Whether in Ancient Greek parodies, Shakespeare's subtle jabs at the haughty upper class or Jon Stewart's takedowns of the latest Washington absurdities, humor can be a razor-edged weapon that shapes public opinion. Last weekend, we were reminded again of comedy's ability to strike at the rich and powerful when someone hacked Silicon Valley crosswalks to play synthetic voice impersonations of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk.
"Hi, this is Elon Musk," the voice impersonating the Trump ally and federal government dismantler said. "Welcome to Palo Alto, the home of Tesla Engineering. You know, they say money can't buy happiness. And… yeah, okay… I guess that's true. God knows I've tried. But it can buy a Cybertruck, and that's pretty sick, right? …Right?? Fuck, I'm so alone."
"Hi, this is Mark Zuckerberg, but real ones call me the Zuck," the synthetic voice of Meta's CEO said over one crosswalk speaker. "It's normal to feel uncomfortable or even violated as we forcefully insert AI into every facet of your conscious experience. And I just want to assure you, you don't need to worry because there's absolutely nothing you can do to stop it. Anyway, see ya."
The videos have accumulated over 100,000 likes on TikTok and nearly 400,000 views on X (ironically). Palo Alto Online reports (via TechCrunch) that they could be heard in downtown intersections in Redwood City, Menlo Park and Palo Alto but had been removed beginning on Saturday.
"Hi, this is Elon Musk," another crosswalk speaker emitted. "And I'd like to personally welcome you to Palo Alto. People keep saying cancer is bad, but have you tried being a cancer? It's fucking awesome."
"Hey, it's Zuck here," another voice said. "I just wanted to tell you how very proud I am of everything we've been building together. From undermining democracy to cooking our grandparents' brains with AI slop to making the world less safe for trans people, nobody does it better than us. And I think that's pretty neat. Zuck out!"
Finally, a Palo Alto speaker conducted armchair psychology on the Tesla CEO. "Hi, I'm Elon. Can we be friends? Will you be my friend? I'll give you a Cybertruck, I promise. Okay, look, you don't know the level of depravity I would stoop to just for a crumb of approval. I mean, let's be real. It's not like I had any moral convictions to begin with, right?"
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/someone-hacked-silicon-valley-crosswalks-to-spoof-mark-zuckerberg-and-elon-musk-191822645.html?src=rss https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/someone-hacked-silicon-valley-crosswalks-to-spoof-mark-zuckerberg-and-elon-musk-191822645.html?src=rssLogin to add comment
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