Watch out for a new kind of online fakery

Emily Cohn October 17, 2022

Welcome back. This is deputy editor in chief Emily Cohn, filling in again for Nicholas Carlson. Over the weekend, I thought a lot about the juicy topic of “overemployment,” which is when remote workers have more than one full-time job. I wasn’t alone. Our readers were fascinated by Equifax’s recent firing of at least 24 overemployed workers, including one who was moonlighting as a nurse. 

Impressive? Or deceptive? Some are fuming about the trend (more on that below) but others have pointed out that execs like Elon Musk are able to lead multiple companies at once — so why can’t workers? What do you think? Let us know at newsletter@insider.com.  

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The big story

Matthieu Bourel for Insider

For the past two years, writer Evan Ratliff followed a woman named Albertina Geller around the internet. He first saw her on LinkedIn, then Pinterest, then online health forums, and even on her own website and blog. 

And while this might sound ominous, there's something he quickly realized about Albertina: She isn't human. She’s the product of artificial intelligence.

Albertina was created by a piece of software called a Generative Adversarial Network, which studies faces in order to make its own. This isn't the familiar kind of deepfakes you might know — those manipulate images of real people. Instead, GANs create nonexistent people. They're meant to mimic the fundamentals of human appearances.

Since finding Albertina, Evan has been “quietly stalking” these counterfeit humans online.

Check out his full investigation into this new kind of online fakery here — and see examples of other counterfeit humans and fake websites, to boot.

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• A tech CEO sparked controversy after calling overemployment a “new form of theft and deception.” In a now-viral LinkedIn Post, the CEO said the company had fired two engineers who were secretly working two full-time jobs simultaneously, saying “this isn't some fun new social trend.” Here’s what else the CEO said. 

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Today’s sound bite

“People think I just popped up the day after Mark passed away and said ‘I’m going back to work!’ and that’s not the case.” 

Coach and strategist Bevin Farrand on growing her business while grieving.

Watch this

A single curling stone certified for the Olympics costs over $600 — which means that a full set of 16 stones is worth $9,600. And why are they so expensive? Watch to find out.

Today's team

Emily Cohn (@emily_cohn), Lisa Ryan (@lisarya), and Jordan Parker Erb (@jordanparkererb).

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