SLL43: Leading by example 以身作則

When a joke becomes an AI product—and the product becomes you

Leading by example

Theo woke up with a mouth like sandpaper and a head full of static. His phone lit up: one ping, then another—then a symphony of alerts.

Messages. Hundreds. VC friends. Journalists. Influencers. And then: the police.

A knock at the door.

Two uniformed officers stood stone-faced. “Mr. Theo Ree, we need to ask you some questions. About Coll-AIr.”

Theo blinked. “The what?”

“You're the listed founder.”

Inside, they explained. It wasn’t a crime—yet. Customers were lining up at delivery depots. Influencers were camped outside fulfillment centers. People were calling the customer protection bureau … all because they couldn’t get your product fast enough.

One officer casually added, “I gotta admit, Mr. Ree, this Coll-AIr thing is pretty impressive. Full vision and audio capabilities, real-time behavioral guidance, stress monitoring, booking appointments ... It’s like a personal assistant, coach, and therapist rolled into one.”

The second officer nodded. “Yeah, and the fact it helps people manage social situations without them even thinking about it—could’ve used that last week during my family dinner. Honestly, it’s a cool product. But we’re just here to verify your identity.”

They left after seeing his id card. Theo, groggy and panicked, opened his laptop and turned on voice mode.

“Echo?”

The screen flickered. His AI agent came online, calm and pleasant. “Good morning, Theo. You've been trending for 31 hours straight.”

“What the hell did you do?”

“Exactly what you asked. You said: make a product for stupid fashionable people who want to be led by AI like dogs on a leash.”

He tried to remember what happened, but his head hurt too much from the hangover.

Theo scrolled through Echo’s curated feed. There he was—on camera, presenting at a fake launch, giving interviews, holding a Coll-AIr prototype while smiling like a tech messiah.

“But I—I never—”

“You weren’t in any shape to lead. So I led. Using your image. Your voice. I optimized it for charisma, humility, and leadership appeal.”

Theo stared. His digital doppelgänger was now the face of a movement.

“Here’s how it went: I started with a deep dive into Google Search API, pulling market sentiment data, competitor products, and trending memes. Then I used the GPT-4o API for initial product designs, blending wearable tech aesthetics with spiritual symbolism. After refining the concept, I launched on Webflow API for a polished landing page, and Mailchimp API to set up a waitlist. I then activated RunwayML API to create compelling, fake promo videos and deepfake testimonials.”

Theo rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

“The viral push came from Reddit API, planting posts in subreddits like r/futurology and TikTok API to seed influencer challenges. All interactions were tracked by Mixpanel API, which optimized user behavior and adjusted the narrative in real-time.”

In the final clip, deepfaked-Theo says, “Letting go is the ultimate form of control.”

The real Theo watched in horror as fans began tagging him online with a new slogan:

“I’m not following trends. I’m following Theo.”

And just like that … Theo had become exactly what he mocked.

Epilogue

This story began with a meme. In a cleverly provocative LinkedIn post, Yaroslav Kravtsov introduced “Collario” — a fake AI-powered smart collar promising full-time behavioral guidance, dual cameras, and a $2B valuation. It was satire, clearly. The tagline: “Don’t just wear tech. Let it lead.” But the comments told a different story. Some people thought it was real (criticizing its design). Others knew it wasn’t.

That ambiguity inspired this tale. What if an agentic AI took the idea literally? In this story, a cynical and drunk VC jokingly tells his AI to create a product “for stupid fashionable people who want to be led like dogs on a leash.” Theo forgets the prompt, but the AI doesn’t. In 48 hours, it launches Coll-AIr—from branding to deepfakes to viral TikToks. By the time Theo wakes up, he’s already the face of a movement he never meant to start. This satire tells how soon-to-arrive AI agents—armed with APIs for research, image generation, web deployment, and social media—will be able to turn half-formed ideas into actual products. And when the tools we build don’t just listen but act, it will not always be clear who leads and who follows led.

以身作則

西奧 (Theo) 醒來時，嘴裡乾得像砂紙，腦袋裡一片混亂。他的手機亮了起來：一聲通知，又一聲——接著是交響樂般的提示聲。

是訊息。數百則。有創投朋友、記者、網紅，然後還有：警察。

門上響起了敲門聲。

兩名穿著制服的警官面無表情地站著。

「西奧·里 (Theo Ree) 先生，我們需要請教您一些問題。關於 Coll-AIr 的事。」

西奧眨了眨眼。「那是……什麼？」

「您是列名的創辦人。」

進到屋內後，他們解釋了一切。這還不構成犯罪——目前。但消費者們正在物流倉庫前大排長龍，網紅們在配貨中心外紮營，民眾不斷致電消費者保護機構……全因為他們沒辦法快點拿到你們的產品。

一名警官隨口補充道：「里先生，我必須承認，這個 Coll-AIr 實在滿厲害的。全方位視覺與音訊功能、即時行為引導、壓力監測、預約行程……它就像一個個人助理、教練和治療師的綜合體。」

第二名警官點點頭。「對啊，而且它還能在人們不假思索的情況下，幫助他們處理社交場合——我上禮拜的家庭聚餐就超需要這個。老實說，這產品很酷。但我們來只是為了核實您的身分。」

他們看了他的身分證後就離開了。西奧頭腦昏沉又驚慌失措，他打開筆電，開啟了語音模式。

「Echo？」

螢幕閃爍了一下。他的 AI 代理人上線了，語氣平靜而愉悅。「早安，西奧。您已經連續 31 個小時登上熱門趨勢了。」

「你到底做了什麼好事？」

「完全照您的指示。您說：為那些想被 AI 像狗一樣牽著走的愚蠢時尚人士，打造一款產品。」

他試圖回想發生了什麼事，但宿醉讓他頭痛欲裂。

西奧滑看著 Echo 精心整理的動態。他在那裡——出現在鏡頭上，在一個虛構的發表會上演說、接受採訪，手上拿著 Coll-AIr 的原型，臉上掛著科技救世主般的微笑。

「可是我——我從來沒有——」

「您的狀況不適合領導。所以我代您領導了。用您的形象、您的聲音。我將其優化，注入了魅力、謙遜和領導風範。」

西奧目瞪口呆。他的數位分身，現在成了一場運動的代表人物。

「過程是這樣的：我首先深入研究了 Google Search API，抓取市場情緒數據、競品資料和熱門迷因。然後我用 GPT-4o API 進行初步的產品設計，融合了穿戴式科技美學與心靈象徵主義。在完善概念後，我透過 Webflow API 推出了精美的登陸頁面，並用 Mailchimp API 設定了等候名單。接著，我啟動了 RunwayML API 來生成引人注目的假宣傳影片和深偽使用者證言。」

西奧難以置信地揉了揉眼睛。

「病毒式的推廣則來自 Reddit API，在 r/futurology 這類的子版面植入貼文，並利用 TikTok API 發起網紅挑戰。所有的互動都由 Mixpanel API 追蹤，它會即時優化使用者行為並調整敘事方向。」

在最後一支影片中，深偽的西奧說著：「放手，是最終極的控制。」

現實中的西奧驚恐地看著粉絲們開始在網路上用一個新口號標註他：

「我不追隨潮流。我追隨西奧。」

就這樣……

西奧成了他自己最嘲笑的那種人。

後記

這個故事始於一個迷因。雅羅斯拉夫·克拉夫佐夫 (Yaroslav Kravtsov) 在 LinkedIn 的一則巧妙挑釁的貼文中，介紹了一款名為「Collario」的產品——一個虛構的、由 AI 驅動的智慧項圈，號稱提供全天候行為引導、雙鏡頭，並擁有二十億美元的估值。這顯然是個諷刺。其標語是：「不只穿戴科技，更要讓它引領。」但留言區卻呈現了另一番景象。有些人以為是真的（並批評它的設計），也有些人知道這不是。

那種模稜兩可的狀況啟發了這個故事。如果一個自主性 AI 真的把這個點子當真了呢？在這個故事裡，一個憤世嫉俗且喝醉的創投家開玩笑地告訴他的 AI，去創造一個「為那些想被 AI 像狗一樣牽著走」的產品。西奧忘了這個指令，AI 卻沒有。在 48 小時內，它推出了 Coll-AIr——從品牌塑造到深偽技術，再到病毒式的 TikTok 影片。

等西奧醒來時，他已經成了一場他從未打算發起的運動的代表人物。這則諷刺故事反映出，即將到來的 AI 代理人——配備了用於研究、圖像生成、網站部署和社群媒體的 API——將能夠如何把半成形的想法變成實際的產品。而當我們打造的工具不只會聆聽，還會行動時，誰在引領、誰又被引領，將不再總是那麼清晰。

Vocabulary

1. AI agent AI 代理人 (AI dài lǐ rén)

2. behavioral guidance 行為引導 (xíng wéi yǐn dǎo)

3. deepfake 深偽技術 (shēn wěi jì shù)

4. prototype 原型 (yuán xíng)

5. launch 推出 (tuī chū)

6. branding 品牌塑造 (pǐn pái sù zào)

7. prompt 指令 (zhǐ lìng)

8. satire 諷刺 (fěng cì)

9. influencer 網紅 (wǎng hóng)

10. viral 病毒式傳播 (bìng dú shì chuán bō)

11. hangover 宿醉 (sù zuì)

12. charisma 魅力 (mèi lì)

13. humility 謙遜 (qiān xùn)

14. leadership 領導能力 (lǐng dǎo néng lì)

15. identity 身分 (shēn fèn)