The Unknown Catgacat’s His Way Into My Heart

Glasgow’s AI Nightmare Fuel 

Apparently, a scammy event company tried to write and promote a low-budget Willy Wonka show for kids using AI. And it’s hilariously bad. Let’s start with the marketing materials. 

So far, not too bad. I’d do something to make this font more legible against that AI eye-sore of a background image, but this isn’t too far outside of what I’d expect on an event marketing webpage. If you want to be generous, you could even say the unreality of the heavily stylized AI image kinda matches the tone of Willy Wonka. Let’s scroll down a bit and get more details. 

Good god in heaven, what happened here?!?! This layout is somehow both bland and busy. I am living for “catgacating” no clue what it’s supposed to mean, but it is my whole personality now. Surely the experience must be as immersive, captivating, and intriguing as the word “catgacating” itself. 

Nevermind.

Yea, this is just sad. The script was apparently also written by an AI. My favorite detail about this whole thing is how the AI script invents a new villain called “The Unknown” who’s apparently “an evil chocolate maker who lives in the walls.” Here’s what he looks like in action. 

@jojorobertson7

£155 for our Willy Wonka experience 🤣🤣 if you don't laugh you'll cry. #willywonkaexperience #willywonkaglasgow #willywonka

Honestly? We stan The Unknown. Justice for The Unknown. Slay queen. Keep catgacating and making your wall chocolate. 

As much as my broken brain is loving this train wreck, I do hope it acts as a cautionary tale for people trying to make AI into an art shortcut. Even if this thing hadn’t been an obvious scam trying to cut as many corners as possible to get money from parents, we’re seeing the cracks in what AI can actually do on full display. All of the promotional images feel disjointed because you didn’t have a human vision motivating and editing them into something cohesive. The script’s wildly elaborate and specifically prescribed effects make it effectively unproduceable. This chaotic, impractical, and cheap feeling scam event might not be far from where AI-focused artistic production caps out. 

Platform Updates

Instagram & Threads

• Threads Tests Post Drafts and Integrated Camera In-Stream

• Instagram Experiments with New ‘Friend Map’ Live Location Display

• Threads Chief Proposes Auto-Archiving User Posts After 30 Days (legit kinda love this idea for a social platform) 

The Rest of Meta 

• Meta might demo a pair of ‘true’ AR smart glasses later in 2024

• Meta’s ‘consent or pay’ data grab in Europe faces new complaints

TikTok

• Around half of adult TikTok users in the U.S. have never posted a video themselves. And a minority of users produce the vast majority of content

• TikTok Launches Live Test of Option to Automatically Identify Products in User Uploads (the mall-ification continues) 

• TikTok is removing even more music

Google 

• Google Is Paying Publishers to Test an Unreleased Gen AI Platform

Apple

• Apple to Wind Down Electric Car Effort After Decadelong Odyssey 

Reddit

• A lot of Redditors hate the Reddit IPO (I continue to think the memestock effects on this IPO will make the stock behave very strangely) 

Tumblr 

• Tumblr and WordPress to Sell Users’ Data to Train AI Tools 

Twitter, Sorry X

The Product 

• X adds live video to Spaces instead of bringing back Periscope

The Dumpster Fire

• Judge skeptical of lawsuit brought by Elon Musk's X over hate speech research

Twitter Alts 

• Bluesky snags former Twitter/X Trust & Safety exec cut by Musk

Barbecue Is Very Important To Me

Despite not eating most of the proteins used in American barbecue cooking, I’m a huge fan. There’s a Netflix show that’s basically Great British Bake Off but for barbecue. It is one of my comfort shows. I love the way food traditions become vehicles for telling stories about culture, history, geography, climate, economics, and family. If you also enjoy that kind of food story, I’ve got a good YouTube recommendation for you this week. 

Culture Movers 

Film & TV

• Netflix confirms it’s cutting off Apple billing for legacy subscribers

Publishing 

• Ecommerce platform NTWRK acquires Complex from BuzzFeed in $108.6 million cash deal

AI 

• Digital Media Outlets Sue OpenAI for Copyright Infringement

• Experts testing five leading AI models found the answers were often inaccurate, misleading, and even downright harmful

Scams

• Humane pushes Ai Pin ship date to mid-April

• Wendy’s says it won’t use surge pricing

PS

My nemesis is opening a Vegas restaurant.

*I’m very dyslexic, and this is a largely free project/hobby. I do not set aside the same time for proofreading that I do for other professional work. If you spot a typo that would cause a communication error, please reach out to gently let me know.