Scarlett Johansson, a $890 million crypto rug pull and the risks of AI

Welcome to AI Collision 💥,

In today’s collision between AI and our world:

• Central African Republic shenanigans
• ScarJo says, “Hell no”
• Art cars

If that’s enough to get the celebrities condemning Kanye, read on…

AI Collision 💥

We’re living in an age where artificial intelligence has gone from science fiction to daily reality. AI tools can generate everything from harmless Barney the Surgeon pictures to eerily lifelike voice clones and deepfakes.

Way back in October 2023 we even wrote about how an AI deepfake of Tom Hanks was advertising a dental practice!

While AI is progressing at incredible speed, which we love to see, it also opens the door for scams that can be frighteningly convincing.

The latest red flag is a story claiming AI hackers might be orchestrating a rug pull – allegedly reaching $890 million at one point and possibly swindling an entire country in the process.

Now, before you panic and think Skynet has taken over, let’s lay out the plot.

A week ago, the Central African Republic launched a crypto memecoin. It pumped from fractions of cents to around 89 cents in a matter of hours.

As wild as that sounds, and looked, the rumours started to circulate that it was a sophisticated AI scam.

The idea was that fraudsters leveraged sophisticated AI software to create legit-sounding voices and convincing deepfake videos to replicate the president of the Central African Republic to pump and dump the $CAR memecoin.

By layering these deepfakes with carefully constructed backstories and then hijacking legitimate social media accounts, they can pose as government officials, crypto influencers or anyone with enough authority to make it all seem real.

Now, we still don’t know if this $CAR thing was real or not (either way is astonishing). However, it is a very big reminder that you need to always be on the lookout for fakery.

Emphasising this, actress Scarlett Johansson recently spoke out about the desperate need for AI legislation after a fake video went viral.

This video featured a deepfake of multiple A-listers, herself included, seemingly condemning Kanye West’s recent antisemitic comments on X.com.

The problem? It never happened. Yet, the AI mashup was so realistic that it circulated on social media before anyone could tell otherwise.

Johansson’s alarm resonates with a growing number of people who feel the law just hasn’t caught up to AI’s explosive growth.

If high-profile figures can be faked to push a narrative, think about how easy it would be to trick everyday individuals into handing over cash, personal data or, worse, millions of dollars to a purported country-based memecoin.

When we talk about AI scams, we’re not just dealing with casual internet cons. This stuff can shake markets and investor confidence.

Think about an AI deepfake of Elon Musk that’s so good it tanks the Tesla stock price because the deepfake says he’s quitting Tesla to work full time on government initiatives. I say this because I’ve already seen a very good Elon deepfake that was a crypto scam talking about a $20 million crypto giveaway. 100% a scam.

I can see soon enough a stock being moved because of a highly-convincing online deepfake.

No one wants to lose money to an AI con, but the reality is that deepfakes are getting scarily sophisticated. We used to say, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Today, even if you see it and hear it you might still be staring at a total fake. Your best line of defence? A healthy dose of scepticism, common sense and a few smart strategies.

First, slow down and verify. If a voice call claims to be your boss, a family member or government official, don’t hesitate to confirm through another channel.

Second, educate yourself. Keep up with the latest scams and watch how criminals use AI to prey on our emotions. Hopefully we do a good job of that here.

Finally, do your homework before putting capital into any unsolicited investment. Have trusted people and sources that you can lean on, ask questions of and help guide you through the maze of our modern investment world.

Never before have trust sources and voices been so important to investors – which is another reminder. If you come across anything you want a second set of eyes on – be it something crypto related you saw on X.com or Facebook, or if it’s a regular stock investment that you’re considering but something doesn’t feel right – let me know, ask away. In thirty years of stock market investing and 15 years in crypto, I’ve seen it all and then some. So I’ll always call out a scam when I see one.

If you want to ask, leave a comment. If you want prefer to message me privately, send me an email at feedback@southbankresearch.com.

#AD

A record-breaking $3 trillion is about to flood into a little-known corner of the energy market – one that most investors aren’t even watching.

Historically, these shifts have delivered some explosive gains.

James Allen has identified three companies he believes are perfectly positioned to capture a massive slice of this capital.

Capital at risk. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.

Boomers & Busters 💰

AI and AI-related stocks moving and shaking up the markets this week. (All performance data below over the rolling week).

Boom 📈

• Gorilla Technology (NASDAQ:GRRR) up 67%
• BigBear.ai (NYSE:BBAI) up 44%
• iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) up 19%

Bust 📉

• AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) down 9%
• Lantern Pharma (NASDAQ:LTRN) down 8%
• Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) down 8%

From the hive mind 🧠

• Google is heavily investing in AI and had promised not to weaponise it and use it for surveillance activities. Well… that didn’t last.
• It feels like the AI and military thing is only going to accelerate, particularly under a more efficient US government, but a still highly tense geopolitical environment.
• May as well go deep into the AI fear-mongering today. The latest comes from Eric Schmidt (former Google CEO) fearing AI could lead to a “Bin Laden scenario”. Yikes!

Artificial Polltelligence 🗳️

Weirdest AI image of the day

Art cars – r/weirddalle

ChatGPT’s random quote of the day

Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to leave comments and questions below,

Sam Volkering

Editor-in-Chief

AI Collision