With the release of Google’s latest AI video model, there’s yet another reason to fear deeply for the future of humanity. From kangaroo support animals to Stormtrooper vlogs, it’s clear that AI generated video is truly ready for primetime. Julian claims we have been this way for a while now, without AI.
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https://qaapodcast.com
QAA was known as the QAnon Anonymous podcast.
Everything's an AI fake except for this podcast, but not sure.
As always, we are your hosts, Jake Rogatanski, Julian Fields, and Travis View.
The moment I first became convinced that AI-generated video content was going to be a serious problem came a few weeks ago in late May.
I saw a viral video that featured a small kangaroo in a harness holding a boarding pass in front of the entrance to a jet bridge at an airport.
On one side of the kangaroo, there is what appears to be an airline employee.
On the other side, there is a woman in a hoodie, presumably the kangaroo's owner.
The two women heatedly speak to each other in gesture.
They speak gibberish, but their conversation could easily be mistaken for some unknown foreign language.
And contextually, it's easy to infer that the women are arguing about allowing the kangaroo to board the plane.
Kangaroos do not have opposable thumbs.
Interesting.
Thank you, AI.
Yeah.
Bro, once again, kangaroos cannot hold things like that.
Not in this way.
He looks so innocent and so sad that he's not being allowed on the plane.
I'm instantly just, I'm feeling bad for this fake animal that doesn't exist.
At least within the context of this video.
Yeah, this is so, so good.
Just, oh, I really want to fly and I have opposable thumbs.
Who fell for this, Travis?
Lots of people.
Me, my wife.
Like when I first saw the video, it was from someone like pointing out it was an AI fake.
But when I watched it, I mean, I could easily understand why I might be fooled by it if, you know, if I saw it in a different context.
And I also understand why so many people thought it was real.
In fact, many people online cited it as the very first AI video that they totally fell for.
It wasn't just like gullible boomers, but it was like also like lots of young people who have like never known the world without subscribers.
Man, we really need to educate people.
I mean, I'm sorry.
You gotta know about opposable thumbs.
A very simple fact of what makes us human and what separates us.
I don't know.
I don't think most people know.
Because kangaroos, they are a very human-like marsupial.
So I think they at least buy the idea that they could hold on to something.
Yeah, they can make a fist.
Oh, here you go, Mr. Marsupial.
Look at this.
Look at this shit.
Look at this fucking shit.
You're telling me this woman handed the ticket to the marsupial while she argued.
Even if this were a support animal.
Right?
Yeah.
You don't hand the support animal the ticket.
The support animal doesn't show its ticket, doesn't scan its ticket.
Okay.
It's like they put the kangaroo in the corner like, no.
You don't understand, Mr. Kangaroo.
I think people are just, like, their brains are just Pixar'd out, like their Zootopia is real for them at this point.
And or they might be furry.
I think that was probably most people's reaction.
Yeah, I guess.
I guess.
I shouldn't shame.
I mean, there are other, like, little clues.
For example, there's infinity symbol up in this top corner here, which is, like, what airline is.
That doesn't make any sense.
What do you mean?
That could be a little, like, a fun little wall decoration.
It looks good.
That's the thing.
There aren't, like, obvious, like, AI artifacts that would sort of, like, tell someone, like, you know, strange, the lighting and the shadows and the way the fabric, the clothing.
To me, this looks 100.
I mean, minus the inconsistencies that we know about reality and the kangaroo and the thumbs and the boarding pass.
To me, this looks absolutely real.
I'm missing that final little reality check.
I think some people have it.
I think, Julian, you might have it.
Travis, you definitely have it.
But me, I'm missing that final little thing that goes, wait a minute.
This doesn't make any sense.
This has to be special effects.
Yeah, we're getting to the point where, like, when there's an AI video, it's like there's not a big, obvious tell upon first viewing, but there's something still kind of uncanny about it.
Just the way that, for example, the camera kind of, like, swept down and then zoomed into the kangaroo.
Like, that's very strange, you know?
Why are these two women not reacting to this cameraman, you know, getting in this kangaroo's face?
Yeah, I think one of the things that is so tricky about this...
That and the, you know, oh I identify as, insert here.
Or the even worse one, like, oh, what are we going to, are we going to allow marrying our dogs?
You know, it's just like, it just, it is actually, I take it back, it is cute on face value, but then what they're attempting to say is like, look how ridiculous this lib, this waspy looking woman, who also speaks like garbanzo bean or whatever language she's using, is like, you know, they're so unreasonable at this point that they're trying to get kangaroos on the flights.
Yeah, so like I mentioned, a lot of people, it's kind of a watershed moment.
There's so many videos of like people just talking about how like they fell for it, like for the first time, they feel like.
I like to think I'm pretty smart, but I just fell for an AI video for the first time.
And of all things, it's an emotional support kangaroo getting denied entry on a plane, even though it has a boarding pass.
And then the comments on that TikTok all say, wait, that was AI?
Like they're learning it for the first time from this person.
Do you have to buy a pass?
Like, even if, let's pretend the kangaroo wasn't holding the pass.
With denying it for having, like, do emotional support animals need pass?
Probably not.
Probably not.
Doesn't work like that.
But I feel like most people aren't familiar with airline policy regarding airline support animals.
It's one of those things where it's like, yeah, if you apply a little bit of reason and sort of like thinking through what exactly is being depicted in the scene, you can sort of figure out that this does not make very much sense.
But that requires a lot of cognitive work.
Yeah, like when we went to LAX and we were...
And I said, this is my emotional support, Travis.
Like, they just, they didn't, you didn't even have a pass.
That's true, that's true.
I had you in that little kind of carry-on thing, and you were on all fours in there.
You just packed me into that little container there, and yeah.
Poking out, and I just said, don't, you know, don't speak English.
And it was fine.
It all worked out.
So this video of the kangaroo wasn't intended to deceive.
It was actually created by an anonymous operator of an Instagram account called Infinite Unreality.
That's why it has that infinite symbol in the corner.
That was placed there deliberately.
So it just kind of like broke out of containment.
It was seen by like millions of people outside of Instagram and outside of that original context.
However, in an interview with Days and Confused magazine, the creator of this video, considered the fact that so many people were fooled as a kind of vindication of AI video technology.
I think the average person doesn't realize where technology is.
They don't realize what it's capable of.
I've been making these videos for a while, but they never really got onto a mainstream platform or into the media.
But I think maybe it was the fact that the kangaroo is just sitting there and looks all cute in the zoom-in effect.
It doesn't surprise me.
I always knew that I could do it, and I'm glad I did it.
I always knew I could go viral, and I'm glad I finally did.
Who is this little fucker?
Like I said, they are anonymous.
The publication did not reveal their identity.
Great.
God, the way they talk is just like, so what?
So your message's technology is here.
And I always knew I could, yeah, get a bunch of views using it.
And I think the reason for this one was, yeah, the kangaroo that I put in there.
I'm glad I did this.
Boy.
Like, what's wrong with you?
I'm talking to you, yeah, anonymous piece of shit.
What is wrong with you?
You and your fucking kangaroo.
You've been listening to a sample of a premium episode of the QAA podcast.
For access to the full episode, as well as all past premium episodes and all of our podcast miniseries, go to patreon.com slash QAA.
Travis, why is that such a good deal?
Well, Jake, you get hundreds of additional episodes of the QAA podcast for just $5 per month.
For that very low price, you get access to over 200 premium episodes, plus all of our miniseries.
That includes 10 episodes of Man Clan with Julian and Annie, 10 episodes of Perverts with Julian and Liv, 10 episodes of The Spectral Voyager with Jake and Brad, plus 20 episodes of Trickle Down with me.
Travis, for once, I agree with you.
And I also agree that people could subscribe by going to patreon.com slash QAA.
