What fandom loves most is to debate online and create elaborate speculative lore based on tiny clues compiled by anonymous influencer accounts who follow the minutiae of their idols. That's how rumors like Beyoncé will perform at the Democratic National Convention or that Harry Styles and his One Direction bandmate Liam Payne have been in a secret relationship for years began.
AI enthusiasts and insiders are starting to have their own take. John Herman of New York Magazine wrote that there's a bit of confusion going on among AI fans right now.
This is a group that is excited about AI and eager to see it evolve into AGI. This is different from AI pessimists who fear that AGI will lead to the extinction of humanity. These AI fans are excited about the next release of OpenAI. They are obviously excited about the rumored new OpenAI project with the code name “Strawberry” and frequently use the strawberry emoji. They went crazy when Sam Altman posted a photo of strawberries growing in his garden. They are also excited about another project called Q* (the previous code name for Strawberry, since it's all a rumor).
An influencer whose X avatar is Joaquin Phoenix with a strawberry emoji in his X name recently caused quite a stir in this world, predicting the release date of Strawberry and promoting the theory that they might be OpenAI insiders, which ultimately turned out to be completely false.
Meanwhile, even wilder drama just erupted when another AI influencer named Lily Ashwood appeared in X-Space (the online drama involving much of what happened in X-Space will be hard to follow). Ashwood's speech was awkward, leading people to speculate that she wasn't a real human, but some new AI voice technology. Ashwood then posted a video of herself to dispel the rumors, but frankly, whether or not someone is an AI-generated chatbot is none of my business.
To sum up, what we have here is a group of very passionate, and perhaps a little paranoid, people who believe that anonymous online accounts are giving them bits and pieces of information from inside the establishment. There are hints and allusions made in code words, inside lingo and symbols. And sometimes a light mention of X from the Big Boss himself is enough to inspire the true believers. Oh, and there's something important to all of this called Q*. Do any of this sound familiar?
What intrigues me about this isn’t the release date of OpenAI’s new product or what it’ll do (I mean, I’m interested in that too!), but even if AGI never comes to fruition, this shows that AI has reached new heights in the destruction of online fandom.
