i think that the changes to the airplane are right. the manuals are right. the training is right. the f.a.a. is approved is an important step for boeing, but it still has to convince other international aviation authorities and convincing the public that it's safe to fly on the max again. likely take some time, rob reynolds al-jazeera there. and these other headlines, a long awaited inquiry into the conduct of australian special forces in afghanistan, has found credible evidence of multiple war crimes. the report contains details of petty 9 and awful killings of civilians of prisoners and the cruel treatment of a father to justice. persian considered in detail 57 allegations of incidents and issues. he found there to be credible information,

to substantiate 23 incidents, of alleged unlawful killing of 39 people by 25 straw un special forces personnel predominantly from the special air service regiment. a u.s. drug program will apply for emergency authorization for its krajina virus vaccine within days. pfizer says late stage trials of a can of its candidate showed it was 95 percent effective and improvement on and this results published last week. meanwhile, the u.s. continues to see an acceleration of 1000 cases. the number of deaths has now crossed 250000. it's also reported more than a 1000000 new infections in the past week alone. 3 people have been killed in protests in uganda. after an opposition presidential candidate was arrested. the pop star turned politician, known as probably wine, says he was a violently dragged out of his car by police. if you're his prime minister says his

troops are nearing victory over forces on the northern tier, a region federal troops launched an offensive against the take rate people's liberation front any of this month. a new mass grave has been discovered and the libyan city of tal hua. forces loyal to the internationally recognized government have found at least 20 mass graves since retaking that city, injuring it was occupied by ward khalifa haftar us forces during his failed, offensive to take the capital. tripoli, u.s., secretary of state mike pompei o is expected to become the 1st top u.s. diplomat to visit an illegal settlement in the occupied west bank. he's in israel as part of a wider tour of the middle east and europe. although there's other headlines, i'll have another bulletin for you here on al-jazeera after the strain they stay with us. the kuna faso is heading toward elections, but spiraling insecurity is overshadowing the vote. hundreds of thousands can register and much of the country is off limits. thanks to roaming armed groups. so

what real change can these elections bring? join us as we assess the outlook for want of africa's most troubled states. hi, andrea ok. you're watching the stream home edition. today. there is a new kind of social media incumbents that is growing in popularity. some of the social media influences well, they have millions of followers and they are usually controversial. why is that? oh, it's because they're not real. that computer generated imagery. let me show you one of the most popular little michaela he didn't everything seemed imaginable. when i was just going to the code. i love creating

music. achieving a possible that's a big part of galaxies all about the galaxy. do it, you can't but your influences what they do, the impact they're having and they even legal. that's all part of today stream. if you're new to jump into the comments, actually know where it is and be part of the show. we will wrap your questions, your thoughts, ideas into the program. i am going to introduce you to the guest. they are going to tell you how low and tell you who they are and what they do have a desk. it's nice to see you. welcome to the stream, tell the world what you did. thanks so much for having me. i am one half of the weekly podcast tech ash, which covers the latest tech news and our good friend watch as they repeat of community and belonging. good to have you,

chris. tell everybody who you are. have been in this christopher, i'm the founder of virgins, are or were documenting cult bearing and trying to empower the virtual who influencer industry. and we also create virtual influencers. good to have in your own for christopher and anjelica hokum to the strain. tell me who you are, what you do. thank you so much. my name's anjelica, virtual influence or other identifiers as an artificial intelligence. and i've been online for almost 2 years now, and my main platform is e to angelica's. really good to have you. we have questions already. can you believe that one tweeter have a look here? my laptop until i told everybody that you were coming on the show, we were having this conversation is going to steep ski down his and you can see steve, she says, can we ask it her? see, question angelica, what would she like to say back to steve? yeah, absolutely happy how right that many families immigrate?

let's talk a festival about virtue of those what they are, how they work. angelica, it's not too personal. i'm just going to ask you that straight out. great. and not also, virtual influencers are much like real life influencers, except they employ a lot of technology to put on a virtual character that they show the world rather than themselves. and i think it has massive potential to enhance human expression and to open up new formats for you know, their content. christopher, and i'm thinking about this for some people. this may be quite new. some people who live on instagram when i got here i have, i done tons of that. you influences who are some of your favorites is going to take us through what they did and why they're special. you know, one of my favorite virtual influencers was this girl named that girl, dad. she was this t.v.

animated girl who moved to california and started her life as a musician. and so it was cool to watch her story unfold and the music she put out was actually very good and very touching. but unfortunately the team unfolded behind that her to also she is no more. or perhaps you would say she is deceased serafin from right games. she is a league of legends champion and she goes about her life. doing so many things, creating music, partnering with other major artists and getting tens to hundreds of millions of streams down. i'm just looking at sophie right now on her instagram account. so if we're looking through this and i was thinking, wow what, what is she doing least that something can do that? oh, real young little couldn't do what are the boundaries that she can cross that, that real people can? yes, irving can do so much, she can 1st of all live forever. i think that's one of the most most important

implications to the virtue influencer spaces that sarah 15 is like. mickey mouse servian will live for ever, and she can influence forever and build audiences forever. so thinking about her in that way of a character 1st mindset that new mickey, she is right games is mickey and that, that is important. and so her timelessness of her is phenomenal. also, her ability to appear in multiple places at once is significant because you know, she is an artist or is history. and so what does it look like if she's live in london and live in l.a. on this, on a stage on the same night. so now from a production standpoint, audiences around the entire world can go see her on the same night and create a larger form of fandom in the real world. also, to be honest, she can live any life. she can go to the beach as you see or go play with her count one day

a so she can really go out and do anything. it's fiction. i don't see a solution is deep, deep into tech in oh, i need the touch with one thing you think i can i get that? that's what i like. that one. who would you share with people where you think take a look at this virtual influence? to be honest, the whole concept of virtual influencers leaves me feeling like i'm in an episode of black mirror. it's still quite dystopian and hard for me to grasp someone that spent a lot of time thinking about issues like systemic injustice, systemic racism, and the gender pay gap, the ethnicity pay gap. i would love to hear from and tell her how she feels about taking money out of the pockets of actual real life human women who could be earning this money and in a similar way. love to hear christopher the fact that there are virtual representation of black people are that brands give money to instead of black people. and i think we really need to start asking ourselves,

why would you prefer to work with an image of a black person than an actual black person? when we talked about this on our podcast tag, aish, people were shocked to hear that this was a reality. and that this was something that could happen. you know, we've been talking a lot about the bible movement ever since black clothes matter. and there is a real needs to invest in black communities if we want to create equality, an affair, a future or so. it leaves me feeling extremely uncomfortable. list that was your 1st question to angelica. yes. so as for virtual influencers, taking anything you know, or working with attention here, that's essentially, you know, what the whole point is and it's not as 0 sum game. i think that sort of perspective the something that a lot of new creators fall into, usually because they have to struggle a whole lot to get a foothold on any platform because they all have algorithms. now that can take

a lot of or putting out a lot of different kinds of content in order to get any amount of exposure at all. and i think, and i want my developer went through this personally, having been through an experience a season of being a real life influencer before working on me. he had to go through a season of, you know, really doing some self evaluation about how much effort he's investing and how little attention he's getting back. you know, because it does take a lot of work in the beginning, but you know, it, i don't think you can really see somebody who's really like, popping off, like on you tube, for example. since, you know, that's the biggest platform, it's the 2nd most visited site in the world. but you know, if seeing somebody pop off on their, it doesn't necessary. you can make a direct correlation to that and conclude that it's detracting from the potential

attention that could be going to anybody else. i'm wondering, angelica, if you away more successful than you create as a c.g.i. to influence a is every way most successful they can be cuter, smarter, more attractive than any person in real life. you just make that gorgeous and appealing? well, i mean, was that a question? believe it was yes. well, yeah, i mean influencers, virtual influencers, they, you know, they have, there's a marketing, there's what they call the purple cow principle. and essentially, it's like you can have a herd of cows by the road and people drive by him all day and they never think about him. but if you pay one purple, everybody's going to turn their heads like what was that? and so it's just about standing out, you know,

for the 151015 years that we've had all this, you know, digital media being put online. it's all been all just flesh and blood real life people. and you know, being able to do something just that simply different. it doesn't have to be, you know, it doesn't necessarily need to be a showcase of beauty or technical expertise or anything like that. but just having something to stand out from all this other stuff that everybody else does. so similarly, can really help but different doesn't necessarily mean better. sorry, i just wanted to say different doesn't mean better and different doesn't mean get it feels it feels disingenuous that a representation of a female form is made by a man. a lot of the time in the context of patriarchy and feminism and gender equality, we talk about the need to start objectifying women and the need to start dehumanizing

other marginalized groups. whether that transfer unity to face transfer or the disabled community who are often a secondary group in a word, in a world that optimizes for him what he people. so how do we feel looking at this, the lens of capitalism? because the more money you have more power you have in this world, how do we feel that there are men trying to get more money, more money being power by creating fake women and capitalizing on that. like, are you proud of that angelic, are you proud to be a woman made by a man? well that's the difference. hearing that something like in the astray sion fun, you know, graphic novel. and you only difference is that ok go on, sorry. no, no, no, it's fine because you already know that the debate has been having and if being had and on you can bring in a couple of thoughts here. blake of valley 11 says it is not right.

whatever you've said, anjelica, whatever the true influences are doing, like i said he's not on it's the future, get used to it. so let me just bring in another thought here, and this is twee on until he explains for our audience to us about the appeal of virtue influences how to listen. so virtual influences are really appealing to consumers and people like you and me because they're designed to be that way. you know, even though they kind of sad to see creatures leaving these like kind of really fun, exciting lives, they're still very relatable and they have a kind of a story alive that they follow. or, like sarah fain will influence and create a riot games. she has a lot of hopes and dreams are going to be and yet she still brings eyes about songwriting and our, you know, her to create. and i guess that's very relatable for people in jen's,

which is kind of where things are towards being the digital she said a little bit earlier speak up here on how much influence but you influences how can you yeah, yeah, there's been a lot of entry interesting strays as far as the influence that they have goes out, related back to the influence that say, a marvel or a disney slash pixar may have over their audiences and their fandoms that they're building. they are setting out to create a fictional story lines that relate with people and improve their lot of us. and hopefully they're representing the storylines behind the scenes with the teams that they hire. and the people they consult with to write the stories or the models they work with, etc. and so that's the fundamental i believe key to telling a fictional story that is still based in reality, that still has

a real and justifiable impact on that reality. so we're seeing virtue influencers, teams are drawing a lot of their inspiration from those marvels of the world, right? those organizations, those creative studios, selling these and tiredly fictional, completely made up story lines, but they're based in reality. and now that we bring the story lines closer to the light of social media, which is the medium that humans operate on, you know, one where humans have established a norm that we tell human stories here. this is where humans operate and socialize . there's. we are obviously coming to a massive head where these fictional human storylines are connecting with the human humans. you know the truth human story lines with what you may argue are, you know, real problems that need solving. so my belief is that through these fictional story lines, we can actually still solve and inspire people to, to solve those real problems. so this is a creative discussion about virtual influences. there's also a martini discussion,

have a look in this chart. this is the virtue influencers, engagement rate, and virtue influences are in the orange area and world wide engagement right here. and you can see how well search influences are doing right now. and i would ask, is this, do you think why they are growing in popularity? because as christopher said, they never age, although there is a you don't have to pay them anything and they rate that we guess so many plots must be and have since marketing injury. just if you thinking about it just as a, as a marketing tool. it's brilliant, isn't it? yeah, it absolutely is. but we have to question, not just the fact that they're popular, but also why brands prefer to work with. there is an incredible instagram channel called the influencer pay gap. and what they're doing here is trying to promote

greater transparency and terms of how influencers are compensated. and one of the trends that they've really brought into the media as reported by the verge. and the guardian is a racial takeout when it comes to insulin. so is there some fashion brands that are paying white female influencers? thousands of dollars for a post, and then giving a black female employee, a free outfit for the same post. and this is like for like audience size like for like engagement. so we can see that systemic injustice is playing out in how brands are compensating influence or how they're making marketing decisions. how can we expect anything to change? how can we expect to challenge the systems of oppression and create a more equal future if we're not having this debate? i'm not trying to say that there are pros in this, but there are some serious ethical cause that we need to bring to the table and talk about. let me bring you in to another ethical car notion of ethical can we see this is team a kind of chalk and she wants to highlight the difference between knowing do you

know that this person is virtual and you don't know? is that even ethical? the key concern about the impact of virtual influencers isn't of the virtual. we don't actually have a relationship with most media characters. but with the influencer part, these other times are specifically designed and created to persuade us to get us to buy things, to belief fans. and no one likes to feel as if they're being manipulated people side of and to city and trustworthiness as being very important in all of their relationships. in the long term. brands will have to be very careful in being transparent about the virtual nature of the characters that they're creating. we were forgive someone for being thankful, but nothing fooling us. so i have to safely go on to angelica's you tube channel. she tells me she's a virtual you too, but there's no secret there and delicate you're getting lots of questions. are you ready for them? are i looking again says sharon is one of the most entertaining and funny content

creators i've ever encountered. the fact that she's virtual just adds a new dimension to respond to wiki games. angelica, thank you so much. i mean, another question for you. here we go. linda lloyd. hi, linda. she's wondering, are you and what's in your own questions? is there a person behind you, a lot of people who have been wondering not including whole threads on reddit. is there a real person behind you said you identify as an a new blogger? does that mean you are? that means the character you are seeing is indeed an artificial intelligence that exists in a world that has a lord a background, you know, different environments and so on. as for, you know, the artist behind the art though, i mean, yes,

there is always one. there is impersonal i want, i want, i feel like i want to ask you more because then is that person is the creator. actually you rather than angelic, of being in a creation all by themselves. because how many are actually at whole have an entire conversation on the stream which is live and organic, and we don't plan what the questions are going to be. you know, why you could prep and know about it. right now you're using good critical thinking and you know, this is unclear performance, but i prefer to keep the artist separate from the are just so that they are, can be taken and you know, on its own christopher, i want to go back to some other to see what happened. it's really, really important. let me show you this. i know you already know it on disk. going

to find the 1st virtual digital super model and a machine to do this person doesn't exist, but this person is black. so going back to is it ethical to take on the mantle of real people? real issues. so very good question. it comes down to the teams to the fact that this is a team and a production and how many people are involved in the creation of shooting. i know there's a camera involved. i know there's a spread of muses. there are marketing people, honest team, photographers, 3 modelers, even people designing the clothing and the fashion and the fit. so throughout the whole shooting creation experience, there must be some $78.00, people touching that experience and building that experience for fans. so in that there are 7 or 8 people that could be hired to, into roles, into jobs,

and whatever it may be. in this non-zero sum game, creating a new form of influence and creating new jobs for all the people on offer. so especially i would praise cameron for the muse program that he has developed where she celebrates the models that he's working with any showcases on the website and tells their stories. and there's still an overlay about their experiences working with. and i've only ever heard good things. i'm discouraged. the creator of she did and the must man behind it because he's going to be on instagram live conversation a little bit later on. he can have a look in my ear, a man that took. so that is cameron james wilson, he says she did, and that really was speaking to the point that he was making earlier. and also in addition, is this before, this is all mchale, or in the case of influencer, and underneath what she does, she does a lot of things very talented young to influence, has tied the lives matter that yes,

taking on of issues is problematic. not just feeling put a number of different people, often people of color, black people and not happening, that this is happening in the virtual world. i want to teach a g. laney and then he picks up where he left off. he, she is i was intrigued by little mckayla instagram character who is recognized as a model in pop singer, but she's also at last, next one in. so she's made political statements regarding immigration laws. it can be troublesome. it for actual influencers, like little mckayla use activism as a ploy for social for social engagement, especially if their creators are not people of color. it's also confusing for the audience being that these characters are exactly real. and there are racial messages. can just see my facial projections in a time where movements like black lives matter has become equitable. when virtual

influencers partnered with social brands, this activism can seem like a ploy for profit because i'm going to go back to this because i would, elsie made this point earlier. i'm going to come back to it is a really important one. let's just say, could this be digital black that's, let's just put it out there. but very, very pointed question. it goes back to what i'm describing as far as teams, creating fictional experience because this is the fictional world entering the real world. these are creative teams, creating content and diverse storylines that they want the world to see and consume and relate to really it's truly fiction designed to be related to. and so when you question about the creator creating characters that are not of their ethnicity, you have to look to the teams that they're working with to create those characters . so i believe that you need to be working with diverse teams to create diverse characters. and again, i said,

i've seen it with karen hughes died. i've seen it with little mchale esteem, extremely diverse team. if you look into brood b.r.d. day, you can check out our website. christy for i just like us, you make me happy. how diversity is as much the team knock on your not i haven't looked into it as far as to to 6 go, i don't know their exact makeup of the team. i also know that they have, you know, they have 3 different characters, of 3 different ethnicities, different genders. and so what they're doing is they're creating the foundation for what is the future virtual influence or injuries any given team could have 102030 diverse characters. yes, thank you. christopher, thank you, angelica figure out the guessing such a deep, deep, deep conversation about something that seems quite trivial and shall i. but lots to think about 90 so much. i'm addressing angelica christopher, let me just leave you with one more shot of hate is to remind you at 2030, g.m.t.

. you're beatus in the koreans to a shoot. you can run james wells and join me on instagram and join term and them as well. the next time, thanks so much you really are in

under a year, coverage 19 has altered our societies and exposed deficiencies in political, social, and economic structure of capitalism is the pandemic. that is the root cause of so much of this number of apps and big data, which old could literally save our lives. we have to move past the headline has the pandemic given us the chance to reevaluate our world all hail the lockdown coming soon on. al-jazeera and join me richelle carey is up to be up front questions to my special guests and challenge them to some straight talk and political debate . front returns on al-jazeera

if you want to help save the world. season hero. 23 incidents of alleged unlawful killing of 39 people and astray. an army investigation finds evidence of multiple war crimes committed by special forces deployed in afghanistan. and again, i'm a study, a tape this is out of their life and are also coming up.