When Algorithms Go Wild: AI Bands, Job Rejections, and Amazon Package Nightmares

The digital world continues to shock and surprise us as technology evolves faster than we can comprehend. Today we dive into three remarkable stories that showcase both the wonder and concern surrounding artificial intelligence and online commerce.

What would you do if hundreds of Amazon packages suddenly appeared at your doorstep—packages you never ordered? A California woman lived this nightmare when a Chinese seller listed her home as their return address. For over a year, packages containing ill-fitting car seat covers piled chest-high in her driveway, preventing her from parking her car. Despite multiple complaints, Amazon initially offered little help, even suggesting she was responsible for handling the unwanted deliveries herself. Only after media attention did the company finally step in to resolve the situation. This cautionary tale highlights the real-world consequences when online systems fail.

Meanwhile, the music world faces its own technological disruption. A supposedly new rock band called "The Velvet Sundown" amassed over a million monthly listeners on Spotify with their 60s-inspired sound. Their hit song even topped Spotify's viral charts—but there was just one problem: neither the band nor its members actually exist. Everything, from the musicians to the music itself, was entirely AI-generated. Fans eventually noticed oddities in the promotional images, including unnaturally smooth skin textures and anatomically incorrect hands. This revelation raises profound questions about authenticity in creative arts and what constitutes "real" music in an AI-saturated future.

We also discuss a cringe-worthy job rejection email where the employer accidentally included the AI prompt instructions before the actual message. This embarrassing oversight reveals how companies increasingly rely on automation for communication without proper human oversight. The question becomes: as AI continues to permeate our daily lives, where do we draw the line between helpful automation and lost human connection? What other aspects of our world are being quietly transformed by algorithms? Subscribe now and join the conversation about navigating our increasingly AI-influenced reality.

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Chapters

• 0:29 Morning Introduction and Scuttlebutt News
• 1:12 Amazon Package Nightmare in California
• 4:54 AI Job Rejection Email Disaster
• 7:15 AI-Generated Rock Band Revelation
• 10:06 Question of the Day: Misperceptions

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:15

Well, hello, good morning. What do we have in store for you this morning? Well, we have a couple of stories about AI and a story about Amazon packages. But first let me tell you about Scuttlebutt. Sunday is back, at least for now. We'll see how long it goes. I understand it's going to take a while to build back up, but we're going to do it this Sunday at 2 o'clock Central. So, yeah, I hope you stay. Stay, I hope you can tune in. We're going to play around with some times. If you have a different day, that would work better for you, let me know I'm not opposed to doing it during the week, in the evening, sometime, just not real late. All right, let's see's. What do I want to start with first? Let's start with oh, the hundreds of huge Amazon packages arriving at California woman's doorstep for over a year after Chinese seller lists her home as the return address. Again, this is from the New York Post.

Speaker 1: 1:19

A California woman has received hundreds of huge Amazon packages she didn't order after a cheap Chinese seller listed her San Jose home as its return address. This is what there's. This is what this Chinese company, fake company, is doing. They are selling, like a seat cover, car faux leather seat covers, and then they don't fit the seats that they say they do in the particular model of cars. So when people get them they return them, and the this Chinese seller listed this lady's home as the return address. The woman identified only as has been receiving the parcels for over a year now, and they've been arriving at such speed she's had no choice but to stack them up in her driveway to maintain some semblance of order. Why are not people rushing to her yard to steal these things? That's what I don't understand. The boxes are piled chest high in her yard and have become so numerous she can no longer park her car there. It's just been another form of hell. She told a news report, the culprit is a chinese-based amazon seller called I'm going to butcher this name louis and didion. I don't know, I can't pronounce it. We, we'll call it Lewis and Didion, all right, whatever. Which pedals faux leather car seat covers that apparently fit a few of the models they're designed for. So of course the customers return them, and this is the address they return them to. But the unwanted seat covers haven't been going back to wherever.

Speaker 1: 2:58

Okay, yeah, it started just with one package that Kay thought was a wrong delivery. But more boxes kept arriving over the following weeks. Weeks turned into months, which became over a year, and more and more parcels showing up at her steps, until Kay Stoop was buried in boxes. She says she has contacted Amazon several times and they keep telling her oh, it'll be fixed, don't worry, we're on it, we're going to take care of it. Blah, blah, blah. And Amazon offered her next to no help for months, with at least six different complaint tickets being filed to no avail. And yes, she has refused the packages as much as she can, but when she's not there, I guess they deliver them. The business once tried to offer her a hundred dollar gift card for her trouble, but she also claims they told her it was her job to get rid of the packages what? And suggested she donate them or ship them back to the sender. But they're sending them back to her. That's the thing. Uh, why is it my responsibility to get rid of this when your seller is not following your rules anyway? Uh, so amazon denied that it ever told k to handle the problem herself, but on wednesday finally arrived to a out the packages and assured her again that she'd never see another seat cover. We would like to thank ABC7 for bringing this to our attention. We've apologized to the customer and are working directly with her to pick up any packages, while taking steps to permanently resolve the issue. We'll see. We need to follow up. We need to follow up.

Speaker 1: 4:39

All right, the next two stories are about AI. This one is just so fascinating to me. Well, I'm going to say the fascinating one for last. Let's talk about this other one. First, lazy job rejection, torn to pieces. As embarrassing AI email goes viral Again from the New York Post. This is not so bad I mean it is bad but it claims that she received a rejection email from a place of employment that she applied to go to work for.

Speaker 1: 5:11

And you know they send out those generic email forms when you get rejected or they're not interested in you or whatever. And normally in the olden days, somebody like me, as an administrative assistant, at one time or another would write these form emails. But I you know a person was doing it. You would just copy and paste it into the email form, but you would also personalize it and put the person's name in it, you know. So an actual person was eyeballing it when they, when it went out. This is all before AI, when I was an administrative assistant a long time ago. I haven't been an administrative assistant in forever, so, but now AI has taken over.

Speaker 1: 5:52

Here we go, whether you love it or not. Whether you love it or not, ai is officially here, and everyone is trying to figure out how to integrate it into their lives. It's never fun getting rejected from a job, but for one Reddit user, a possible employer has rubbed salt in the wound with a less than adequate email. So part of the email was here's. I'll read it to you. I'll read it to you. This is the email that she received. Write a warm but generic rejection email that sounds polite, yet firm. Do not mention specific reasons for rejection. Make that candidate feel like they were strongly considered, even if they weren't. Remember to use candidate name and company name variables. Then it was followed by a seemingly normal end. We appreciate your interest in the role and wish you all the best in the future. I don't understand how this happened. Um, that's just pure laziness, is what somebody said. Oh well, whatever, what, whatever? It's not that big of a deal. Get over it, all right. So the next one, though. Uh, this is fascinating to me, and I thought of Furion Energy when I saw this Rock band, with more than 1 million Spotify listeners, reveals its entirely AI-generated down to the musicians themselves.

Speaker 1: 7:17

Wow, a fresh new rock band that quickly shot to Spotify's top ranks announced that it's actually wholly generated by artificial intelligence just one month after its celebrated debut album earned it 1 million listeners holy crap. The 60s inspired rock and roll band, the velvet sundown, revealed on saturday that nothing but it is real, nothing about it, is real, and fans of the up-and-coming artist noticed there were virtually no traces of any people associated with it online. Its debut album, floating on echoes, was released on june 5th to mass appeal online. How does this happen? How do you? How does this happen? Does somebody is somebody? Is a person sitting behind a keyboard creating this album via AI? And then how do you submit it to Spotify? How does that work? I'm not sure how that works.

Speaker 1: 8:14

The most popular Okay, we don't care about the most popular song. Well, maybe you do. You can look it up. The most popular song in the album, pro-peace folk rock song, dust on the Wind, clenched the number one spot for Spotify's Daily Viral 50. All the while, the 1 million monthly listeners who started following the Velvet Sundown had no idea they were just listening to a mass of artificial intelligence made by fake musicians.

Speaker 1: 8:44

This is fascinating to me. What do you guys think about this? This is fascinating and terrifying. Now I know it's only music, uh, but still. Oh, look where it. I mean. What could it lead to?

Speaker 1: 8:58

The photos of the band shared online and featured on the album's cover were unnaturally smooth and matte, and the guitarist's hand was wonky and with fused fingers gripping his instrument. Oh no, I know that's going to be a quote from giblets. Oh, I'm so sorry, that was not my quote. I read it directly from the article. Let me read it again for you. The photos of the band shared online and featured on the album's cover were unnaturally smooth and matte, and the guitarist's hand was wonky, with fused fingers gripping his instrument Like a 13-year-old boy A classic hallmark of AI-generated images.

Speaker 1: 9:40

Look, if you're going to try to fake somebody out, at least get your images right. I mean, come on. Oh, the band's. Okay, I'm not going to read anymore. You can finish reading that. That's crazy, isn't that crazy? All right, question of the day. Okay, here's a question for you. What is something about you that people get wrong? What is something about you that people get wrong? What is something okay? Did I am I asking that right? What name something about you that people get wrong about you? Something okay, did I'm not asking that right? What name something about you that people get wrong about you? I think you know what I'm trying to say.

Speaker 1: 10:12

People think I'm stuck up, uh, or I guess I have a really good resting bee face, if you know what that is the thing is. People, when I was growing, people always told me to smile, smile, smile, smile. Even as a young adult in the Navy smile, smile, smile. And I'm walking around thinking I am smiling, I feel like I am smiling. But then one time I walked by the mirror and caught myself in the reflection I was like, oh my gosh, I see what they mean. My resting bee face is on point. No wonder people you know think I'm mad or stuck up or bitchy all the time because my face but the thing is the hell of it is is that I feel like I am smiling on the inside. That's the weirdest thing. So the last year or so I have really been working on trying to turn up my corners of my mouth, just when I'm walking around just trying to nonchalantly smile all the time. It's funny, it's hilarious. Okay, I gotta go. Thanks for listening y'all. Love you Bye.