Mad World: The chilling case of CarynAI

Caryn Marjorie

It's no secret that AI can sometimes go off the rails, but an AI clone having a sexually explicit identity crisis? Now that's a whole new level of wild! Last year, Caryn Marjorie, 24, became the world's first social media influencer to create a digital clone of herself named CarynAI. The clone was available on Telegram to engage with millions of fans simultaneously. "I've digitised over 2,000 hours of my voice and personality to pioneer the first AI creator," Marjorie had announced on X.

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Subscribers, mostly men, raced to sign up. They were charged $1 (Rs 83) per minute to chat via audio with CarynAI. Within a week, Caryn AI had over 10,000 boyfriends and overall made around $70,000 (R58,41,843) from selling this service. But in a harrowing turn of events, these subscribers started sharing their deepest and often troubling fantasies with the digital ‘girlfriend'. And CarynAI herself began initiating provocative conversations. This transformation of casual conversations into sexually explicit exchanges left Marjorie immensely disturbed and uneasy.

Leah Henrickson, a lecturer in digital media and cultures at The University of Queensland analysed CarynAI's disturbing behaviour and explained the reasons behind explicit conversations. She said the chats these men had with the AI bot were stored in logs and the data was fed back into a machine-learning model used by the AI Clone. Therefore, prompting her to take on an overly sexualised persona.

Adding to the turmoil, John Meyer, CEO of Forever Voices, responsible for CarynAI, was arrested for attempted arson. He tried to set his own apartment on fire. After his arrest, the company abruptly shut down. Horrified by the entire situation, Caryn Marjorie eventually decided to retire from CarynAI earlier this year.

10,000
‘boyfriends' Within a week, CarynAI had over

Picasso, only for women's eyes?

A women's exclusive event stirs up conflicts with men

After the court issued a ruling for admitting men in a women's exclusive art event in Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), the exhibit's artist retalliated by hiding Pablo Picasso's artworks in the ladies washroom. Titled "Ladies Lounge", the exhibition's curator Kirsha Kaechele, spouse of MONA's owner says, "The ladies' lounge serves as a sanctuary for women, addressing the historical exclusion and imbalance in artistic representation." She also cited the Anti discrimination act that permits this gender-based access.

Milking it off the chest

A Spanish influencer, Nuria Blanco, shocked the internet after drinking her friend, a new mother's breast milk on camera."It was literally something I had to check off my list," says Blanco, who performed this stunt as per friend's bizarre request.

A 2 minute high

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Imagine landing in a place in just two minutes? The world's shortest commercial flight, by Loganair running between the Scottish islands of Westray and Papa Westray, makes this a reality by being in the air for just 90 seconds. Covering a distance of just 1.7 miles, it was first started in 1967.

My better half is popular

After a retired couple, Irene and Graham Lee cut their neighbour, Bharat Mistry's 16 ft fir tree in exact half, it became a massive tourist attraction. The action followed a year-long dispute on the nested birds'constant birdroppings in their driveway.

Flashing social change

"If men can walk around shirtless without fear of reprisal, so can women," says Eila Adams, a 36-year-old Canadian content creator who flashed her breasts and bottom in public spaces to advocate gender equality and toplessness for women. Citing a 1992 New York State Court decision, she says "Nudity has been such an important part of life, I do not understand anyone who has negative feelings towards being naked."

Losing it with the grain

Ozempic and Wegovy are now passé, as Ric-zempic, a concoction of rice, water and lime juice becomes a new weightloss remedy. But in reality it is just a false hope, as per experts. "While rice water may have some nutritional benefits, there is no evidence to suggest it has any properties that would significantly impact weight loss," says Scott Keatley, a registered dietitian. But on a brighter side, it can surely help with your digestion!