Jetta Raye Adventures
Where AI Chatbots Meet Fix Fics
Alright, so I’ve been stuck with a bit of a worm lately. And I’m not sure if I’ve been handling it so well. Not a stomach worm, or an ear worm, just a thought that requires writing it down.
Meet Jetta Raye
Jetta Raye has a pretty interesting history. As you can tell from the artwork, it was one of Archie Comics trend followers in the 1950s but with a focus on the future. Basically Archie meets the Jetsons.
This entire three issue series managed to stay in people’s minds.
…
Yeah…Despite some bold attempts to get into people’s imaginations, it wasn’t very successful. Jetta has since been in the public domain with different creators taking a jab using her world to explore scientific products to their most ridiculous.
The Best Jetta Raye Adventures
A couple of years ago, I came across a copy of a hardcover for a newer version of Jetta. Some of the stories of Jetta Raye Adventures weren’t the most fun, but one of them stood out.
You know where AI chatbots that are practically everywhere today? Well before they became prominent, there was a story in this book about the most realistic way ChatBots would be implanted into the movie-going experience.
Jetta and her boyfriend Arky were unsatisfied with how a movie turned out in the end. Only for the characters in the movie to agree with them. As in actually talking directly at them.
Taking advantage of this, Jetta and co. make some more endings in the hope the director would see their data and change it accordingly. Only for their response not to be the more popular one, to their dismay and apparently the movie characters.
The director of the movie is given a reward at some intergalactic Oscars. His only response is knowing your audience.
How AI Chats Integrates Into Art
What made this issue stand out from the rest is not some sci-fi paint job of something familiar like toilet papering. But a look at how far AI can be used. People are already using ChatGPT to search the web with less clicks and make pictures and stories. But what happens when you actually implement it into reactions?
In this case, a movie’s theatrical release is used like an Early Access game on Steam. It used a few…complicated things we’re not going to talk about.
What’s important is how the movie characters interact with the cast. They sounded just like how AI chatbots agree with just about everything their users say. Including when the director’s cut came out and kept egging them on.
But then there’s what the owners of the AI do with it. While every audience gets a custom-made ending, the director of this movie uses his cut based on data he collected from everyone. Including an intergalactic version of the Academy. You know that cliche-loving organization who can be really out of touch.
Basically, everybody gets what they want, but nobody but the guy behind the camera gets everything.
Will This Happen In Real Life?
Today we are coming closer and closer to having AI and its capabilities into everything. Algorithms that track habits, data collecting, and community-driven lore through DAO-curated narratives.
Even in Jetta Raye we have suped up computer generated actors made to look like different people including Charlie Chaplin. AI and deepfakes could go hand-in-hand. And with AI being trained to act certain ways, who would even need real actors? Especially when these virtual ones can actually talk to their audiences in real time? All while leaving them satisfied with the illusion of being in their corner.
As a South Park episode explores:
If AI can make everyone a sycophant, it enhances the ones with the most pull.
Sadly the publisher of Jetta Raye Adventures has gone silent after failing to get funds for a new mini-series. But at least they made a memorable bit of forward thinking commentary that nobody saw coming.