The Digital Void Podcast

How do YouTube influencers neg their audiences into taking lifestyle advice?Internet culture writer Steffi Cao joins Jamie to discuss how influencers undermine audiences with video titles that are not what they seem. The two discuss authenticity on social media platforms, why clickbait titles still reign supreme, and if there’s anything positive to come of this trend.📖 Read Yo

What is the true potential of AI text-to-video generation?Director of Curiouser Institute and award-winning AI games designer Reed Berkowitz discusses OpenAI's Sora, an AI text-to-image model that will soon be made available to the public. As Hollywood rolls back studio investments and executives project up to 90% loss in animation jobs, how can we separate hype from reality in the

How will creators and tech companies grapple with the decline of journalism?On this week's episode, Jamie and Josh discuss the relationship between creators, platforms, and journalists, the ongoing shift from legacy news sources to platforms like TikTok and YouTube for news consumption, and how venture-backed outlets built on the promise of digital advertising contributed to journa

How can we separate hype from hallucination in AI games?Award-winning games designer and Director of Curiouser Institute Reed Berkowitz discusses why it's so difficult for mid-to-large studios to create AI NPCs, the brand safety risks associated with AI in games, and why AI games might require more writers rather than fewer.🕹️ You can play Grilling Molly Stone now.📰 You can

Where can creators turn after they’ve been cancelled? Internet culture writer Steffi Cao discusses why cancelled creators turn to right-wing values to grow their businesses, the difficulty audiences have determining authenticity, and why it all matters – from economics to real-world action. 📖 Read Influencers are pandering to conservatives to salvage their post-cancella

How did Palantir develop a meme-obsessed fanbase of retail traders — and what does it mean?Business Insider senior correspondent Katie Notopoulos discusses the livestreaming, meme-making community behind Palantir's stock and the company's CEO Alex Karp.📖 Read How Palantir stock developed a weird, passionate, meme-crazy fan base on Fast Company.About Katie NotopoulosKatie Notop

How can we explore visions for a better internet as it undergoes a monumental evolution?Media literacy influencer Kelsey Russell, award-winning journalist Kat Tenbarge, digital culture journalist Steffi Cao, and moderator Rachel E. Greenspan explore the role of surveillance and the rise of panopticontent, the importance of trust and safety on healthy platforms, and why youth voices

How do reboots and IP fueled universes prevent us from ever feeling nostalgia?Author of Foreverism Grafton Tanner discusses how the practice of keeping things alive prevents us from ever feeling nostalgia.📚 You can order Foreverism by Grafton Tanner now!About Grafton Tanner:Grafton Tanner is the author of Foreverism, The Hours Have Lost Their Clock: The Politics of Nostalgia (Re

How does creative misuse of social media platforms inform the future of social media at large?Director of Curiouser Institute Reed Berkowitz highlights five popular ways people are engaging, interacting, and using social platforms - ranging from Life360 to Roblox - and what it means for how we imagine and create a social media future that enhances our social capacities.📰 You can

Washington Post tech columnist and author of Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet Taylor Lorenz explores the social history of the internet. How did Mommy Bloggers shape the creator economy? What is Vine's influence on today's social media ecosystem – and how can its demise be a lesson for creators and platforms? Plus, why is it importa