Ghost Mail Weekender

Happy Sunday Voornaam,

The Olympics are underway and the opening ceremony has managed to cause more arguments over division than a grade 4 maths textbook. Love it or hate it, it was at least great to see a reference to the Delacroix masterpiece that Dominique Olivier wrote about just last week! Many would argue that the concept of liberté was taken a little too far.
Personally, I love the Olympics. I watched some of the men's gymnastics the other night and I could actually feel my tennis elbow twitching while watching them do outrageous moves at impossible angles, especially on those rings. Most mortals can only dream of such athleticism, which is why it was a big deal for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to announced that the inaugural Esports Games will be held in Saudi Arabia in 2025.
Let's not delve into Saudi's human rights track record or even their track & field record. Instead, let's take a (slightly) lighter approach and ring the alarm bell about gamers training their fingers at all hours of the night.
A few years ago, a UK-based company called Divorce Online conducted a survey that found that 5% of divorces were due to gaming addiction. By pre-pandemic levels, a subsequent survey found that the number had increased to 15%. It's hard to believe that it would've gone down from there as the world has become more digital.
Causation? Or correlation? After all, in a toxic relationship, you're far more likely to find ways to spend too much time doing things separately vs. spending the right amount of time together and apart.
Either way, if Call of Duty becomes an Olympic sport, the correct portfolio position would probably be long Microsoft, short toy companies. The call of duty means something different these days.
Speaking of toys, this week's column by Dominique Olivier is a wonderful piece on Lego, surely one of the most important companies in the world. It's hard to think of another that has brought so much joy to people of all ages. Amazingly, Lego has never been a listed company. Until recently, it was also managed by generations of family members. For those building a family business, this is a wonderful piece of inspiration as well as a warning about the need to get professional management in place at some point in time. Read it here.
Read on for proof from Dominique that social media influencers are fake, as well as some really fun collective nouns in her fast facts.
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday - and congratulations to the Blitzboks on getting our medal tally off to an early start!
The Finance Ghost (follow on X) | Dominique Olivier (connect on LinkedIn)

Social media influencers: faking it even when they make it

TL:DR: A popular UK lifestyle and fashion magazine is in hot water after it introduced an artificial intelligence "fashion and lifestyle editor" on its social media page as a new member of its team.
I’ve always suspected that being an influencer is not a real job. The fact that SheerLuxe has just appointed a fake person to be an influencer has only strengthened my suspicions.
Stay with me now, because this is going to sound a little crazy, but I promise these are true events that are currently unfolding. SheerLuxe, a well-known UK lifestyle magazine, recently introduced an AI "fashion and lifestyle editor" named Reem on their social media channels. In images that accompany the post, editor-in-chief Charlotte Collins can be seen posing fashionably on a couch during a so-called “morning coffee and catch up meeting” with the new hire, an attractive young woman who appears to be of Middle Eastern descent. The part that is causing people on the internet all sorts of angst is that the new hire in the picture does not exist. Her likeness is 100% AI-generated. Further images divulge “what’s in Reem’s handbag”, “Reem’s desk setup” and “Reem’s go-to lunch”, accompanied by “selfies” snapped by Reem in and around the office.
You can see that original post (and read the seething comments) here.
So, just to clarify: SheerLuxe is using an AI-generated persona to make recommendations of real products to its readers, as if the persona were toting those products around in a handbag or displaying them on her desk. I’ve heard of suspension of disbelief before, but this is on another level entirely.
As you can imagine, this whole story has sparked a significant backlash from their nearly half a million Instagram followers. Critics argued that the move deprived human journalists of jobs and promoted unrealistic beauty standards. Some fans are expressing frustration over the unachievable beauty norms set by Reem's perfectly AI-generated body and visage. Others are questioning why SheerLuxe would rather invent a woman of colour than hire one.
In response, SheerLuxe issued an apology, stating their intent was to innovate but admitted they didn't explain it properly. They clarified that Reem's role was to provide fashion, beauty, and travel recommendations, and no human jobs were affected. Reem was created in collaboration with a Middle Eastern AI imagery creator, which influenced her appearance.
SheerLuxe's Instagram following saw a slight decline after the announcement, reflecting some fans' discontent. It’s not exactly an exodus of followers, but personally, I’ve read enough in that tirade of comments to think that we don’t have to be too worried about AI influencers just yet.

Lego: brick by brick, a private company masterpiece

Dominique's fast facts: What to call a group of animals

An assortment of facts that will take you only a minute to read.

An obstinacy of buffalo

​A nuisance of cats (Ghost is suspicious that I invented this one)

A coalition of cheetahs

A business of ferrets

A flamboyance of flamingos

A troubling of goldfish

A conspiracy of lemurs

A cartload of monkeys

A pandemonium of parrots

A rhumba of rattlesnakes