philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

AI-Powered Characters Changing The Game

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"Nothing will compare to the immersion potential unlocked by natural language processing," said Tech Entrepreneur Christopher Travers, who previously co-founded Virtual Human, which is focused on AI avatars as influencers. "By giving NPCs autonomy and intelligence within a well-written context, it will be like adding a new, key element to the periodic table of the gaming world—all past mechanisms will be elevated as we also unlock entirely new combinations of immersive experiences." ...

Saatchi turned his attention to building a simulation for Lucy and other Virtual Beings to live in. Unlike other chatbot creators, Saatchi believes that “AI people” should not just be text-bots, but have rich, daily 3D lives in simulations, even when we are not using them. The project, called “Lucy AI,” was just nominated for a 2023 Peabody.

See the full story here; https://www.forbes.com/sites/charliefink/2023/05/04/ai-powered-characters-changing-the-game/?sh=41f429d217a9

Examining AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton’s fears about AI

... "Things like GPT-4 know much more than we do," Hinton said, referring to the latest iteration of research lab OpenAI's large language model. "They have sort of common sense knowledge about everything."

The more technology learns about humans, the better it will get at manipulating humans, he said. ...

While the computer scientist said he does not think a pause is possible, he said the risks of AI technology and its misuse by criminals and other wrongdoers -- particularly those who would use it for harmful political ends -- can become a danger to society. ...

On Thursday, the Biden administration invited CEOs from AI vendors Microsoft, Alphabet, OpenAI and Anthropic to discuss the importance of responsible and trustworthy innovation.

The administration also said that developers from leading AI companies, including Nvidia, Stability AI and Hugging Face will participate in public evaluations of the AI systems.

But the near total lack of checkpoints and regulation makes the technology risky, especially as generative AI is a self-learning system, Shah said. ...

However, as with many technologies, regulation follows when there's mass adoption, said Usama Fayyad, professor and executive director at the Institute for Experiential AI at Northeastern University. ...

The ability to use AI for good requires that users are transparent and accountable, Shah said. "There will also need to be consequences for people who misuse it," he said.

"We have to figure out an accountability framework," he said. ...

"What people like Hinton can do is help create a set of norms around the appropriate use of these technologies," Kreps said. "Norms won't preclude misuse but can stigmatize it and contribute to the guardrails that can mitigate the risks of AI."

See the full story here: https://www.techtarget.com/searchenterpriseai/news/366536381/Examining-AI-pioneer-Geoffrey-Hintons-fears-about-AI

AI exemplifies the ‘free rider’ problem – here’s why that points to regulation

... As a philosopher who studies technology ethics, I’ve noticed that AI research exemplifies the “free rider problem.” I’d argue that this should guide how societies respond to its risks – and that good intentions won’t be enough.

Riding for free

Free riding is a common consequence of what philosophers call “collective action problems.” These are situations in which, as a group, everyone would benefit from a particular action, but as individuals, each member would benefit from not doing it. ...

Ripe for regulation

Decades of social science research on collective action problems has shown that where trust and goodwill are insufficient to avoid free riders, regulation is often the only alternative. Voluntary compliance is the key factor that creates free-rider scenarios – and government action is at times the way to nip it in the bud.

Further, such regulations must be enforceable. After all, would-be subway riders might be unlikely to pay the fare unless there were a threat of punishment. ...

Effective regulation and enforcement of AI would require global collective action and cooperation, just as with climate change. In the U.S., strict enforcement would require federal oversight of research and the ability to impose hefty fines or shut down noncompliant AI experiments to ensure responsible development – whether that be through regulatory oversight boards, whistleblower protections or, in extreme cases, laboratory or research lockdowns and criminal charges.

Without enforcement, though, there will be free riders – and free riders mean the AI threat won’t abate anytime soon.

See the full story here: https://theconversation.com/ai-exemplifies-the-free-rider-problem-heres-why-that-points-to-regulation-203489

Statement from Vice President Harris After Meeting with CEOs on Advancing Responsible Artificial Intelligence Innovation

As I shared today with CEOs of companies at the forefront of American AI innovation, the private sector has an ethical, moral, and legal responsibility to ensure the safety and security of their products. And every company must comply with existing laws to protect the American people. I look forward to the follow through and follow up in the weeks to come.

See the full story here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/05/04/statement-from-vice-president-harris-after-meeting-with-ceos-on-advancing-responsible-artificial-intelligence-innovation/

Khan Academy TED talk – AI in Education

AI Content Farms Spreading Fake Stories and Misinformation

The proliferation of websites spewing misinformation as a result of chatbot-powered “content farms” is creating increased concern. Misinformation tracker NewsGuard has identified 49 websites publishing falsehoods authored by generative AI. The discovery is raising questions as to the technology’s role in turbocharging existing fraud techniques. Several of the offending websites sprang up this year, just as AI tools were made widely available for use by the public. Some of the sites take the approach of masquerading as breaking news sites, while others have adopted tactics such as using generic-sounding names. ...

The 49 websites were published in seven languages — Chinese, Czech, English, French, Portuguese, Tagalog, and Thai — notes NewsGuard, which says their presentation makes them “appear to be typical news websites,” addressing topics from politics and health to entertainment and technology. ...

Experts have for years warned “that such AI-generated content farms will soon become commonplace,” according to The Verge, which explains that “the wider availability of tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT has now made these warnings a reality.”

See the full story here: https://www.etcentric.org/ai-content-farms-spreading-fake-stories-and-misinformation/

Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary’s Sound Ventures Launches $240 Million AI Investment Fund

Sound Ventures, the venture-capital firm co-founded by Ashton Kutcherand music manager Guy Oseary, is looking to back “category-defining” artificial intelligence businesses.

The VC firm announced that it has closed Sound Ventures AI Fund, oversubscribed at nearly $240 million. The fund seeks to invest in AI businesses at the foundation model layer. Currently, the fund’s portfolio of companies includes OpenAI, Anthropic and StabilityAI. Kutcher, Oseary and Effie Epstein lead Sound Ventures as general partners. ...

See the full story here: https://variety.com/2023/music/news/ashton-kutcher-guy-oseary-sound-ventures-ai-investment-fund-1235599939/

Tencent is Selling Custom Deepfake Virtual Humans for $145

... China has recently issued new deepfake regulations mandating the subject give their consent and that the virtual being have an indicator marking their deepfake status. The platforms must also have a way of confirming online identities and set up a system to respond to reports of suspicious deepfake content.

DEEPFAKE DIVES

Tencent’s offer does stand out for its speed and price point, but custom deepfake creations are becoming increasingly common. Virtual being developer Synthesia will build a custom deepfake avatar but charges $1,000 per avatar for a yearly subscription, not an outright purchase. And synthetic media startup D-ID can create a digital replica of someone within a few minutes on its Creative Reality Studio, even producing videos from a single photo. Subscriptions vary in price based on how long you want your videos to be, $6 to $300 a month. Other companies have built deepfake clones of real people, but only for specific projects Hour One’s Taryn Southern and Dom Esposito clones or the virtual Jack Nicklaus built by Soul Machines.

See the full story here: https://voicebot.ai/2023/05/01/tencent-is-selling-custom-deepfake-virtual-humans-for-145/

MIT Professor Compares Ignoring AGI to “Don’t Look Up”

... Tegmark goes as far as to claim that superintelligence "isn't a long-term issue," but is even "more short-term than e.g. climate change and most people's retirement planning." To support his theory, the researcher pointed to a recent Microsoft study arguing that OpenAI's large language model GPT-4 is already showing "sparks" of AGI and a recent talk given by deep learning researcher Yoshua Bengio. ...

"Although humanity is racing toward a cliff, we're not there yet, and there's still time for us to slow down, change course and avoid falling off – and instead enjoying the amazing benefits that safe, aligned AI has to offer," Tegmark writes. "This requires agreeing that the cliff actually exists and falling off of it benefits nobody."

See the full story here: https://futurism.com/mit-professor-agi-dont-look-up

AI hoax? ‘Death of Canadian who got plastic surgery to look like BTS’ Jimin’ was fake news: Report

... This is among the first known cases of AI being used to trick people and media to spread misinformation, heralding the dawn of a new era of AI-generated fake news, according to Al Jazeera. Newly found evidence shows that the story was just an elaborate hoax, the channel said in a report. ...

See the full story here: https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/ai-hoax-death-of-canadian-who-did-plastic-surgery-to-look-like-bts-jimin-was-fake-news-report-587496