philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

4Jun/23Off

POV: AI could easily take over our elections—and undermine democracy

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Imagine that soon political technologists develop a machine called Clogger, a political campaign in a black box. Clogger relentlessly pursues just one objective: to maximize the chances that its candidate—the campaign that buys the services of Clogger Inc.—prevails in an election. ...

European Union regulators are moving in this direction. Policymakers revised the European Parliament’s draft of its Artificial Intelligence Act to designate “AI systems to influence voters in campaigns” as “high risk” and subject to regulatory scrutiny.

One constitutionally safer, if smaller, step, already adopted in part by European internet regulators and in California, is to prohibit bots from passing themselves off as people. For example, regulation might require that campaign messages come with disclaimers when the content they contain is generated by machines rather than humans. ...

The possibility of a system like Clogger shows that the path toward human collective disempowerment may not require some superhuman artificial general intelligence. It might just require overeager campaigners and consultants who have powerful new tools that can effectively push millions of people’s many buttons.

See the full story here: https://www.fastcompany.com/90904487/pov-ai-could-easily-take-over-our-elections-and-undermine-democracy

4Jun/23Off

What Would AI Regulation Look Like?

Takeaways:

  • A new federal agency to regulate AI sounds helpful but could become unduly influenced by the tech industry. Instead, Congress can legislate accountability.
  • Instead of licensing companies to release advanced AI technologies, the government could license auditors and push for companies to set up institutional review boards.
  • The government hasn’t had great success in curbing technology monopolies, but disclosure requirements and data privacy laws could help check corporate power.

See the full story here: https://news.yahoo.com/ai-regulation-look-120000214.html

4Jun/23Off

Explained: How digital doubles, AI-generated trailers put Hollywood in a quandary

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How to solve the burgeoning AI problem?

As we navigate the ethical minefield of AI-generated content, it is vital that we establish clear boundaries and protect the rights and creative autonomy of performers. Consent, fair compensation, and creative control must be at the forefront of discussions surrounding the use of AI in the entertainment industry. Instead of dismissing protestors as Luddites or alarmists, it is imperative that we do not allow AI to erode the authenticity and human connection that lies at the heart of storytelling.

In a world where AI blurs the line between reality and fabrication, there is a need for extra vigilance in preserving the unique voices and talents of artists. We cannot let technology become a substitute for genuine creativity, originality, and the human touch that makes entertainment truly meaningful. The prospect of a future in which our pop culture is dominated by AI-generated content should terrify anyone with a genuine love for creativity.

See the full story here: https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/hollywood/news-explained-how-digital-doubles-ai-generated-trailers-put-hollywood-in-quandary-599643

4Jun/23Off

Augmented World Expo (AWE) Highlights The Growth Of The XR Industry

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One aspect of this particular show is that it came a week before Apple is expected to announce its first device that will be part of the XR world's growth in the future. Many vendors at the show offered caveats that included the fact that Apple will very likely become a significant player in the XR world. Still, their company or technology will also be well-positioned to contribute to this industry's growth.

Another defining thing of this year's show is that it is clear that the tech industry has centered on the term XR to define and represent anything related to virtual world technologies. ...

Behind the scene, the XR industry has been growing even though many in the media declared it dead. ...

... Sightful's Spacetop laptop shows a real radical design shift for laptops.

This design has a keyboard and uses Xreal's XR glasses to deliver the equivalent of a 100-inch screen. I got to test it, and it is an impressive product. When you put on the Xreal glasses, you see apps optimized for this device on this (virtual) huge screen. ...

AWE has become the industry's top XR show and is now a significant event that anyone interested in XR needs to follow and attend, if possible. Next year AWE moves to Long Beach, CA and will be held from June 18-20, 2024.

See the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/timbajarin/2023/06/02/augmented-world-expo-awe-highlights-the-growth-of-the-xr-industry/?sh=554475c85d87

4Jun/23Off

US: AI-controlled drone turns against its human operator

A 'bias' website ranks WION as 'balanced.'

The AI killed the operator because it was stopping the AI from optimizing its mission. It also took out a communications tower for a jet because it was instructed not to harm the pilot - who was not doing what the AI wanted.

2Jun/23Off

Niantic announces major updates to its augmented reality platforms for developers

... ARDK allows developers to build immersive and imaginative AR applications that use cameras on mobile devices and headsets to change what users can see. Augmented reality blends what’s visible, through the camera, with additional added computer graphics overlaid on it that tracks and follows the movement of the user as if it’s part of the world and can interact with the user’s gestures and actions.

With Lightship ARDK 3.0, Unity developers will be able to add Niantic’s AR features onto Unity’s own AR Foundation extended reality developer library. AR Foundation is an AR engine that includes core features from across the augmented reality ecosystem such as device tracking, plane tracking, point clouds, anchors and similar. With the addition of ARDK’s capabilities, Lightship developers will be able to add Niantic’s own semantic segmentation, occlusion, meshing, mapping and other features. ...

To celebrate this, Niantic released its first mixed reality experience powered by 8th Wall recently called “Wol,” an artificial intelligence-enabled owl that transforms a space into a redwood forest and will then talk to the user. ...

See the full story here: https://siliconangle.com/2023/06/01/niantic-announces-major-updates-augmented-reality-platforms-developers/

1Jun/23Off

Zuckerberg unveils Meta Quest 3 VR headset days before Apple reveals its own

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It appears to have at least three cameras on the front that may improve some of the pass-through experiences, where a user can see the real world around them while wearing the headset and interacting with apps. The video noted that it had improved “natural” depth perception for the wearer, and touted graphics improvements for gaming.

“High-fidelity color Passthrough, innovative machine learning, and spatial understanding let you interact with virtual content and the physical world simultaneously, creating limitless possibilities to explore,” Meta said in a release. ...

See the full story here; https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/01/meta-quest-3-unveiled-ahead-of-apples-planned-vr-headset-debut.html

31May/23Off

Anxious Consumers Unlikely to Cut Leading Entertainment Subscriptions

From https://www.degonline.org/musicwatch-consumers-not-cut-leading-entertainment-subscriptions/

31May/23Off

AI Deepfakes of True Crime Victims Are a Waking Nightmare

... Such inaccuracies are par for the course in the grotesque world of AI true-crime-victim TikTok, a subgenre of the massive true crime fandom, which uses artificial intelligence to essentially resurrect murder victims, many of whom are young children. The videos, some of which have millions of views, involve a victim speaking in first-person about the gruesome details of their deaths; most of them do not have a content warning beforehand. ...

See the full story here: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/ai-deepfakes-true-crime-victims-210828026.html

31May/23Off

Mojo Vision partners with DigiLens to make better AR glasses

Mojo Vision has partnered with holographic display company DigiLensto use micro-LED technology for improved augmented reality glasses.

Mojo Vision recently veered away from plans to make AR contact lenses and is instead using its micro-LED technology to create better AR glasses. The partnership aims to combine the technologies developed by both companies to push AR forward. ...

See the full story here: https://venturebeat.com/metaverse/mojo-vision-partners-with-digilens-to-make-better-ar-glasses/