recalls being confused after hearing Will Smith call her his wife at the 2022 Oscars:
“We haven’t called each other husband and wife in a long time.”
Being clumsy is a fashion statement now! Watch this Marc Jacobs model present the new ‘XL Sack Bag’ campaign as she tumbles down some steps.
Imagine getting roasted by Lana Del Rey: “Giving off gremlin energy and not in a good way” was her response to someone saying she worships the devil.
Troye Sivan is going for that Ultimate Twink Title: We’re obsessed with his drag look for the “One Of Your Girls” music video.
Also, thank you for the gift of Reba McEntire asking Troye Sivan what poppers are.
CRINGE MEME*
*Bedbug meme of the week:
That’s it for this week! Feel free to let us know what cringe content, memes, and headlines you’ve been enjoying lately. Until then, we’ll see you in your inbox next Sunday!
Your Cringe Team x