Five months ago I built a system that autonomously produces satirical news content. Two consumer GPUs, local inference, no cloud bills. It crawls sources, generates scripts, renders audio/video, and publishes ~100 pieces (5 hours+) published every other day, limited due to YT upload quotas, can do more.
Good post, I remember those days well and this exposure we had to all that tech absolutely had its influences for many of us.
The real-world demo of that sms-soda machine was at the Stockholm offices, and one of several why I eventually moved out this way and have stayed.
Though razorfish stuff is pretty spot on except I'm pretty sure Razorfish didnt BUY disinfo, but funded and supported it, IIRC Gary and Richard retained ownership, that was a content play for RSUB, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Razorfish.
...and coincidentally Gary is selling all the brand and contents right now.
ckn (Former IT Director @razorfish 1996-1999, Current Security Champion for R&D @Ericsson)