Artificial Money: A Cautionary Tale of AI Slop, Money, Influencers, and Newfies

18-year-old Colin McKennon from Oakeston, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, is about to fall for one of the biggest scams in global history. On the day after his graduation in 2023, Colin, an aspiring writer struggling with writer’s block, gets a self-printed QR code from an eccentric classmate that links to a YouTube video by Norwegian-born “influentrepreneur” Stefan Andersen. It instructs viewers to use generative artificial intelligence to make money through self-publishing, content creation, and music distribution. Going under the online alias Mac Mari, after the Scottish folk song and his father’s favorite Great Big Sea track, Colin unknowingly embarks on a journey of self-destruction that threatens to make him financially and morally bankrupt. Can he break free before he loses everything?