... Unlike humans, AIs can’t merge information from multiple senses. So while it might be possible to stitch together language and image processing applications, researchers have not found a way to integrate them in the same seamless, effortless way that a child integrates vision, language and hearing. ...
To attain AGI, researchers must shift their focus from ever-expanding datasets to a more biologically plausible structure that enables AI to begin exhibiting the same kind of contextual, common-sense understanding as humans. ...
Marketability is perhaps the secret sauce in AGI’s emergence. We can expect that AGI development will create capabilities that are individually marketable. ...
Finally, as we approach human-level intelligence, nobody’s going to notice. At some point we’re going to get close to the human-level threshold, then equal that threshold, then exceed that threshold. At some point thereafter, we’re going to have machines that are obviously superior to human intelligence and people will begin to agree that yes, maybe AGI does exist. But it’s going to be gradual as opposed to a specific “singularity.” ...
Behind Dayzee and her friends is Superplastic, a hype machine of a company that manufactures these synthetic celebrities, along with their elaborate backstories (Janky and Guggimon are charming anarchists who might burn the world to the ground, if not for their love of streetwear and haute couture). “We’re an experimental character design studio, and we’re also a character universe,” says founder Paul Budnitz.
The Burlington, Vermont-based company’s origin story, much like its graffiti-inspired, punk-rock edgy aesthetic, is rooted in subverting expectations. And in some ways, it’s hard to nail down exactly what Superplastic is—but the best explanation might be a Disney- or Marvel-like empire of intellectual property. At its heart, it was born from Budnitz’s love of art and desire to build a character universe that he could keep expanding over time. ...
PhilNote: this article lists 14 funded start-ups working to address various aspects of the problem.
... “Ferreting out misinformation through tech is a really hard problem, on multiple levels,” said Ethan Zuckerman, a University of Massachusetts professor of public policy, communication and information. “First, you have to agree on what is misinformation. Sometimes that’s easy. Often it’s complex and subjective. And even if you can do it for big conspiracy theories, it’s hard to do misinfo debunking for local stories all over the world.”
Another problem Zuckerman points out is much of what we might consider misinformation is more propagandistic than explicitly false. One can, for instance, weave a narrative that isn’t exactly a lie but does leave out key facts or dissenting viewpoints.
For Blocq and VineSight, the solution lies in focusing on the source of information, rather than fact-checking the content itself. ...
In general, there are two types of virtual human beings in China: IP (Intellectual Property) oriented, like AYAYI, and function-oriented, such as digital banking customer service staff members or virtual beings who can perform other tasks on a human’s behalf.
While under the IP-oriented umbrella, there are anime-based characters like Luo Tianyi and hyper-realistic Meta humans, like AYAYI. Both rely on regular content production and continuous interaction with users to enhance the value of the IPs they represent and further achieves monetisation through “2B” or “2C” (or brand/consumer-facing business collaborations). But the commercial model of IP-oriented virtual beings is rather unstable. Just like not every movie can be a hit at the box office, so the former could be more difficult in this sense. ...
The exact making process can vary from one to the other. Because we are the first ones to develop a Meta human being, our approach at the time was similar to the production of a movie. We started with a script outlining the character’s persona and created a sketch based on those pre-set personalities and then modelled it.
Once we were satisfied with the modelling, we launched a market survey, collecting feedback from the general public to see if they think the appearance matches the persona we created. After that, we further polished and enriched the design of the character, which is more of a routine. ...
What do you think is the key that allows virtual beings to build a relationship with audiences emotionally?
Just like through a movie, the public may fall in love with a character but there needs to be some medium, through which it allows audience interaction, helping them to understand the personality of the virtual character and to feel as though it is ‘a person’. ...
MPDAO is like an online community for anyone interested in these new technologies and to meet like-minded friends. There are also periodical online classes for members to share information and discuss opinions. ...
Snap has partnered with Tiffany & Co. to launch the first Lens built with ray tracing. The Lens lets users try on Tiffany Lock bracelets using AR and purchase them directly within the app. ... Ray tracing technology is typically incorporated into offline applications, such as console games, but Snap is now bringing the ultra-realistic quality to mobile. ...
A virtual reality sex worker claims she was denied entry to the U.S. on the basis of “prostitution,” despite doing online, legal work.
Hex makes a living in virtual reality. She’s an online sex worker, hosting shows and posting photos and videos from social VR platform VRChat to her Fansly account, a subscription site for erotic content. ...
The Sex Workers Project has seen an increase in individuals being stopped at borders because of their online presence, he said, and interrogated about whether they’ve engaged in “prostitution.”
“Even if the person is ultimately allowed into the country, the hours of interrogation by immigration can be scary and humiliating,” Clement said. ...
“Because online sex work almost by definition can't include the sort of physical contact that's a prerequisite for ‘sexual intercourse,’ doing exclusively online sex work, on its own, is unlikely to trigger the visa bar,” Clement said. “However, as a caveat to that, there's nothing legally preventing U.S. immigration authorities or the Department of State, with very little evidence or no evidence at all, from presuming that a person who does online sex work may also do in-person sex work as well, leading to a denial of a visa to the United States for ‘engaging in prostitution.’” For tourist visas, the government can deny them for any reason at all, or even without a reason, Clement said. ...
Two thirds (66%) of gamers are interested in AR gaming, where they can interact with the environment and see other players in the virtual casino.
According to a study by LotteryCritic, AR technology will also enable players to customize their experience with various settings and features. This means that each gaming session can be tailored to the individual player’s preferences. ...
... The first property project in MQDC’s Idyllias metaverse is The Forestias, a mixed-use residential project built on 398 rai on Bang Na-Trat KM7, valued at 125 billion baht.
After it is launched in the second quarter, he said all customers can experience smart living solutions, direct-to-avatar commerce, and gamification options, while merchants can expand their sales channels through virtual stores on Idyllias.
“The next project will be Cloud 11 on 27 rai near Udom Suk skytrain station, with other new mixed-use projects in our pipeline,” said Mr Parut. “We will expand the customer base and drive global market share by acquiring digital users worldwide.”
Opera is going all-in on artificial intelligence. This week, the company shared plans to integrate generative AI capabilities into its web browser, starting with “Shorten,” a feature that will use ChatGPT to create summaries of articles and webpages. When the tool becomes available to the public, you’ll see a new icon to the right of the address bar. Tapping it will open a sidebar where ChatGPT will provide a bulleted summary of the webpage you’re looking at. ...
The announcement of Shorten comes in the same week that Microsoft said it was redesigning Edge to add an “AI-powered copilot” to the browser. Among the things the company’s new Prometheus model can do is summarize web pages. This past week also saw Google share that it’s working on Bard, an AI chatbot powered by its LaMDA platform. The timing of the announcements suggests Opera and Microsoft see generative AI as a way to break Google’s hold on the browser market. However, whether people actually switch away from Chrome as a result of those additions remains to be seen.
... Laura Preston recently wrote about her experience working as one of these "human fallbacks" for a real-estate chatbot called Brenda. When a customer wanted to speak to someone about an apartment listing, they would be connected with Brenda, who could answer basic questions about the listing or give details on the apartment itself from the price of rent to the square footage. But many of Brenda's answers came across stilted or the system was simply unable to answer more complex questions, so a "human fallback" would step in. Preston and other human workers would take over the conversation and try to help the client, cleaning up stock answers to better address their needs or doing deeper research into housing vouchers and pet policies. According to Preston, employees were trained to use Brenda's "voice" in the interactions in an attempt to make the conversation appear seamless. And the push to robotically answer a deluge of questions came with a serious mental toll: "Months of impersonating Brenda had depleted my emotional resources," wrote Preston. "It occurred to me that I wasn't really training Brenda to think like a human, Brenda was training me to think like a bot, and perhaps that had been the point all along." ...
Instead of improving productivity, automation is often focused on increasing the power that employers have over workers. In his book, "Automation and the Future of Work," the economic historian Aaron Benanav explains that companies aren't putting money toward tools to make employees' lives easier, but are pouring money into "technologies allowing for detailed surveillance of those same workers" like computer-monitoring software that tracks the keystrokes of employees or Amazon's sophisticated algorithmic management tools that evaluate workers' every movement. ...
