Diddy Up in Smoke, Interest Rates Drop, AI = Artificial Influencers

0:00This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over 6 years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping next and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now. What's up guys? Welcome to Right About Now. It is our weekly business news of the week here on September 27th, 2024. September's just blowing by, people. You gotta get ready. It's going by fast. I'm joined, as always, by my good friend in Miami, Chris Hansen. What's up, brother? What's up, Ryan?

0:44How are you, bro? I'm good. I'm good. And, of course, the lovely Brianna Hall. Hey. Hey, hey. I used to do that. Let me put a name. I'd go, hey. Hey. Hey. You know, like when a hot girl would walk by? Hey. Get that. Okay. Hey. You know you did that, Chris. Yeah, that was early 2000s for sure. Yeah, I think so. 2004, I was in like 10th grade. Hey. Yeah. I don't do too many hey's anymore. My wife will out by sometimes like, hey now. Hey, girl. Hey, girl. Hey, girl. Hey. There you go. Oh, I hope everyone's doing well wherever you are, whenever you're listening, however you're watching. We appreciate you.

1:31Been a busy week. We've got, I guess, Hurricane Mageddon or whatever you want to call it going on. Helene. Yeah, Helene. Storms. All I know is this. On day of record, I had no power for almost 24 hours. In a modern world, with four minutes warning that a storm was even coming in, this would be before the storm from Florida comes up the coast or whatever. This is just a random thunderstorm in Greenville, South Carolina. I mean, I've been out without power for almost 24 hours. I'm calling bullshit on that. It was rough getting to the office this morning. I was driving over sticks and trees and big old rocks.

2:12You had rocks blown all off the railroad tracks up there, too. Did you get anybody come through that? I was like, damn, I'm being in my Audi with this. Being my bike or something. It felt like a hurricane or a tornado had come through. It looked like it. in downtown Greenville, there were trees down everywhere. Yeah. Chris, are you butting down the hatches? Is that what they call it? Is that what we say? Yeah, as much as I can. Not much I can do on the 30th floor of a condo, but just bring my furniture inside. Just take care of the vacay lounge for us, you know? Make sure nothing happens. Yeah, I'm as ready as I'll be.

2:54I mean, I've been through some hurricanes, but it's looking like it's going to be on the Gulf Coast, which I was literally just at. So I kind of hustled back to Miami, hoping to avoid getting stuck over there. What's the latest forecast they're calling for with this hurricane? USA Today has a Helene's Explosive Forecast, one of the most aggressive hurricanes in hurricane history. 70 knot increase in 72 hours. That was coming from Monday. It's an aggressive forecast for a good reason, trying to get ahead of possible intensification before it hits Florida. So they're trying to kind of sound the alarm bells, get that out.

3:32I would like to get the alarm bell myself yesterday. Yeah. Like at three o 'clock. Hey, you might get your power turned off. I would have gotten the gas. We did have, we had supplies brought in right before the episode. Our Instacart driver was bringing in the gas can and the batteries. I wish I had them yesterday. My generator was pumped for about three hours and then had no luck after that. But we're prepared now in case we get stuck again. Yeah, so this is saying it's going to be a Category 3 hurricane at landfall with 115 mile per hour winds. So wherever you are, just be ready. You're probably already ready if it's Friday for you, which it is.

4:09We record sometimes a day or two earlier, but no matter what, stay safe out there. We've got our emergency preparedness kit. It just showed up here in the office, so we'll be here ready in South Carolina for storm number two of the week. Hopefully my power's back on. We'll stay on and be safe rather than sorry. So we'll see where things go. You never know with the hurricanes. They get scary. I mean, if you don't prepare, it's like you're screwed. And then I can imagine it's frustrating down there in Miami, though, Chris, or in those areas because you don't exactly know what's going to happen. And so you prepare for the worst and nothing happens.

4:44It's like it's kind of drive you crazy. Yeah. I mean, I've seen these storms zigzag and cut 90 degree right angle. I remember specifically we thought one year it was going to hit us. We were prepared. And then at last minute, it cut across the state. And you're kind of like, all right, well, that was a big excitement for nothing. But you don't know, right? Because then the places it does hit, it gets wrecked. I'm nervous. I prepared. I got my water, filled up the gasoline. You know, like I said, I was in Sarasota County. They had closed pretty much the county early so people could prepare. I think Florida's got it pretty dialed in as far as getting the power trucks ready.

5:26I feel like DeSantis has done a good job with making sure all the resources are where they need to be, God forbid. It's my first storm season as an East Coast resident. You traded earthquakes for hurricanes. I don't think we ever had an actual noteworthy earthquake in my entire life. Like, you'd be walking and you'd be like, oh, that was weird. What was that? A little jolt. Shaking. Yeah. My sister just had her first one in LA like two weeks ago. I don't want anything to do with that. I think she felt more scared. I think she was scarier for her than a hurricane. Because at least a hurricane, you kind of like mentally prepare for.

6:05You know what's coming. You're not just waking up to your house shaking. Exactly. I shake just because I know her. I felt it in South Carolina before actually Actually on my boat Which was weird Wow And sure enough there was I was not sure It was really quick and then I read the next day that there had been one in that area So interesting Really minimal but Strange nonetheless So you never know with these natural disasters I will say I'm going to give a shout out to my boys Thousand Horses went to their concert on Sunday I got the concert gear on Just got to support the guys. Best Southern Rock Country Band.

6:43You want to see, go support them. They're actually on a little mini tour here. So go give them some love if they come in your county. Look them up. A Thousand Horses. Great rock band, country rock, whatever you want to call it. It's just good music. I'll tell you what's not good music. I was going to say, speaking of music. Oh, Diddy. Oh, Diddy. Bad boy. Bad boy. Bad boy entertainment. Some of the shit that he's accused of is not funny, but it is. No, it's foul. I'm sorry. You know, maybe it's the 14-year-old boy in me, but the, I don't know, thousands of bottles of baby oil or whatever. I mean, that alone is not a crime, I hope.

7:26I wonder if he bought stock in baby oil companies. Who knows, man? How much baby oil do you need? All right. A little bit goes a long way. So I've been told. Chris told me that. Chris, tell me that. He's down there in Miami. He got all that baby oil. Yeah, never been to a Diddy party. But on all the parties in Miami, baby oiled up. No, I'm kidding. Oh, yeah. You got to put the oil on. I assume so. Sean Diddy Combs, jailed by judge after sex trafficking indictment. So this comes to us from AP News. Sean Diddy Combs. So did he drop the P off of his name? Yeah. It's just Diddy now? It's just Diddy.

8:10Okay. I thought it was P. Diddy. Headed to jail to await trial in a federal sex trafficking case that accuses him of presiding over sordid empire of sexual crimes. He's accused of a lot of different things, including female victims, male sex workers, people drugged up in the studio. A conviction of every charge against him would equate to at least 15 years in prison with the possibility of a life sentence. And it says this indictment describes Combs as the head of a criminal enterprise that engaged or attempted to engage in sex trafficking, forced labor, interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution, drug offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice.

8:56look there's no tolerance for like 85 of what you just said but doesn't it feel like when you hear that though out loud of what you would think crazy crazy hollywood parties would be would include like 80 of that like yeah like let's throw out the trafficking and all that stuff but let's just say okay prostitutes and drugs alcohol and going way overboard okay sounds like a Hollywood crazy party that happens every weekend probably. But then it's just like, where do you cross that line? At what point if you're Diddy? Okay. You got, he's a mogul, man. You got everything in the world, all the money, all the girls, you got family, you got kids now, you've made a lot of hits.

9:42You've made hits for other people. When does your appetite for this stuff just cross over to where I can't be satisfied with just a normal Hollywood party with drugs and alcohol and and maybe some people get naked because they want to but not because they're forced when do you go i can only get off or be satisfied by the extreme of the extreme is it like insatiable appetite or is it just insatiable ego like that you can do it i don't know where where does that flip i think power is the most powerful drug there is you know people like kim I feel like it's just about controlling people more than even the money.

10:26I just could see. I mean, he calls Big Perm. Hey, get the baby already. I need 400 bottles tonight. We're having a freak off, baby. P. Diddy's worth$600 million. To your point, yeah. Yeah, he's got it. He's set. Yeah. So you want to cross that line into creating potentially, allegedly, these crimes that are unacceptable. But, damn, you can have fun. I mean, these people, it's like you can do about anything you want. But it's got to get to this criminal level. I don't know. Someone with psychology would have to explain that a little more to me. I think that there will be some interesting theories that come out about this.

11:13and, you know, the list of people that's probably how many people are shaking their boots right now going, oh, shit. Like 10 years ago, where they when they were coming up and they were sort of famous or they're like, I was at that party and felt fun at the time. But and there's been stories for years of these parties. You've had artists talk about this stuff, but it was almost like laughed off because he was such a mogul. He had so much laughed off because it's like, ah, he throws the best parties. okay it's a big now it's like everyone's looking back at anyone that's ever been to those parties kind of suspect i mean i think it's one of those things where like hollywood's kind of always been known for like if you look at hugh hefner you look at all these people who bring in young beautiful people and promise them you know all the riches in the world if they do certain things or if they look a certain way or if they act a certain way and now it's like well at what point does that person become a victim of you if you are a powerful person?

12:14Yeah. Yeah. When that line of influence and promises of opportunity cross, like just a couple more bottles of baby oil and I'll make you famous. Straight up. I can't get off the baby oil thing. It was something godly, like 500 cases or something. It was something ridiculous. Let me see if I can find it. He bought out Costco. Yeah. Johnson and Johnson. He owns stock. That's Johnson and Johnson baby oil. 1 ,000 bottles of baby oil and freak offs. What's a freak off? That's the name of the parties. That was their big orgies. Their sex parties. This doesn't have anything to do with business, but it was just too.

13:01It's freaking P. Diddy. It's like probably has something to do with business, actually. It's hard to avoid it. Maybe the perils of business of like excess. Oh, we just like to pour it on people. Yeah. Oh. Like a funny party prank. I just put you with baby oil. Take your clothes off now. I don't know. Come on. Chris, I mean, you and I don't have enough hair to probably worry about. But like, I don't know. Is it pain to get out of your hair? Surely you've gotten baby oil or something of the equivalent in your hair, Brianna. I plead the fifth on this. It's about like laying out in the sun. I'm such a huge baby oil when she'd lay out at the pool like 20 years ago.

13:47Listen, it's hard to get anything out of your hair. It was fried. Like any kind of oil, any kind of substance. Just kind of scrub it out. I wasn't trying to make you go there. I was more just like when you're laying out like using some type of lotion or something. I can see my wife complaining about it. I mean, yeah, it's annoying getting anything stuck in your hair for sure. Yes. Well, thankfully, the world is turning a corner and we are really utilizing AI. So maybe one day we won't even have celebrities that can purchase a thousand bottles of baby oil because we'll have these AI generated influencers, virtual influencers.

14:26They're gaining traction. They have like millions of followers. Have you guys seen these? I have. Yeah, I think. They're completely bought robotic influencers. I've seen like fake models, but it's all AI generated. And they can do brand deals and they can, they post as if it's like really them, like a real person. I saw one this morning and she was talking about her birthday. And then her bio says a robot living in California. Weird. If I'm one of the platforms, you're going to, I think, reach this point where people are going to want, they're going to want to know what's real and what's fake.

15:02I almost think it's bad for business. If I'm Zuck, I'm probably just saying there's no fake profiles. Even if you describe it as that. Are we real people or are we not? Is this social media for living humans or is this social media for robots? If you're influencing a robot, a robot's being programmed to say what you want about your product. That's not true influence. Yeah, 100%. So it's like, and I get that there's a transaction for money for influence sometimes, and it's not 100 % organic. But at least there's some amount of trade between a human on the other end of the company paying the other human on the other end.

15:45Well, and I think it goes back to, and you guys can probably both attest to this, I'd like to hear both your perspectives. But being an influencer and deciding where you take your personal brand and what opportunities, brand partnerships you believe in and are willing to take on versus a robot that could take on anything where you guys are going to curate what makes sense for you to partner with. Felicia, the robot's taking offense to that because she's she's a nature only Felicia robot that only does natural things. You know, they're going to come out with that, too. Like she's going to you're going to have an ad that says, I am an artificial intelligence, but I stand for X and I only work with Y.

16:25I mean, it's probably already out there, right? I mean, I think it's part of business news specifically in regards to some different things. So Yahoo Finance had this article, Amazon launches AI powered video ad generator ahead of the holidays. So in summary, you can use Amazon's new AI tool to automate video ad creation, enabling brands to convert product images into video ads. So that would target advertisers looking to streamline campaign production, especially for smaller brands. So basically, it significantly reduces the time required to produce a video ad. And it could take it just from an image and turn it into a video.

17:05So cool, I guess, if you're a business and you're on Amazon and you want to sell more product, not great for digital ad agencies. Maybe. I don't know. I think there's an in-between point and there's always going to be it. Yeah. I can build a website on my own, but an ad agency can probably do better. 100%. And then AI can do a third version. Yeah. So. Right. It's more about the ad agencies learning AI tools. I come up with the creative ideas that sort of drive the best campaigns. Yeah. I'm not saying that we won't one day, but there's usually a human insight, an emotional insight that I haven't seen, that I feel like is usually missing from even like ChatGPT copy and everything like that.

17:50And that doesn't mean we won't be there one day. But I think you're going to see this fine line of, I don't know, People are going to revolt against the unreal. I sure hope so. I saw a video this morning. A guy is a developer with the blockchain, the Bitcoin type stuff in Web 5, right? We're talking Web 3, he's talking Web 5. But he was talking about right now on most of these social media platforms, you'd be shocked at how many of the profiles are interacting with their bots. And that's the big, like what you said is, How do we even know we're interacting with a real person and not just a bot?

18:29I think there's too many platforms you don't want another one. But I think if Zuck or whoever doesn't get these under control, that's where I think they could get taken out is where you have to be 100 % verified as a real person, like a human being. Elon's talked about doing it with X. I thought it was already getting done, but it's not because this guy's prime example actually was X. I still think there's a fine line here that we're seemingly starting to cross, and I think you'll start to see some pushback on that. And I don't know. I can't help but think that there will be – there will come a reckoning for all this.

19:10And it's not going to be – I don't think this is just going to continue unabated, so to speak. so i almost think you're gonna have like the naturalists and then the tech i feel like there's a movie somewhere about that right like i totally agree it's like we only want to deal with real only real so forbes online has a article from earlier in the year says the future of trust and verification for social media platforms so this is saying in recent years public trust in the media has plummeted to unprecedented lows. There's a bot dilemma eroding trust and spreading misinformation. And then there's a case for introducing human verification for social media users.

20:01Human verification involves confirming that a real person and not an automated bot operates a social media account. So it's going to be like biometric verification to prove you're human. I think you're going to see that. Which is good, except you lose your anonymity. Oh, good. And I mean, shouldn't that be happening anyway on some level? Yeah, some people need to be exposed. You get rid of a lot of trolls if they actually had to say who they were. Yeah, for sure. Speaking of, I would love to get your guys' perspective on our next article. Let's talk a little bit about Alex Jones and Infowars. Oh, yeah, that's interesting.

20:41So a judge ordered that they're going to liquidate Alex Jones's InfoWars business. Anything that has to do with InfoWars. All the assets are being auctioned off to help settle the$1 billion settlement that is owed to the Sandy Hook families. So accountability and media influence. How do you guys feel about that? Well, one, this guy lost his fucking mind. You know, like everybody wants to get behind these conspiracy theories. But like, why did he fall on the sword for this? I mean, Chris, do you have an opinion about that? I think it's interesting for someone that didn't fire a bullet to have to do this.

21:24Yeah, but he said it was all a hoax, right? Over and over and over again. Right. But and to be fair, though, then why is CNN, Fox, MSNBC? Why are they all not getting liquidated to pay out in damages? And they have had to pay out in certain situations. I happen to like Alex Jones. I think he's been ahead of the game on a lot of stuff. He obviously missed it with this one. Big, big miss. But I don't think it detracts from like he's educated a lot of people, especially with the COVID stuff way ahead. What was going on? So it's not my problem isn't really with him. It's more of, all right, if we're going to have this precedence, it needs to apply to all media outlets, not just targeted towards.

22:04that i agree with i so we can all agree that it shouldn't you should if this is going to be the law if this is the accountability that we're going to have for media journalism that it needs to be universal yeah and i just personally wouldn't put my millions of dollars in assets on the line for an opinion that even if he still believes it to this day, wrongly, is so polarizing and so, like, you're talking about kids. You're talking about people getting killed. Why do you have to, why do you want to put your whole reputation on the line for that? When you don't 100 % know, like Chris said, you weren't the shooter, so it's interesting to have to be this responsible for it.

22:59But, I don't know, I feel like you can't go 100 % all in. you can say i have this thought here's a side of the coin yeah here's one perspective to look at there's all sorts of ways to voice that and to have your right to freedom of speech without according to this a jury and a judge found out that he broke the law and are holding him accountable but i do agree with chris like if if this is the standard then let's apply it because we all know we talked about the hypocrisy of media and some of the things that they get away with saying and doing with really no accountability whatsoever. It's like the million things they've said about Trump and maybe they got right 30 % of it.

23:44I don't know what the, but what about the other 70 %? It's like, ah, just okay. It's part of it. And I get that this is a very sensitive topic versus one man that half the country doesn't like, but it still doesn't make it okay. There needs to be a standard for media accountability or not. And everybody can have opinions. We have opinions. We're sharing opinions on this show. But I don't know. I'm just not going to personally feel compelled to want to use my best guess on things of that nature. Me personally. yeah in just honoring sandy hook and the 21st graders and six educators who were killed in the newtown connecticut shooting and back when that happened thoughts and prayers always with those families and the problem is last thing i'll say is alex has done i do think he's enlightened and done a lot of things but you lose all that fucking credibility like on again taking the stand on something like this.

24:49So like you've built this reputation, you've done these things. And so if I don't want to think Alex is doing it for the shtick himself, then don't fall on your sword for something that would be so outlandish that it almost seems like you were. We got to paint with that same brush too. Cause I see the same thing. It's like, yeah, I've shared my political views, but I get on Fox and I'm like, God damn, like they are, it's just wearing out these conspiracies and it's like over and over and it's like the stuff that's so obvious that i see with my own eyes that i support i'm like okay i get it but then they go down these rabbit holes too they i'm just like this is just so partisan i think it's a good like i love hearing your stance because you're such an independent thinker you really are the kind of person that like has both sides and i'm a little bit more conspiracy minded like i will go down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole gladly any day of the week.

25:47And I think it's just interesting to hear that from you, Ryan, from a business standpoint, being independent and thinking kind of through that lens is really healthy. It is. That's why I'm proud to sponsor Independence Center. I am independent. Like I do not claim to be one or the other. I vote with common sense in my business mind, my moral values. And I've shared where that is, but independentcenter.org, Go check them out. All the information is about policies. It's about information and it's about having dialogue. And it's not about partisan politics. I encourage you to go check that out. Sign up for their newsletter.

26:24You'll get information. Learn about the policies. Learn about what the dialogue needs to be about, which is ultimately the impact that's having to the bottom line for businesses, for people. and to be able to have a dialogue where we're not just immediately starting with partisan discussion about left, right, otherwise. And look, no matter where my beliefs and things fall, I'm not voting with a red or a blue pen. I'm voting with what I believe to be right for my family, and I do support Independence Center. Go check them out. Official sponsor of Right About Now, IndependenceCenter.org. We'll have a link in my bio as well and on the show.

27:07Speaking of business, our next article that I'm going to read comes to us from APNews.com. This is interesting. This is a it is a Biden administration recent law that's come into effect. And it is a change to non-compete and overtime pay for U.S. workers. So the FTC made a decision to ban non-compete agreements, which is super interesting from business and as a business owner for you guys, labor laws, economic regulation. So what do you guys think about this? Banning non-compete agreements for U.S. workers?

27:47Chris, I'll let you start on this. We use non-competes in my medical business for our salespeople, obviously. When this came up, we talked about it. It's not fully applying. Like if someone works for me and they switch companies and literally go steal our business, you can still go after them, which is reasonable. However, and I'll be fair, I've been on the other side, but when I left my first career medical job, they hit me with some legal paperwork trying to threaten me. I remember I was 26 and I'm like, screw you guys. Like I'm just some young college kid trying to make it. And they were threatening me with complete false information anyway.

28:23So that's when I kind of forgot my first taste of corporate bullying. Right. So I'm on both sides. I think there's a middle ground here. But obviously, in my main business, we do utilize non-competes and will continue to do so legally. I see both sides of this. And I mean, as a business owner, I think you can protect yourself. Like Chris said, I mean, if someone is working for you and they leave and they take trade secrets and they do things, whether they sign a non-complete or not, you can take them to court. And so you can still get done what you need from a business standpoint, which is all that ultimately matters.