contents contents
full screenprintcontentsfull screenprintYOUTUBER I 38
Erik is a writer, photographer and filmmaker from Sacramento,
California.Soon, AI began taking on larger
roles in our lives, making orders
from online retailers, operating
driver-less cars, and even co-star-
ring in romance movies opposite
Joaquin Phoenix. Did we actually
believe it would stop there?
Now that AI has delved into
the depths of the modern hu-
man psyche, it’s ready to strike at
any minute. But our new over-
lords won’t be evil robotic Arnold
Schwarzenegger look-alikes sent
by Skynet. They’ll be much more
subtle. Our destruction will comeElection Prediction : Conspiracy Edition
with a smiling face and soothing words that will slip
in right under our noses.
Recently, the Xinhua News Agency in China un-
veiled the world’s first AI news anchors. These AI TV
personalities are made to look and sound like real
people. While these models are a bit rough around the
edges, it’s only a matter of time before they’re seam-
less, and viewers will have no way of knowing when
they’re hearing from a human, or from an amorphous
digital intelligence.
And that brings me to the point at hand.
We are only a few years away from every ‘person’
we see on screen being a simple CGI overlay used by
powerful, nearly omniscient AI.
Every star of every movie, every athlete, and even,
you guessed it — even politicians.
The AI has all the market research it needs; it
knows us inside and out. The millions that politi-
cal campaigns spend on demographics and market
research aren’t needed anymore. The data that used
to be collected over a span of months by an army of
canvassers, pollsters and campaign volunteers can
now be pulled together in nanoseconds by powerful
programming. Human politicians simply won’t be
able to compete. The computers will target each and
every voter and tell the well-meaning citizens exactly
what they, as individuals, want to hear in order to
support the AI candidate.
When we add onto this the inherent threat of Deep-
Fakes, which I uncovered not too long ago, you have a
truly terrifying scheme. Not only could there be new
AI, but now we have the potential for anyone you’ve
seen on screen to be a digital person, replicated with
a deep-fake skin over an AI intelligence.
We have the technology; how would we ever know
it’s happened?
Maybe it already has.CONSPIRACY THEORY
010 Short - Conspiracy Theory.indd 38 2/19/19 2:53 PMYOUTUBER I 39
BY TOM GRENNELL
Guides: How to Become the Biggest YouTuber Ever
So you want to be the world’s biggest YouTuber, huh? Well good news, you’ve come to
the right place. I’ve got here for you a nice easy guide with a few simple steps. If you
follow them correctly, you can expect to dethrone Pewdiepie in a matter of weeks.THE WHAT:
First thing’s first: If you want to
get big for making content, you’ve
got to make big content. While you
can find everything from Spider-
Man/Elsa romcoms to puppy day-
care videos on this site, there are a
few things that will always be gold.
Storytime videos are chief
among these. The catch is, you
have to make sure that your story
is hardcore dramatic. Interpret
this as you will, though. WhetherGUIDES
it’s an intense story or just an
intense delivery, if you leave your
viewers thinking you were either
viciously wronged or a hero in ac-
tion, you’re all set to go.
If stories are less your style,
there will always be a rampant
market for drama. This is another
category you can take in two
ways. The first path is to be the
drama. This is, by far, the easiest
thing to do. Most viral stars who
hit it big this way make it look like383 Guides - General Become Bigges YouTuber.indd 39 2/19/19 2:56 PM