[0:00]So, if you're watching my videos and you're anything like me, I imagine you're just as tired of seeing mass produced slop lining the shelves of your local stores or even craft markets. And instead much prefer actually supporting independent artists who create and craft their own things. A piece of artwork that is the culmination of a lot of time and skill and effort and often a skill that has taken years if not decades for somebody to perfect. And I think for many of us, Etsy was one of the original platforms that came to mind when it comes to handmade and original goods. Hell, I still use Etsy when it comes to certain cosplay items, when it comes to some independent artwork. It can still be a really good place for that kind of craft. However, more and more recently it has come under increasing scrutiny for the amount of generative AI and drop-shipped slop that is now taking over a space that was originally made for people who are creating their own artworks and products. Leaving people wondering where they can go for authentic handmade goods. And so just imagine that one day a friend, imagine having those, I couldn't I I wouldn't know. But imagine one day your friend sends you a TikTok for an independent business. You just so happen to be in the market for a new bag and coincidentally, this particular business makes these beautiful handmade fantasy leather bags. And with just a little bit more digging, you discover that she's a struggling artist, barely able to keep her business afloat. And you think to yourself, what a perfect time to buy a bag? Like this is great timing. I wanted a new bag. I now have access to this fantastic leather fantasy piece that I'm going to keep for years. And even better, I get to give my money to a small artist who's hand making it for me. That's a win-win. It's a net positive. And so, you go to the link in their bio, which they always mentioned in these videos and you end up picking up yourself a not so insignificantly priced 71 pound hand crafted leather dragon bag. Only to discover that you've been the victim of another AI scam. And sadly, videos like these have been popping up all over social media, especially TikTok and Instagram reels. These are emotional, crying, desperate artists who just want to keep their business alive and need your support. They need you to save their failing business. Come on, guys. Be generous. I mean, you wouldn't scroll past a struggling artist, would you? You wouldn't think to yourself, oh, I can get it cheaper on AliExpress or eBay. No, you want to support a real artist, right? And apparently, according to these artists, people have been really mean in their comments as well, insulting the quality of their bag or even how they look. They are having a really rough time. But you, you could be a bit of a hero in this situation. You could give your hard earned money to this small business and this struggling artist and make their day that bit better. But, dear viewer, what would you say if I told you that all of these desperate struggling artists who are crying on your for you page are in fact just generative AI? Very quickly cast your mind back. Back to a day where Chat GPT didn't dominate the internet or your workplace inbox. Because like me, you may have actually stumbled across a site full of fake people. This website was called thispersondoesnotexist.com. And every time you refresh the web page, it would show you a new face of a person that simply doesn't exist. It was a website created by Phil Wang in 2019 using generative adversarial networks. This being a tool developed by Nvidia to create very convincing AI faces. And I remember when this hit the internet, because people were completely astounded as to how realistic some of these people could look and at times, how creepy and cook some of the other ones could look. Like, these could very easily be used to catfish people. In fact, I'm almost certain people did use these pictures as catfish pictures, even just as a profile icon. But then equally, if you refresh the web page, you could very equally be met with somebody who has a very off-looking ear or half of their face looking very separated from the other side. Most of the time, it was very convincing, but sometimes it would come up with these very kind of early stage generative AI faces that could quite often look very uncanny valley. And it's important to remember as well, for as easy as it is to forget, that this just wasn't technology that we'd ever really seen before, being able to create somebody with the click of a button was just unheard of technology. And in fact, some websites would use the images created on thispersondoesnotexist.com to actually test our ability to differentiate between real human faces and AI faces. You'd end up getting some right, but then you'd also end up getting some wrong, marvelled at the fact that you were somehow fooled by algorithms and code. For many of us, this was unserious fun and games, kind of like the Will Smith spaghetti video. But for others, it was a warning for things to come. Little did we realize we'd have to get used to spotting these fake faces, fake products in our day-to-day lives as we simply open social media. And just a couple of years on from 2019, we now have websites fully capable of generating viral videos and clips at the click of a button. As well as completely AI generated talking people. People who could coincidentally be very easily inserted into an advert or made to say whatever you want them to. Platforms like TikTok are now being flooded with these AI influencers, often going undetected, gaining hundreds and thousands of followers, such as the account, Go For Anthony. A page that has over half a million followers on TikTok and Instagram, dedicated to AI generated videos of a man battling a goat and getting knocked over and bashed around again and again. It's starting to feel a little bit like that movie Idiocracy. Do you remember that one? Some of the AI videos I see in the AI photos I see, I'm like, we're just creeping closer and closer to Idiocracy. Every damn time AI generation comes into the mix, because I feel like we're just our threshold for humor and what entertains us is just going lower. Like brain rot is actually a real thing at this stage. Because I'm just noticing the decline of humor. It's, it's getting as simple as just going, just going pee pee. And people just go crazy for it. You can go to the comment section of any given video on Go For Anthony's page and be surprised at the few amount of people commenting on the fact that these are AI videos. Clearly many people just aren't aware as to how convincing AI generation has gotten over the last couple of years and how easy it is for it to go undetected. And you might be thinking, hey, Addy, it's just a stunt that's AI generated, right? Well, no, every single aspect of these videos are AI generated. Do not be fooled by this person holding the phone, because this person does not exist. Or at least this version of this person might not exist. Because it very well could actually be a real human being's likeness that is being co-opted for the content. For whatever reason, many people tend to just plug their faces or the faces of their loved ones, such as their children, into these AI dancing filters or into these AI generation softwares. Turning themselves into a content creator who can then go on to make videos at a breakneck pace promoting the next TikTok shop viral slop. Or even worse, a clickable link to a website that you simply can't know or trust. It's genuinely eerie how closely this video resembles a person simply holding their phone. Talking to the camera in a convincing, organic human way. Turning away from the camera, organically looking to the left and right, and even a little bit of unsteadiness when they hold their phone.
[7:10]Not to mention the fact that they can talk. And we're not experiencing these bad lip sync dubs that you see in older video games. They look like they're saying the words that are coming out of their mouth. In many cases, it's just something we've not grown the ability to accurately clock yet. And again, it's only getting more and more convincing. Not to mention the state of Facebook, which I think for many is now just a way of keeping in contact with family. It's not used the same way that it was when I was growing up. Um, it's really just Facebook marketplace and grandparents now, but the state of Facebook is shocking. Like our parents are cooked. They're watching AI videos of bunnies jumping on a trampoline. Or even better, some nice tasty political propaganda with fake immigrants fresh off the boat walking into their Marriott Hotel.
[8:00]Just bear that in mind next time you're going over for family dinner and you're discussing who you're voting for. And also just as a tidbit, too, there is a lot, and I mean a lot, of AI chatbot pornography. Porn advertisements. We're talking straight up as well. I don't have this algorithm. However, my friend, who is a man, um, does have this algorithm, and he's been screen recording the things that come up on his phone. Many of these being pretty, um, risque if not outright hardcore, and actually really scary, uh, AI chatbot advertisements, where the chatbot quite literally says, you can put any face you want on me. You can make me look like anyone you know. That's a real thing, by the way, that these chatbots are advertising, and I do feel like I have to point that out right now because that is being advertised to the men that you know. So today's video was sponsored by the beautiful members over on my Patreon, because we don't have a regular sponsor, but we do have our ongoing channel supporters. Starting at $2.50 a month, you can get ad-free and downloadable viewing of all of my publicly available content. And for Otaku and Oshiti patrons, you also get early access viewing of my content when possible. And of course, additional patron exclusive content for those tiers. Some of my most recent patron exclusive content has included an updated office and collection tour, which is over an hour long. As well as my two panels from Megacon London, including one interactive panel that you can play along with, whilst you watch. And of course, I have more travel vlogs and other video ideas planned, so stay tuned for that too, because they'll be uploaded and scheduled as we go on. In a time where about 90% of the emails myself and other creators get for sponsorships are AI, stuff like Dola AI, which are persistent and constant and you can't filter them out. It is really important and it's really, really appreciated to have people actively supporting me, my channel, what I make and create. Your direct support does mean a lot. It does mean the world. So if you can, please consider checking out the Patreon. And one of the latest big trends when it comes to these AI generated influencers is having these crying artists begging people to watch their video and support their craft. Often with footage of them crafting these items, which they then conveniently link in their bio. Usually with some kind of form of on-screen engagement bait as well. Comments such as people think my work is ugly, people hate the things I make. Or even better, they'll try and rely on people virtue signaling by bringing awareness to their race, gender identity, or disability. And you may have seen one of these pages, which goes by the name of Yumi Builds. A woman who claims to be a dwarf living in the countryside crafting these leather bags. So to set the scene, these videos usually start with her on-screen crying about some horrible comment that somebody's made about her physical appearance. Begging the viewer to stick around and watch to the end of the video to see what she makes. And then we're given this kind of mishmash of crafting footage, showing that same person making the item, doing the crafting, making us think, oh yeah, that has to be a real person. We're watching her do all of this leather work. And you can start to see around midway through the bag starting to come together, being created. And then at the very end of the video, you see these beautifully handcrafted colorful dragon leather bags. With this whole video, this whole process being surprisingly consistent. Until you decide to watch another video from Yumi Builds. And you start to notice that the person's face, Yumi's face, is not quite the same in every single video. It just looks a little bit different each time. Or even just small details such as how the necklace that she's wearing doesn't tend to stay the same, that it it warps and changes. Or even that Yumi seems to be having an off day in some of these videos, where her voice is weirdly flat and distant compared to some of the other videos that you've seen. Or even just in the background, actually. Like, what, what is that? But hey, you decided to just keep scrolling for now. You're not that good of a person. You're not going to buy the leather bag. You're going to keep doom scrolling for a while, and then you come across another girl, called Dragon Spire Guild. Selling the same bags, coming out of the same workshop, using the same crafting footage, producing the same items, and even having an early identical looking website. If you take these two frames side by side, it becomes evident that this is the exact same footage, but with the person in focus being switched out depending on the video. And actually, the same here too. But neither of these are the source material. In fact, it's been surprisingly difficult to figure out where this content may have originated from, all assuming that it isn't just entirely AI generated. However, you can find out where the crafting footage was taken from by using Google Lens. And by doing just a little bit of investigation, you can find out that original footage, at least the crafting footage, comes from Designed By Daydreams. Who coincidentally create the exact same leather dragon bags. Including a lot of the finished results that you see in the AI videos. And another page called Bearded Dragon Bags also had their footage stolen for these dragon leather bags. Have you seen a little person from Ireland making dragon bags? Was she claiming she was the one making them? It's all fake. I want to clarify everything, so please stay with me a little bit longer. First of all, this person was generated by AI, so you have been scammed. The original designers of the bag is a team from Poland, Creative All. I have a pattern right here. You can check their website. The pattern is available for purchase for everyone. Originally, it was designed as a belt bag like this one. But we were one of the first to adapt it and made it a regular bag by adding this. Secondly, there are a lot of accounts claiming to be artists. Dragons Anvil is only one of them, but AI generated people are taking over the internet. We, I mean me and my wife, Dragon's Manufacture, fell victims of a content theft, uh, and our videos were used for promotion of a mass produced dragon bags. If you see some AI generated people with content stolen from us, please, just block them. There is no need to tag us in the comments. We are already overwhelmed by the situation and try to build public awareness, but we would rather spend our time crafting rather than fighting all the scammers in the world. This is a fight we cannot win. Block and forget. That's the best solution out there.
[14:19]If you really want to help, share our story. Look for the real artists. There are a lot of talented people out there. Real people, just like us. You can find their real work for sale on Etsy and of course their personal websites. But you might notice that their bags go for a lot more than the standard listing of 30 to 70 pounds on these AI scam websites. With the real bags often costing double if not more of their AI counterparts. And I'm not going to lie, I am not willing to risk my banking information to figure out if these AI scam sites even actually send you a bag at all. But I can only imagine that if you do end up receiving a real item from one of these scamy websites, it very likely will be a drop shipped item. Such as these dragon bags sold on websites like AliExpress. And I can already smell the fishy, fishy microplastics from here. Those kind of things with like the PU leather, the fake leather, the pleather, latex, they all stink. They all stink. They were some really fishy. Um, and and the microplastic, oh my god, I can smell them from here. In fact, these are drop shipped images are the exact same ones used on the AI scam websites, but they've just been ged up a little bit for the websites with some AI magic. But I know, ladies and gentlemen, it's not just these dragon bags for sale. It's also belt buckles, bookmarks, jewelry, Lord of the Rings, sword replicas, all what about book wallets? Because there is another one of these AI slop influencers called Hannah's Book Wallets. Who is once again crying and begging for people to watch her videos and buy her book wallets. Everyone says her wallets are ugly, but what say you, viewer? Do you stand with Hannah's Book Wallets? Do you? Do you stand with Hannah's Book Wallets? I mean, she's just a humble woman in her thirties making book wallets from her home. How can anyone say that ugly? She's going to go outside and cry in her car now. And she's going to cry in her house and her bedroom. In fact, she can cry pretty much anywhere that you want her to. And she too has a website where you can buy these book themed wallets. Website of which looks very similar to these dragon bag ones. And in fact, when you click on the websites for these AI pages, the website layout and the UI looks almost identical every single time. Same layout, same scrolling text at the top, all powered by a Shopify adjacent service called Shrine. But what about the actual product? Like where has this come from? Well, once again, using Google Lens, we can find out that they actually come from Novel Books Wallets. Who, just like some of the other sellers we've mentioned, have fallen victim to these AI scams. Going through their social media pages, you can see as far back as 2020 that they were posting this content, far before the generative AI capabilities of videos that we have now of these AI scams.
[17:02]And they too have spoken up about the rise of these AI scams. I've gotten so many DMs from you guys about copycats about the AI girl Hannah about Bukashan about all these accounts that are cropping up on TikTok and Instagram, who are using my content and my idea. So if you've bought one of these and you've supported me and then defended me and flagged them and done any of that type of work, I just want to thank you. Thanks for being so supportive. And I am flattered. It is annoying, but that is sort of a part of life and business. But I just want to thank you. If you've put in effort to flag them or make a comment and support us and buy book wallets. Thank you so much. It means a lot to me and my little family, uh, yeah, thank you. Thank you so much. And of course, Novel Book Wallets actually have their own very legitimate website where they sell these actual book wallets. And so if you are interested in them, go to their actual websites, their actual social media and consider buying something from there if it's your kind of thing. Between deep faking and AI slop, it feels hard to decipher what is real and what is fake. Either real people's videos are being taken, their likeness being used to promote products or endorse certain activities or websites that they never consented to. Or are having their videos edited by an AI, having their face or their body swapped out with an entirely new one. A viral video can be entirely replicated with AI and go on to gain over 38 million views. Like this video of a girl dancing promoting her dancing lessons, taken from an original video, created by an actual dancing influencer.
[29:54]I made a video of me eating a burger and fries from In-N-Out and the text on the screen was just eat the burger and it was literally supposed to be like body positivity, body neutrality, food neutrality. Just like, hey girl, in the rise of all of this really anti-food, anti-body positivity content. Let me just like post this, cuz I'm a girl who loves a burger. Tell me why I get a DM from one of my followers that not only has my video been taken, the text removed and new text put on, but it's for a dieting app. I got used as the before for a dieting app and AI dieting app, which is literally the antithesis of my original video. The video is not even on their page. Like you can't go look and find it, because they have it as ads only. So it only shows up as you scroll and you just naturally get an ad for this stupid app. I just wanted to come on here and say, "Fuck AI!" Honestly, "fuck paid promotion behind dieting ads!" And "fuck cringe ass AI dieting ads!" Are you kidding me? Cringe! That's cringe! You know what's not cringe? Eating a burger. You know what's not cringe? Fueling your body. This is what it is to be a woman on the internet.
