Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: I say we give a listen to the first of our five featured youth media challenge submissions. First up, we'll be hearing a show what you know piece by seventh grader Desi Hoffer, one of the voices you just heard.
[00:00:11] Speaker B: Hi, I'm Desi, a sixth grader at Park Day School. In class, I've noticed my peers jump at the mention of a spider.
In seconds, they hop on their chairs to escape the wrath of a seemingly harmless arachnid.
So I've set out to answer the question, can house spiders really harm you?
I started by researching and it was instantly clear that the likelihood of a spider killing you or even biting you is low.
While 99.4% of spiders are venomous, only 0.08% are dangerous to humans.
13.8 to 27.9 people are hospitalized by spider bites each year, and only four people on average die by spider bites.
In fact, in California, you're more likely to be crushed by a falling chandelier than by a measly spider.
Most people don't even know what a real spider is. A Daddy Long Legs isn't a spider.
I know. Shocking. But a Daddy Long Legs is more like a scorpion than a spider. They're still in the arachnid family, but they're not spiders. There's a myth that if a Daddy Long Legs did bite you, it would be fatal. But Daddy Long Legs aren't even poisonous or venomous in any way.
Another common house spider is a cute little jumping spider.
They're known for their tunnel like webs. And of course, jumping jumping spiders are cute little angels that should be protected.
In fact, most house spiders are harmless and small. There are many pros of house spiders. For example, they eat pesky flies that buzz around your head. Now for the spiders you should watch out for.
If you live in the US be on the lookout for Western black widow spider, desert recluse spiders and Chilean recluse spiders.
Still, these aren't going to kill you as long as you seek medical attention right after a bite.
You probably won't even find these in a classroom or house. These spiders likely won't bite you. They're docile creatures and don't want to cause you pain.
While a fear of spiders is mostly irrational, it's important to respect someone's feelings. Especially if it's a small eight legged someone or a scary.
So next time, instead of jumping on a chair or stomping on a spider, you can take it in a cup and paper and safely remove it from your home.
[00:02:51] Speaker C: Well, that was really cool.
[00:02:52] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:02:53] Speaker A: And super informative. Let's get back to Desi and find out the origin of her story production.
[00:02:57] Speaker E: I'm Desi. I'm in seventh grade and I use she. They.
[00:03:01] Speaker B: Pronouns.
[00:03:02] Speaker C: Desi, what inspired you to make this piece?
[00:03:05] Speaker E: So I have a lot of friends who are terrified of spiders, and I really wanted to make something that would either freak them out or make them just a little less terrified.
And then I was like, but I'm also going to make it funny. So I had to cut a few parts out, but I made something that I thought would be a little funny.
[00:03:30] Speaker C: Tell us about the title you chose and what kind of media convention you used.
[00:03:35] Speaker E: So for my title, I wanted to take inspiration from dharman, a popular YouTuber.
So I stole one of his title prompts and used it for my format.
And I really wanted to play into the clickbait because, sure, there were some surprising parts, but nothing was really shocking.
[00:04:00] Speaker C: That's funny. Yeah, that worked on me because I'm personally scared of spiders and I wanted to see what this podcast is about.
[00:04:07] Speaker D: Wow.
[00:04:07] Speaker A: Desi has a lot to say about this topic. And she's right. There are a lot of tricky ways that people are trying to get your attention and your money too, through different types of media. For real.
[00:04:16] Speaker C: These days you really have to be aware because you can't always trust what you see or hear online.
[00:04:21] Speaker A: To illustrate this point, here's another Youth Media Challenge submission from Elliot.
[00:04:25] Speaker D: Attention, everyone. AI is getting insanely realistic and is spreading all over the Internet.
Some news articles are even using fake AI generated text and even some fake visuals.
There are also many fake posts on websites like Facebook and Twitter, and many people believe them. Need more proof that people believe in AI? Let's interview some people to see what they think about AI.
What percentage of posts online do you think are made by AI?
[00:04:56] Speaker B: I don't know. Probably like 2% or something.
[00:04:58] Speaker D: How realistic do you think AI images and videos can be?
[00:05:01] Speaker C: It really depends, but I assume they can't be that realistic.
[00:05:05] Speaker D: What percentage of people do you think believe in AI posts?
[00:05:09] Speaker F: Ha.
[00:05:09] Speaker D: Nobody believes in AI posts besides really old people. All right, the results are in. Most people think AI posts aren't a huge problem, but they are. And I have proof. Those three people I talked to? Yeah, those are just text to speech AIs created by the free program Lovo. AI, huh? According to Zreality.com, which is a website that uses AI to improve other websites, 10% of all posts on the Internet are made by AI. And the New York Post states that 70% of all Americans can't tell the difference between a real post and an AI post. Oh my God. Also, programs like Midjourney, Sora, Dall E and Stable Diffusion can make really realistic AI videos and images.
If you ever see a post and you think it might be made by AI, there are plenty of ways to tell if it's real or not. For example, if it's an image or a video of a person, always look at the hands and the fingers as they are hard for most AIs to create.
[00:06:04] Speaker C: Nice.
[00:06:05] Speaker D: If it's not a human, look at the small details and if they don't make sense, are weird or sloppily created, then it's probably made by AI. Okay, if it's text, just run it through a program like GPT0 as it will tell you if it's made by AI.
Lastly, most TTs text to speech. AIs sound slightly monotone, just like a robot.
Anyway, I think that's all I have to say. Bye.
[00:06:34] Speaker C: Wow. I didn't know AI was taking over that fast.
[00:06:37] Speaker D: I mean, I sorta did, but.
[00:06:39] Speaker A: Wow, that's a lot to keep up with. Let's hear more from Elliot.
[00:06:42] Speaker F: Hi, my name is Elliot. I'm in seventh grade.
Some fun facts about me are that I recently got a 3D printer and I love programming.
[00:06:52] Speaker D: Cool.
[00:06:53] Speaker C: What inspired you to make this piece?
[00:06:56] Speaker F: I don't know. I was like looking online and I noticed there is like a substantial amount of AI, like videos and imagery and people falling for them. So I also have a bit of a fascination with AI. So I just decided to, like, do some more digging into some of that stuff.
Yeah, I think it turned out really well.
[00:07:18] Speaker C: What was your favorite thing about this piece?
[00:07:20] Speaker F: Probably all the sound effects I added that was really fun to, like, mess around with. And it added a bunch of humor.
[00:07:28] Speaker C: Is there anything else you'd like to say about your piece?
[00:07:31] Speaker F: Okay, so for anyone listening, the piece is on KQED Youth Media Challenge 2024 by me, Elliott Rose. Also, fun fact, I was originally planning to do this piece with some partners, but all my friends were already in.
[00:07:47] Speaker D: Their own separate group, so I just.
[00:07:49] Speaker F: Decided to do it by myself.
[00:07:50] Speaker A: And yeah, like Desi, Elliot has a lot to say too. You can tell this is a topic he really cares about.
[00:07:57] Speaker C: Yep, it really shows in all the cool sound effects he used. And he used AI generated voices in production. That deserves extra credit in my opinion.
