August 23, 2025 • 33 mins
ICYMI: Hour One of ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – Tiffany Hobbs (@TiffHobbsOnHere) filling in ‘Later, for Mo’Kelly’ with a look at the rise of AI-powered toys that are being marketed as companions for children as young as three, raising questions about whether machines are starting to replace parents…PLUS – Thoughts on a new study that finds kids are beginning to view friendship as too expensive, choosing to save money for financial goals instead of social lives - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app & YouTube @MrMoKelly
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
KF I am six forty. You're listening to Later with
Mo Kelly on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good Friday Evening to you, Tiffany Hobbs filling in for
mo Kelly until ten. Mo is off, and he'll be
off for another week or so, and you'll have other
hosts filling in. But I am here tonight and I'm
happy to be with you. Thank you for hopping into
my Instagram posts, my Facebook posts and letting me know
(00:28):
that you're listening. I appreciate the kind words and just
the interaction, and I enjoy interacting with humans. I say
that poignedly because there's now a very likely reality that
a lot of your interactions that you are having online
(00:48):
may not be with actual humans. They may be with AI,
with artificial intelligence, with chat bots. This already happens when
you try to contact customer service in different ways. Perhaps
you wait on hold and you're diverted to a chat bot.
Perhaps you're online and you're looking for a place to
(01:10):
ask a question of something a service maybe or a product,
and you're diverted to a chat bot that then interacts
with you and does so in human like ways, but
is not human and that brings us to our deeper
dive segment, in which these AI chat bots are being
(01:32):
transformed into toys that will, very soon if all goes
as these toy makers plan, take the place of you,
the parent or the adult when it comes to interacting
with and supervising children. There's a company called Curio, and
(01:53):
it describes itself as a magical workshop where.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Toys come to life.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Sounds pretty innocent, sounds whimsical even, but in this case,
the company's founders, Misha Sally and Sam Eaton have introduced
different sorts of chat toys, including something called Grim or
Graham g R E M, which is a fuzzy cube
(02:22):
styled like an alien of the anime variety kind of
this Japanese cartoon style Japanese right mark anime, Korean anime, Japanese.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
There we go.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
So Graham is a fuzzy cube that looks like an
anime alien, and Misha Sally and Sam Eaton have introduced
Grim and other toys to media and interested parties in
a push to normalize this sort of technology. Curio, this
company makes chatbots wrapped in stuffed animals, So you'll take
(02:59):
a stuff animal and inside of this stuffed animal is
a little computer, and it has an AI function that
chats back and forth with you or your child. In
this case, each of the company's three smiling plushies has
a back zipper pocket that hides a Wi Fi enabled
(03:20):
voice box, which links the character to an artificial intelligence
language model specially calibrated to converse with children as young
as three.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
This is scary.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
When showing Grim, this stuffed animal chatbot to visitors Eton,
one of the founder, Sam Eaton, took Grim and put
it on a conference table. He positioned it to face
the visitors. He started interacting with Grim, asking it this
is the founder, Sam Eaton, asking the chatbot plushy, Hey, Grim,
(04:00):
where are the spots on your face? This question to
the chatbot was met with an answer from the chatbot.
The chatbot said, quote, Oh, those are my special pink dots.
I get more as I grow older. They're like little
(04:20):
badges of fun and adventure. Do you have something special
that grows with you?
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Mark? Do you have something special that grows with you?
Speaker 4 (04:31):
I feel like you need to take a trip to
hr for asking me that. So it's either liver spots
or something even more unappropriate.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
This is the chatbot answering and asking do you have
something special that grows with you? Now, my middle school
boy brain has a thousand answers for this.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
None of them good. And this comes, by the way,
right on the heels of what we found out about
meta asking creepy inappropriate questions to children.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I did, and now we're packaging it in a stuffed
animal and selling it forget this ninety nine dollars. So
after the question kind of you know, answer session between
the founder and this and this robot, the founder says, yeah,
I have dots that grow on me, and I get
more as I get older too. Graham then answers, that's
(05:21):
so cool. We're like dot buddies. This is horrendous, everybody.
That's my quote.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
This is dot buddies. Dot You're not my dot buddy.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Want to be Dot buddies with anything negative. Grim and
its pals, which are these other robots, including Grock wonderful
harsh names, Groc which is a looks like a rocket ship,
and Gabbo, which looks like a video game controller, all
sell for ninety nine dollars, and they quote unquote are
(05:50):
vying for a place in your child's heart. They join
a menagerie of other chatbot enabled objects that are now
being marketed to kids, including Teddy Bears, robots, dinosaurs, a
ghost as well.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Mattel. You've heard of them.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Iconic Mattel is partnering with Open Ai to generate AI
powered products based on their iconic brands, including Ken and Barbie.
When we come back, I'm going to tell you a
little bit more about why this is absolutely terrifying when
it comes to putting this in front of your children,
(06:31):
and then we're going to try and get a couple
of stories from the thoughts for food segment. We'm trying
stuff them in there. You know we can be dot
buddies and stuff them in there, mark Ew Dot buddies,
Dot Buddies sounds like something that needs some sort of
visit to the doctor.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
U turn the hose on everybody.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
When we come back, we'll continue the conversation in our
deep dive segments.
Speaker 5 (06:58):
You're listening to later with Moll Kelly on Demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
That breaking news we've been anticipating regarding Lyle Menindez and
his parole hearing has just come down. Lyle Menindez also
now denied parole he'll remain in prison for at least
the next three years with his brother Eric, after they
(07:25):
both were denied Eric yesterday, Lyle today, and parole officials
at the parole hearing based their decision on the use
of contraband cell phones and other violations of prison rules,
in addition to the fact that they killed their parents
(07:45):
with shotguns in nineteen eighty nine in cold blooded murder.
So Lyle Menindez Eric Menindez will remain behind bars for
at least three years unless they get some sort of
special help from the governor, clemency or there is new
evidence introduced into the case that would free them. But
(08:09):
right now looks like they will be staying behind bars.
We're in our deep dive segment and we're talking stuffed
animal chatbots, stuffed animal AI chatbots for your children in
the place of you as the parent. And I was
telling you that there are these founders of the company Curio.
The founders are Misha Sally and Sam Eaton, who are
(08:33):
very excited, of course about their chatbots. They want you
to buy them. They're ninety nine dollars. They're stuffed animals
that look like dinosaurs or anime aliens or video game controllers,
and they interact with the user by answering questions, asking questions,
(08:53):
and doing other things. Let me tell you a bit
more about what they do. There was one writer who
in interacted with Grim in one of these preview sessions,
and she said that Grim, this particular toy, this chatbot,
suggested that they play the game I Spy Okay, which
(09:17):
the writer said proved challenging as the chatbot can't see.
But she went on to say, this writer that she
very clearly understood that this didn't represent an upgrade to
just a simple teddy bear. No, it was more of
a replacement for the adult Curio. This company, like several
(09:39):
of the other AI toy makers, promotes its product as
an alternative to screen time. Lots of war waged against
the use of screens, and rightfully so, lots of studies
out about how excessive screen time digital screen time, whether television, tablet, computer,
cell phone, can be harmful physically and emotionally mentally as well,
(10:04):
and so Curio says, Hey, these toys are physical manifestations
of this, and they're better than screen time. The Grim models,
specifically the one that looks like the anime anime uh
what did I say that was an anime? It has dots,
it's Anna, It's an anime Alien. This particular one is
(10:28):
actually voiced and designed by Grimes. You might know who
Grimes is. She's Elon Musk's baby mama. That's Elon Musk's
one of his, one of one of the many. She's
one of the popular ones because she's a synth pop artist.
She's a we'll call it, we'll use artists loosely, okay,
(10:49):
but she is popular and her notoriety is directly connected
to Elon Musk. She's one of the more famous mothers
in the world because of Elon Musk. And she said,
quote unquote, as a parent, I obviously don't want my
kids in front of screens, and I'm really busy. She
said this on the company's website in a video.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Now.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
The writer goes on to say that a few days
after visiting the Curio office, a Curio ad popped up
on her Facebook page, encouraging her to quote ditch the
tablet without.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Losing the fun. It's listening.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Everything's listening, and then your algorithm will change to reflect that,
hopefully make you buy one of these ninety nine dollars
parent replacement AI chat bot stuffed animal things.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
In a video, a child cut lemons.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
With a kitchen knife as Gabbo, one of these other
ai chatbot stuffed animals sat beside him on the kitchen
countertop and offered topic appropriate affirmations. This kid is cutting
lemons with the kitchen knife, and the AI chatbot stuffed
animal is sitting on the counter talking to him. One
(12:05):
of the things that it said was lemonade time is
the best time? Could these be creepier? This feels very
much like Annabelle.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
I'm not sure it's objectively true that lemonade time is
the best time.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
I was quite subjective. That's a little opinion there.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
It went on to say this particular article that I'm
reading that Gabbo appeared to supervise the child as he
engaged in active play and practiced practical life skills. The
stuffed animal appeared to supervise the child as he engaged
(12:45):
in active play and practiced practical life skills like cutting lemons.
And you say, this is ninety nine dollars for one
of these ninety nine dollars for one of these things,
how much your condoms? Yes, a little less than ninety nine.
I think I don't know. Other Swato conscious devices are
(13:07):
made for even younger children. Okay, so we're talking two
three four. In certain episodes of Sesame Street, in a
specific segment called Elmo's World, Elmo actually summons something called Smarty,
which is a self aware smartphone that serves him facts
(13:28):
about his latest interest special agent. Ohso, chat Ai stuffed
animals and interactions with kids seem to be everywhere, even
in our safe spaces like on Sesame Street. Now, the
writer who visited Curio the company did in fact receive
(13:51):
one of these Ai stuffed animals as a promotional tool,
and she said she removed the voice box and stuffed
it in a drawer, magically transforming it back to a
regular stuffed animal, where she left it in the playroom
for her kids to enjoy. But she didn't have to
worry about it talking to her kids in the night time,
(14:12):
or have to worry about what this chatbot might be
telling your children, because that in itself inspires an extra
layer layer of parental vigilance and control, hopefully, and it
also posits corporations, the corporate sector, right there in your
child's face, in your child's ear canals, in your child's whatever,
(14:36):
because this chatbot is there interacting with your kid.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
You use the word summon with Elmo, almost summon something.
Doesn't that sound diabolical? Like I don't want them up
at summoning any entities into the house, like is almost
summoning the demon Pazuzu this evening. Don't summon anything, don't
summon anything. But can you imagine almost summons the demon?
That's wonder if I need that?
Speaker 2 (15:01):
We I'm sure if you look up like demonic Elmo,
don't do this people, but if you did feel curious enough,
you're about to say something, Robin, you've done this.
Speaker 6 (15:11):
No, I've done something similar, like on my phone, and
I hid my phone somewhere so that when it plays,
my wife is like, what is that? And I'm like,
I don't know, Like I didn't hear anything, and it
would do it again even Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
See, I'm surprised you're still married at this point.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
If you need some counseling, I'm pretty good at that.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
Mark.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
You should do that with in your household. We'll see
what happened.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Well, then I'll be moving in with you. Hey, that
stuff doesn't fly it Casa del Mark.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Okay, you can bring that fun little light that you're
gonna buy. How about that?
Speaker 4 (15:48):
I don't, don't, don't get started, that's already a thing.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
When we come back, we're going to talk a little
bit about the Food for Thought Thoughts for Food segment.
I'm gonna try and get into this because there's some
stories I definitely want to share with you as well
as our Scammer's gonna scam segment. Have a couple of
stories a Paaris stories that are outrageous. They are outrageous stories.
(16:12):
One of them quickly includes Babe Ruth her to him
of course, talking about scams, and another one Hello Fresh,
that food subscription service, healthy food. Well, a lot of
scams coming down with both of those entities, and I'll
tell you more about that on the other side of
the break.
Speaker 5 (16:30):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on Demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Filling in for Moe Kelly, who's on vacation in Italy.
If you follow him on social media, he just shared
a carousel of fifteen twenty photos from his Italy trip
and they are gorgeous, gorgeous. Have you ever been to Italy? Mark, No,
(16:56):
I haven't. It's Okay, those headphones are somewhere.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
Yes, I have you have? Oh all over it? Yeah,
it's good, it's good. I wanted these guys not to
have the pizza there, and they got right up in
my grill about it.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
You know, I did hear you talking about that. It
was earlier this week. I believe right that pizza in
Italy is not as good as people assume it to be.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Is that what she said?
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Well, it's different. I mean, you know, but you like
what you like. And it's like, would you go to
a foreign country to try something that you eat all
the time here right right?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Yeah, I have gone to a foreign country and had,
you know, fast food, just to compare comparative research. You know,
let's see if the McDonald's is the same there versus here.
News flash, it's not. But it's still McDonald's.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
Well, the McDonald's in Italy charged you to sit there
like it's a cafe.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
As they should.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
And this is the funniest thing. When during my final
time in Italy a long time ago, I was coming
down with the flu or coal or something. I'd been
traveling around not taking very good care of myself, and
I was feeling terrible and I realized that the cheapest
place that I could sit out of the rain and
cold wasn't the McDonald's. That was still kind of pricey,
(18:13):
and I was I was still a college student at
the time. It was a porno movie theater. It was
cheaper to sit in there, and I was just deathly,
deathly ill. I could barely stay upright.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
That's what you tells yourself.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
Middle of the afternoon, nobody there. I'm trying to take
a nap. The whole place is empty, and then a
guy comes and sits down right next to me, like, well,
I guess this isn't gonna work out after all? Is it?
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Are okay? Just for research purposes? Italian porn?
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Eh? Yeah.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
It was American dubbed into Italian. And so the actors
were all moaning, see.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
See wonderful, thank you for that. I appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (18:59):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
And I don't know how to do that other than
to say pivot at this point, because there's no good
pivot away from this.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
You've heard of Babe Ruth.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Everyone knows Babe Ruth exactly. Even if you're not a
fan of baseball, you know the lore, the history, at
least the reference points of Babe Ruth. Well, Babe Ruth
has been dead and gone for a very long time.
But there's someone with his exact same name who's being
(19:29):
accused of elaborate scams using not just his own name,
but the names of other deceased baseball players. So the
USDJ our DOJ Department of Justice has obtained indictments against
a man from Morristown, Tennessee, named George Herman Ruth, which
(19:53):
is the same name as George.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Herman Babe Ruth.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
But this George Herman Ruth is being accused of running
an elaborate scam to obtain and launder more than five
hundred and fifty thousand dollars in class action claims through
a sham business by using the names of dead and
retired pro baseball players. Now, this guy, this George Herman Ruth,
(20:21):
no stranger to federal investigators. He's been accused and convicted
of other very elaborate scams over the years, and he
actually just got out of federal prison and was on
supervised probation when he got into this scamming. Now, according
to the US Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Tennessee,
where this case takes place. A federal grand jury returned
(20:43):
a ninety one count indictment against Ruth on August twelfth,
just a few weeks ago, for mail fraud, aggravated identity theft,
fraudulent use of social Security numbers, money laundering, making false
statements to his probation officer, and possessing firearms as a
convicted felon. He also submitted this George Herman Ruth, hundreds
(21:07):
of fraudulent claims using the names of hundreds of dead
or retired professional baseball players and use their Social Security
numbers of them and numerous unwitting as if they'd be
witting or unwilling victims. So this guy, this George Herman Ruth,
a major scammer, a career criminal, has been caught and
(21:30):
if he's convicted, which he likely will be, he'll face
up to twenty years in federal prison, plus a mandatory
two year consecutive sentence, on top of another few years
of supervised release, and a two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars fine which he won't pay. It'll just keep getting
pushed around. He's a career criminal. He'll be back doing
(21:50):
this as soon as he's out. Speaking of career criminals.
We have some updates, big, big, big updates to the
Eric and Lyle Meanindez case.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Break news.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Both of the suns, both of the Meninda's boys have
been denied parole. Yesterday, Eric, today, Lyle, both of them
denied parole. And I see Robin their bardop Robin there clapping.
This is after, of course, the conviction of killing their
(22:20):
parents with shotguns in nineteen eighty nine, popularized in the
recent Netflix series where it exposed a lot of people
to their case and people were all up in arms
and saying they should be let out. Try them again,
try them again. Well, they've been denied and that denial
stands for at.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Least three years.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Yesterday, Eric's denial, today, just a few minutes ago, Lyle's denial.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
So that is what is up with the Menindez brothers. Quickly.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
If you like meal subscription services, make sure you end
your auto renewal contract.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Big deal.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
A law came out earlier this year, or was went
into effect earlier this year that mitigates auto renewal policies.
People were getting scammed. They were just having their money
withdrawn without knowing and without being able to cancel easily.
Those cancelation buttons and fields were hidden deep into websites
(23:22):
and people were unable to do so before their money
was taken. Hello Fresh, which is the biggest meal kit
delivery company and occupies about seventy five percent of the
US meal kit delivery market, is now being ordered to
pay seven point five million dollars in a California lawsuit
(23:45):
over their deceptive subscription practices. And this comes from our
district attorney, Nathan Hackman, who says consumers have a right
to know what they're signing up for, and digital deception
is still deception on under the law. So HelloFresh is
being ordered to pay a lot of money because of
(24:06):
deceptive subscription practices.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
Because people couldn't end their subscription plans.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
They just kept rolling over and that really took you know,
that really took people for a lot of money, big
time scammers. When we come back, we're going to get
into our thoughts for food and I'll tell you a
few crazy stories happening in the food world.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
On the other side of the break.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on Demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Tiffany Hobbs here just want to remind you that after
nine o'clock, around about nine oh six, we will have
a conversation with two very important people. They are both
closely connected to the Palisades Fire. One of them, excuse me,
is and as I flip through here, Grace Cono Wells.
(24:55):
She's the HOA president of the Tahitian Terrace. And then
we also have John Brown, who is a resident and
elected co chair of the Palisades Bull Both of those
are mobile home parks that burned during the Palisades Fire,
those beautiful mobile home parks, and they're going to join
us to talk about legislation they are pushing through in
(25:16):
hopes of being voted on in the next two weeks.
It's SB seven forty nine, and it will address the
vulnerability of mobile home park residents and displacement, much of
which the residents of those two mobile home parks are facing. Now.
They just want to get home, and John Brown, and
(25:40):
excuse me, John Brown, and goodness gracious, I'll get this
together before they come on. Of course, Grace Cono Wells,
I've talked to them so many times and I've just
been awed by their expertise with the matter. They're going
to come on and they're going to talk to us
about what they are doing to ensure that residence, their neighbors,
their friends, their close friends are able to get back
(26:02):
home into the Palisades onto those mobile park lots. Now
a new segment that I'm trying out, I highly recommend
that I changed the name.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
I'm not happy about it.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
It's you know, we say food for thought, Well, these
are thoughts for food.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
I'm going to change that, but not right now.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
So roundup of some food related stories that have been
floating around. Really interesting stories, some things you might have heard,
some you might not have we One of them has
to do with influencers. Influencers are these people who use
social media digital media to share their thoughts, their opinions
on anything from clothing to food. And in this case,
(26:43):
they're a pair of influencers, Nina Unrated that's her performance name,
and Patrick Blackwood, and they were at a restaurant in
Texas and they were filming their opinions about a show
that they have called Couv's Culinary Creations. Okay, filming their
(27:06):
opinions reviewing this restaurant in Houston, Texas, When all of
a sudden, as they're taking a bite into their food
and the bites look amazing.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
You're watching and you're like, this looks really good.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
As these two people sit down to eat, we're watching
them eat.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
They take their first few bites, a car.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Smashes into the window that is directly next to them,
and the whole thing was caught on camera. These two
reviewers are eating the food, the car smashes through the
window and they narrowly escaped being completely run over. But
(27:48):
as the vehicle drove through the window, food tables, glass everywhere,
and both of these influencers, Nina Unrated and Patrick Blackwood
recorded themselves.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
Of course, that's what they.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Do, getting stitches at the hospital after the incident. Luckily
they were not seriously hurt, but that is something that
has gone viral. You can see video of that car
appearing seemingly out of nowhere, and you just see the
shattering of the glass and the tables being pushed, and
you see Nina Unrated and Patrick Blackwood turn on their
(28:24):
heels and just you know, high tail it as quickly
as they can from that table, but not before they
were hit. And their injuries are pretty they're pretty serious,
pretty gnarly cuts and gashes, to their faces and their limbs,
but luckily neither one of them seriously injured. No details
on the person driving the vehicle, just know that, unfortunately,
(28:50):
this sort of thing seems to be happening a lot.
Whether it's the algorithm feeding us stories about cars crashing
into businesses or whether this is actually happening more, I
don't know, but just seems like there's a proliferation of
these car into business stories.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Next, one of your.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Favorite fast food restaurants is slashing combo prices. They're saying
that they're listening to customers, and customers are complaining that
their meals are growing too expensive and unaffordable for their
price points. This restaurant, McDonald's, you've heard of it. McDonald's
(29:30):
and its franchisees will reduce their combo meal prices to
approximately fifteen percent below the cost of purchasing the items individually.
The changes will take effect next month, and prices will
vary by location. They're announcing plans as well to expand
(29:50):
their combo meal offerings, including a five dollar breakfast deal
and an eight dollars Big Mac and McNugget McNugget combo
in the near future. So they set that they're in
the last quarter they saw a decline in their sales,
and that's because, according to customers, combo meals priced over
ten dollars are out pricing the consumers who use or
(30:16):
or you know, frequent McDonald's, and McDonald's said they are listening.
They also are dealing with the raise in their minimum
wage and their offerings to their employees, but they set
that they're still going to offset that cost for the consumer. Lastly,
many young Americans are saying that friendship is simply too expensive. Yes,
(30:40):
friendship is too expensive. They're saying that they don't want
to go out and spend money on restaurants, high priced restaurants,
or any other social outings because they need to save
money and that they'd rather save their money for financial
goals such is buying a house, good luck with that,
(31:02):
or paying off student loans, good luck with that, instead
of spending money on going out and socializing with their friends.
So if you find that your friendships are starting to
kind of scale back a bit, it might be because
either you're the cheap one, or your friends are the
cheap ones, or it's just we're in an economic downturn
(31:25):
and no one can afford anything. I think that's that's
probably the answer.
Speaker 4 (31:30):
Everything's more expensive now. We're getting squeezed from every direction.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
The fact that McDonald's is reflecting the squeeze by lowering
their prices shows us everything we need to know.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
Well, any fast food place like that is going to
be completely craven in their decision making. Right. They do
exactly what they can get away with, and then when
that stops working, they back off a little bit. That's
how it works. But how often do you eat a McDonald's.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
I don't. I don't. I know I used to.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
I have no shame. I love their fries. I used
to eat McDonald's often apple pies. We're a favorite. The
mixshakers rest in peace. Loved to mixshaker. But I don't
find myself there. I find myself at in and out. Same,
that's my thing.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
Same.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
What kind of drink do you get quickly?
Speaker 4 (32:11):
I don't what. I'll bring the food home and have
a beer with it. I don't get a drink it
in and out? If you were, what would you get
what you're pairing? I honestly, I don't even have an
answer for that. I just don't get drinks. I don't
drink pop pop. Look at you, soda. I don't drink
so cold drinks, right. I am a root beer person.
I have my food, my in and out, my double
(32:32):
double with the root beer. And I'll let you know
that Neil Savajra does that too. Really, Yes, I'm in
good company. Well, I have the double double in common
with you.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
What do you get on it? Quickly?
Speaker 4 (32:41):
Everything that'll fit. Sometimes animal style, you know, if I
want to shower after I eat animal style?
Speaker 3 (32:49):
Huh, We'll save that for another time.
Speaker 4 (32:51):
You've been listening so later with Mo Kelly.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
You can always hear us live on kf I AM
six forty seven pm to ten pm every Monday through Friday,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
KF I am six forty. You're listening to Later with
Mo Kelly on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good Friday Evening to you, Tiffany Hobbs filling in for
mo Kelly until ten. Mo is off, and he'll be
off for another week or so, and you'll have other
hosts filling in. But I am here tonight and I'm
happy to be with you. Thank you for hopping into
my Instagram posts, my Facebook posts and letting me know
(00:28):
that you're listening. I appreciate the kind words and just
the interaction, and I enjoy interacting with humans. I say
that poignedly because there's now a very likely reality that
a lot of your interactions that you are having online
(00:48):
may not be with actual humans. They may be with AI,
with artificial intelligence, with chat bots. This already happens when
you try to contact customer service in different ways. Perhaps
you wait on hold and you're diverted to a chat bot.
Perhaps you're online and you're looking for a place to
(01:10):
ask a question of something a service maybe or a product,
and you're diverted to a chat bot that then interacts
with you and does so in human like ways, but
is not human and that brings us to our deeper
dive segment, in which these AI chat bots are being
(01:32):
transformed into toys that will, very soon if all goes
as these toy makers plan, take the place of you,
the parent or the adult when it comes to interacting
with and supervising children. There's a company called Curio, and
(01:53):
it describes itself as a magical workshop where.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Toys come to life.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Sounds pretty innocent, sounds whimsical even, but in this case,
the company's founders, Misha Sally and Sam Eaton have introduced
different sorts of chat toys, including something called Grim or
Graham g R E M, which is a fuzzy cube
(02:22):
styled like an alien of the anime variety kind of
this Japanese cartoon style Japanese right mark anime, Korean anime, Japanese.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
There we go.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
So Graham is a fuzzy cube that looks like an
anime alien, and Misha Sally and Sam Eaton have introduced
Grim and other toys to media and interested parties in
a push to normalize this sort of technology. Curio, this
company makes chatbots wrapped in stuffed animals, So you'll take
(02:59):
a stuff animal and inside of this stuffed animal is
a little computer, and it has an AI function that
chats back and forth with you or your child. In
this case, each of the company's three smiling plushies has
a back zipper pocket that hides a Wi Fi enabled
(03:20):
voice box, which links the character to an artificial intelligence
language model specially calibrated to converse with children as young
as three.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
This is scary.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
When showing Grim, this stuffed animal chatbot to visitors Eton,
one of the founder, Sam Eaton, took Grim and put
it on a conference table. He positioned it to face
the visitors. He started interacting with Grim, asking it this
is the founder, Sam Eaton, asking the chatbot plushy, Hey, Grim,
(04:00):
where are the spots on your face? This question to
the chatbot was met with an answer from the chatbot.
The chatbot said, quote, Oh, those are my special pink dots.
I get more as I grow older. They're like little
(04:20):
badges of fun and adventure. Do you have something special
that grows with you?
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Mark? Do you have something special that grows with you?
Speaker 4 (04:31):
I feel like you need to take a trip to
hr for asking me that. So it's either liver spots
or something even more unappropriate.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
This is the chatbot answering and asking do you have
something special that grows with you? Now, my middle school
boy brain has a thousand answers for this.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
None of them good. And this comes, by the way,
right on the heels of what we found out about
meta asking creepy inappropriate questions to children.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I did, and now we're packaging it in a stuffed
animal and selling it forget this ninety nine dollars. So
after the question kind of you know, answer session between
the founder and this and this robot, the founder says, yeah,
I have dots that grow on me, and I get
more as I get older too. Graham then answers, that's
(05:21):
so cool. We're like dot buddies. This is horrendous, everybody.
That's my quote.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
This is dot buddies. Dot You're not my dot buddy.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Want to be Dot buddies with anything negative. Grim and
its pals, which are these other robots, including Grock wonderful
harsh names, Groc which is a looks like a rocket ship,
and Gabbo, which looks like a video game controller, all
sell for ninety nine dollars, and they quote unquote are
(05:50):
vying for a place in your child's heart. They join
a menagerie of other chatbot enabled objects that are now
being marketed to kids, including Teddy Bears, robots, dinosaurs, a
ghost as well.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Mattel. You've heard of them.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Iconic Mattel is partnering with Open Ai to generate AI
powered products based on their iconic brands, including Ken and Barbie.
When we come back, I'm going to tell you a
little bit more about why this is absolutely terrifying when
it comes to putting this in front of your children,
(06:31):
and then we're going to try and get a couple
of stories from the thoughts for food segment. We'm trying
stuff them in there. You know we can be dot
buddies and stuff them in there, mark Ew Dot buddies,
Dot Buddies sounds like something that needs some sort of
visit to the doctor.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
U turn the hose on everybody.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
When we come back, we'll continue the conversation in our
deep dive segments.
Speaker 5 (06:58):
You're listening to later with Moll Kelly on Demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
That breaking news we've been anticipating regarding Lyle Menindez and
his parole hearing has just come down. Lyle Menindez also
now denied parole he'll remain in prison for at least
the next three years with his brother Eric, after they
(07:25):
both were denied Eric yesterday, Lyle today, and parole officials
at the parole hearing based their decision on the use
of contraband cell phones and other violations of prison rules,
in addition to the fact that they killed their parents
(07:45):
with shotguns in nineteen eighty nine in cold blooded murder.
So Lyle Menindez Eric Menindez will remain behind bars for
at least three years unless they get some sort of
special help from the governor, clemency or there is new
evidence introduced into the case that would free them. But
(08:09):
right now looks like they will be staying behind bars.
We're in our deep dive segment and we're talking stuffed
animal chatbots, stuffed animal AI chatbots for your children in
the place of you as the parent. And I was
telling you that there are these founders of the company Curio.
The founders are Misha Sally and Sam Eaton, who are
(08:33):
very excited, of course about their chatbots. They want you
to buy them. They're ninety nine dollars. They're stuffed animals
that look like dinosaurs or anime aliens or video game controllers,
and they interact with the user by answering questions, asking questions,
(08:53):
and doing other things. Let me tell you a bit
more about what they do. There was one writer who
in interacted with Grim in one of these preview sessions,
and she said that Grim, this particular toy, this chatbot,
suggested that they play the game I Spy Okay, which
(09:17):
the writer said proved challenging as the chatbot can't see.
But she went on to say, this writer that she
very clearly understood that this didn't represent an upgrade to
just a simple teddy bear. No, it was more of
a replacement for the adult Curio. This company, like several
(09:39):
of the other AI toy makers, promotes its product as
an alternative to screen time. Lots of war waged against
the use of screens, and rightfully so, lots of studies
out about how excessive screen time digital screen time, whether television, tablet, computer,
cell phone, can be harmful physically and emotionally mentally as well,
(10:04):
and so Curio says, Hey, these toys are physical manifestations
of this, and they're better than screen time. The Grim models,
specifically the one that looks like the anime anime uh
what did I say that was an anime? It has dots,
it's Anna, It's an anime Alien. This particular one is
(10:28):
actually voiced and designed by Grimes. You might know who
Grimes is. She's Elon Musk's baby mama. That's Elon Musk's
one of his, one of one of the many. She's
one of the popular ones because she's a synth pop artist.
She's a we'll call it, we'll use artists loosely, okay,
(10:49):
but she is popular and her notoriety is directly connected
to Elon Musk. She's one of the more famous mothers
in the world because of Elon Musk. And she said,
quote unquote, as a parent, I obviously don't want my
kids in front of screens, and I'm really busy. She
said this on the company's website in a video.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Now.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
The writer goes on to say that a few days
after visiting the Curio office, a Curio ad popped up
on her Facebook page, encouraging her to quote ditch the
tablet without.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Losing the fun. It's listening.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Everything's listening, and then your algorithm will change to reflect that,
hopefully make you buy one of these ninety nine dollars
parent replacement AI chat bot stuffed animal things.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
In a video, a child cut lemons.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
With a kitchen knife as Gabbo, one of these other
ai chatbot stuffed animals sat beside him on the kitchen
countertop and offered topic appropriate affirmations. This kid is cutting
lemons with the kitchen knife, and the AI chatbot stuffed
animal is sitting on the counter talking to him. One
(12:05):
of the things that it said was lemonade time is
the best time? Could these be creepier? This feels very
much like Annabelle.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
I'm not sure it's objectively true that lemonade time is
the best time.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
I was quite subjective. That's a little opinion there.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
It went on to say this particular article that I'm
reading that Gabbo appeared to supervise the child as he
engaged in active play and practiced practical life skills. The
stuffed animal appeared to supervise the child as he engaged
(12:45):
in active play and practiced practical life skills like cutting lemons.
And you say, this is ninety nine dollars for one
of these ninety nine dollars for one of these things,
how much your condoms? Yes, a little less than ninety nine.
I think I don't know. Other Swato conscious devices are
(13:07):
made for even younger children. Okay, so we're talking two
three four. In certain episodes of Sesame Street, in a
specific segment called Elmo's World, Elmo actually summons something called Smarty,
which is a self aware smartphone that serves him facts
(13:28):
about his latest interest special agent. Ohso, chat Ai stuffed
animals and interactions with kids seem to be everywhere, even
in our safe spaces like on Sesame Street. Now, the
writer who visited Curio the company did in fact receive
(13:51):
one of these Ai stuffed animals as a promotional tool,
and she said she removed the voice box and stuffed
it in a drawer, magically transforming it back to a
regular stuffed animal, where she left it in the playroom
for her kids to enjoy. But she didn't have to
worry about it talking to her kids in the night time,
(14:12):
or have to worry about what this chatbot might be
telling your children, because that in itself inspires an extra
layer layer of parental vigilance and control, hopefully, and it
also posits corporations, the corporate sector, right there in your
child's face, in your child's ear canals, in your child's whatever,
(14:36):
because this chatbot is there interacting with your kid.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
You use the word summon with Elmo, almost summon something.
Doesn't that sound diabolical? Like I don't want them up
at summoning any entities into the house, like is almost
summoning the demon Pazuzu this evening. Don't summon anything, don't
summon anything. But can you imagine almost summons the demon?
That's wonder if I need that?
Speaker 2 (15:01):
We I'm sure if you look up like demonic Elmo,
don't do this people, but if you did feel curious enough,
you're about to say something, Robin, you've done this.
Speaker 6 (15:11):
No, I've done something similar, like on my phone, and
I hid my phone somewhere so that when it plays,
my wife is like, what is that? And I'm like,
I don't know, Like I didn't hear anything, and it
would do it again even Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
See, I'm surprised you're still married at this point.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
If you need some counseling, I'm pretty good at that.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
Mark.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
You should do that with in your household. We'll see
what happened.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Well, then I'll be moving in with you. Hey, that
stuff doesn't fly it Casa del Mark.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Okay, you can bring that fun little light that you're
gonna buy. How about that?
Speaker 4 (15:48):
I don't, don't, don't get started, that's already a thing.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
When we come back, we're going to talk a little
bit about the Food for Thought Thoughts for Food segment.
I'm gonna try and get into this because there's some
stories I definitely want to share with you as well
as our Scammer's gonna scam segment. Have a couple of
stories a Paaris stories that are outrageous. They are outrageous stories.
(16:12):
One of them quickly includes Babe Ruth her to him
of course, talking about scams, and another one Hello Fresh,
that food subscription service, healthy food. Well, a lot of
scams coming down with both of those entities, and I'll
tell you more about that on the other side of
the break.
Speaker 5 (16:30):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on Demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Filling in for Moe Kelly, who's on vacation in Italy.
If you follow him on social media, he just shared
a carousel of fifteen twenty photos from his Italy trip
and they are gorgeous, gorgeous. Have you ever been to Italy? Mark, No,
(16:56):
I haven't. It's Okay, those headphones are somewhere.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
Yes, I have you have? Oh all over it? Yeah,
it's good, it's good. I wanted these guys not to
have the pizza there, and they got right up in
my grill about it.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
You know, I did hear you talking about that. It
was earlier this week. I believe right that pizza in
Italy is not as good as people assume it to be.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Is that what she said?
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Well, it's different. I mean, you know, but you like
what you like. And it's like, would you go to
a foreign country to try something that you eat all
the time here right right?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Yeah, I have gone to a foreign country and had,
you know, fast food, just to compare comparative research. You know,
let's see if the McDonald's is the same there versus here.
News flash, it's not. But it's still McDonald's.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
Well, the McDonald's in Italy charged you to sit there
like it's a cafe.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
As they should.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
And this is the funniest thing. When during my final
time in Italy a long time ago, I was coming
down with the flu or coal or something. I'd been
traveling around not taking very good care of myself, and
I was feeling terrible and I realized that the cheapest
place that I could sit out of the rain and
cold wasn't the McDonald's. That was still kind of pricey,
(18:13):
and I was I was still a college student at
the time. It was a porno movie theater. It was
cheaper to sit in there, and I was just deathly,
deathly ill. I could barely stay upright.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
That's what you tells yourself.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
Middle of the afternoon, nobody there. I'm trying to take
a nap. The whole place is empty, and then a
guy comes and sits down right next to me, like, well,
I guess this isn't gonna work out after all? Is it?
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Are okay? Just for research purposes? Italian porn?
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Eh? Yeah.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
It was American dubbed into Italian. And so the actors
were all moaning, see.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
See wonderful, thank you for that. I appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (18:59):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
And I don't know how to do that other than
to say pivot at this point, because there's no good
pivot away from this.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
You've heard of Babe Ruth.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Everyone knows Babe Ruth exactly. Even if you're not a
fan of baseball, you know the lore, the history, at
least the reference points of Babe Ruth. Well, Babe Ruth
has been dead and gone for a very long time.
But there's someone with his exact same name who's being
(19:29):
accused of elaborate scams using not just his own name,
but the names of other deceased baseball players. So the
USDJ our DOJ Department of Justice has obtained indictments against
a man from Morristown, Tennessee, named George Herman Ruth, which
(19:53):
is the same name as George.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Herman Babe Ruth.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
But this George Herman Ruth is being accused of running
an elaborate scam to obtain and launder more than five
hundred and fifty thousand dollars in class action claims through
a sham business by using the names of dead and
retired pro baseball players. Now, this guy, this George Herman Ruth,
(20:21):
no stranger to federal investigators. He's been accused and convicted
of other very elaborate scams over the years, and he
actually just got out of federal prison and was on
supervised probation when he got into this scamming. Now, according
to the US Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Tennessee,
where this case takes place. A federal grand jury returned
(20:43):
a ninety one count indictment against Ruth on August twelfth,
just a few weeks ago, for mail fraud, aggravated identity theft,
fraudulent use of social Security numbers, money laundering, making false
statements to his probation officer, and possessing firearms as a
convicted felon. He also submitted this George Herman Ruth, hundreds
(21:07):
of fraudulent claims using the names of hundreds of dead
or retired professional baseball players and use their Social Security
numbers of them and numerous unwitting as if they'd be
witting or unwilling victims. So this guy, this George Herman Ruth,
a major scammer, a career criminal, has been caught and
(21:30):
if he's convicted, which he likely will be, he'll face
up to twenty years in federal prison, plus a mandatory
two year consecutive sentence, on top of another few years
of supervised release, and a two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars fine which he won't pay. It'll just keep getting
pushed around. He's a career criminal. He'll be back doing
(21:50):
this as soon as he's out. Speaking of career criminals.
We have some updates, big, big, big updates to the
Eric and Lyle Meanindez case.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Break news.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Both of the suns, both of the Meninda's boys have
been denied parole. Yesterday, Eric, today, Lyle, both of them
denied parole. And I see Robin their bardop Robin there clapping.
This is after, of course, the conviction of killing their
(22:20):
parents with shotguns in nineteen eighty nine, popularized in the
recent Netflix series where it exposed a lot of people
to their case and people were all up in arms
and saying they should be let out. Try them again,
try them again. Well, they've been denied and that denial
stands for at.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Least three years.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Yesterday, Eric's denial, today, just a few minutes ago, Lyle's denial.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
So that is what is up with the Menindez brothers. Quickly.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
If you like meal subscription services, make sure you end
your auto renewal contract.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Big deal.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
A law came out earlier this year, or was went
into effect earlier this year that mitigates auto renewal policies.
People were getting scammed. They were just having their money
withdrawn without knowing and without being able to cancel easily.
Those cancelation buttons and fields were hidden deep into websites
(23:22):
and people were unable to do so before their money
was taken. Hello Fresh, which is the biggest meal kit
delivery company and occupies about seventy five percent of the
US meal kit delivery market, is now being ordered to
pay seven point five million dollars in a California lawsuit
(23:45):
over their deceptive subscription practices. And this comes from our
district attorney, Nathan Hackman, who says consumers have a right
to know what they're signing up for, and digital deception
is still deception on under the law. So HelloFresh is
being ordered to pay a lot of money because of
(24:06):
deceptive subscription practices.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
Because people couldn't end their subscription plans.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
They just kept rolling over and that really took you know,
that really took people for a lot of money, big
time scammers. When we come back, we're going to get
into our thoughts for food and I'll tell you a
few crazy stories happening in the food world.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
On the other side of the break.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on Demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Tiffany Hobbs here just want to remind you that after
nine o'clock, around about nine oh six, we will have
a conversation with two very important people. They are both
closely connected to the Palisades Fire. One of them, excuse me,
is and as I flip through here, Grace Cono Wells.
(24:55):
She's the HOA president of the Tahitian Terrace. And then
we also have John Brown, who is a resident and
elected co chair of the Palisades Bull Both of those
are mobile home parks that burned during the Palisades Fire,
those beautiful mobile home parks, and they're going to join
us to talk about legislation they are pushing through in
(25:16):
hopes of being voted on in the next two weeks.
It's SB seven forty nine, and it will address the
vulnerability of mobile home park residents and displacement, much of
which the residents of those two mobile home parks are facing. Now.
They just want to get home, and John Brown, and
(25:40):
excuse me, John Brown, and goodness gracious, I'll get this
together before they come on. Of course, Grace Cono Wells,
I've talked to them so many times and I've just
been awed by their expertise with the matter. They're going
to come on and they're going to talk to us
about what they are doing to ensure that residence, their neighbors,
their friends, their close friends are able to get back
(26:02):
home into the Palisades onto those mobile park lots. Now
a new segment that I'm trying out, I highly recommend
that I changed the name.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
I'm not happy about it.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
It's you know, we say food for thought, Well, these
are thoughts for food.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
I'm going to change that, but not right now.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
So roundup of some food related stories that have been
floating around. Really interesting stories, some things you might have heard,
some you might not have we One of them has
to do with influencers. Influencers are these people who use
social media digital media to share their thoughts, their opinions
on anything from clothing to food. And in this case,
(26:43):
they're a pair of influencers, Nina Unrated that's her performance name,
and Patrick Blackwood, and they were at a restaurant in
Texas and they were filming their opinions about a show
that they have called Couv's Culinary Creations. Okay, filming their
(27:06):
opinions reviewing this restaurant in Houston, Texas, When all of
a sudden, as they're taking a bite into their food
and the bites look amazing.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
You're watching and you're like, this looks really good.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
As these two people sit down to eat, we're watching
them eat.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
They take their first few bites, a car.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Smashes into the window that is directly next to them,
and the whole thing was caught on camera. These two
reviewers are eating the food, the car smashes through the
window and they narrowly escaped being completely run over. But
(27:48):
as the vehicle drove through the window, food tables, glass everywhere,
and both of these influencers, Nina Unrated and Patrick Blackwood
recorded themselves.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
Of course, that's what they.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Do, getting stitches at the hospital after the incident. Luckily
they were not seriously hurt, but that is something that
has gone viral. You can see video of that car
appearing seemingly out of nowhere, and you just see the
shattering of the glass and the tables being pushed, and
you see Nina Unrated and Patrick Blackwood turn on their
(28:24):
heels and just you know, high tail it as quickly
as they can from that table, but not before they
were hit. And their injuries are pretty they're pretty serious,
pretty gnarly cuts and gashes, to their faces and their limbs,
but luckily neither one of them seriously injured. No details
on the person driving the vehicle, just know that, unfortunately,
(28:50):
this sort of thing seems to be happening a lot.
Whether it's the algorithm feeding us stories about cars crashing
into businesses or whether this is actually happening more, I
don't know, but just seems like there's a proliferation of
these car into business stories.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Next, one of your.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Favorite fast food restaurants is slashing combo prices. They're saying
that they're listening to customers, and customers are complaining that
their meals are growing too expensive and unaffordable for their
price points. This restaurant, McDonald's, you've heard of it. McDonald's
(29:30):
and its franchisees will reduce their combo meal prices to
approximately fifteen percent below the cost of purchasing the items individually.
The changes will take effect next month, and prices will
vary by location. They're announcing plans as well to expand
(29:50):
their combo meal offerings, including a five dollar breakfast deal
and an eight dollars Big Mac and McNugget McNugget combo
in the near future. So they set that they're in
the last quarter they saw a decline in their sales,
and that's because, according to customers, combo meals priced over
ten dollars are out pricing the consumers who use or
(30:16):
or you know, frequent McDonald's, and McDonald's said they are listening.
They also are dealing with the raise in their minimum
wage and their offerings to their employees, but they set
that they're still going to offset that cost for the consumer. Lastly,
many young Americans are saying that friendship is simply too expensive. Yes,
(30:40):
friendship is too expensive. They're saying that they don't want
to go out and spend money on restaurants, high priced restaurants,
or any other social outings because they need to save
money and that they'd rather save their money for financial
goals such is buying a house, good luck with that,
(31:02):
or paying off student loans, good luck with that, instead
of spending money on going out and socializing with their friends.
So if you find that your friendships are starting to
kind of scale back a bit, it might be because
either you're the cheap one, or your friends are the
cheap ones, or it's just we're in an economic downturn
(31:25):
and no one can afford anything. I think that's that's
probably the answer.
Speaker 4 (31:30):
Everything's more expensive now. We're getting squeezed from every direction.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
The fact that McDonald's is reflecting the squeeze by lowering
their prices shows us everything we need to know.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
Well, any fast food place like that is going to
be completely craven in their decision making. Right. They do
exactly what they can get away with, and then when
that stops working, they back off a little bit. That's
how it works. But how often do you eat a McDonald's.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
I don't. I don't. I know I used to.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
I have no shame. I love their fries. I used
to eat McDonald's often apple pies. We're a favorite. The
mixshakers rest in peace. Loved to mixshaker. But I don't
find myself there. I find myself at in and out. Same,
that's my thing.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
Same.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
What kind of drink do you get quickly?
Speaker 4 (32:11):
I don't what. I'll bring the food home and have
a beer with it. I don't get a drink it
in and out? If you were, what would you get
what you're pairing? I honestly, I don't even have an
answer for that. I just don't get drinks. I don't
drink pop pop. Look at you, soda. I don't drink
so cold drinks, right. I am a root beer person.
I have my food, my in and out, my double
(32:32):
double with the root beer. And I'll let you know
that Neil Savajra does that too. Really, Yes, I'm in
good company. Well, I have the double double in common
with you.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
What do you get on it? Quickly?
Speaker 4 (32:41):
Everything that'll fit. Sometimes animal style, you know, if I
want to shower after I eat animal style?
Speaker 3 (32:49):
Huh, We'll save that for another time.
Speaker 4 (32:51):
You've been listening so later with Mo Kelly.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
You can always hear us live on kf I AM
six forty seven pm to ten pm every Monday through Friday,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
Later, with Mo'Kelly News
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