philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

CES 2023: AI’s at a ‘really important moment,’ says Sony’s AI ethics expert

The viral success of OpenAI's ChatGPT has triggered discussions everywhere these days from the classroom to the boardroom. At the center of many of these conversations – ethical concerns.

This amounts to a crucial moment for AI, Alice Xiang, Head of Sony Group's (SONY) AI Ethics Office and AI Lead Research Scientist, told Yahoo Finance Live (video above). “We're really seeing an inflection point with AI ethics, where it’s going from being just something that companies are doing on their own… [and now] we're seeing policymakers really dive into this space." ...

So, what are the AI issues that Xiang is watching as 2023 gets rolling? "Data, evaluation, and governance," she told Yahoo Finance. ...

See the full story here: https://news.yahoo.com/ces-2023-a-is-at-a-really-important-moment-says-sonys-ai-ethics-expert-200046533.html

Top AI conference bans use of ChatGPT and AI language tools to write academic papers

AI tools can be used to ‘edit’ and ‘polish’ authors’ work, say the conference organizers, but text ‘produced entirely’ by AI is not allowed. This raises the question: where do you draw the line between editing and writing? ...

According to the ICML, the rise of publicly accessible AI language models like ChatGPT — a general purpose AI chatbot that launched on the web last November — represents an “exciting” development that nevertheless comes with “unanticipated consequences [and] unanswered questions.” The ICML says these include questions about who owns the output of such systems(they are trained on public data, which is usually collected without consent and sometimes regurgitate this information verbatim) and whether text and images generated by AI should be “considered novel or mere derivatives of existing work.” ...

In other words: in response to the rise of disruptive and novel technology, the organizers are relying on traditional social mechanisms to enforce academic norms. ...

See the full story here: https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/5/23540291/chatgpt-ai-writing-tool-banned-writing-academic-icml-paper

RIAA Lobbying Disclosure Form Lists ‘Artificial Intelligence’ as a ‘Specific Lobbying Issue’

The RIAA, representing the Big Three (Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, and Sony Music Entertainment), has recently reported several AI-music mixing platforms to the United States Trade Representative. The goal is to have them listed as upcoming threats in the USTR’s “Notorious Markets” report. Additionally, a 2022 lobbying disclosure report shows that RIAA lobbyists have raised AI as a “specific lobbying issue” with the US government.

The RIAA is a member of the Copyright Alliance, which lobbies the government on behalf of its members and recently expressed concerns that AI-generated works collide with copyright law. A GoFundMe campaign launched by the Concept Art Association has surfaced intending to raise funds to pay a lobbyist to “educate government officials and policymakers” on the threat to the creative industries that is AI-generated artwork. The Concept Art Association has said a portion of the funds will also go to the Copyright Alliance.  ...

See the full story here: https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2023/01/05/riaa-lobbying-disclosure-form-lists-ai-as-specific-lobbying-issue/

Rendever Acquires AARP’s Alcove Virtual Reality Platform to Expand VR-powered Social Network for Seniors Globally

Rendever, the company pioneering the future of aging through VR, today announces its acquisition of Alcove, a popular consumer VR platform publicly available to families at home through their own VR headsets. The Rendever team has been co-developing Alcove with AARP since 2020. By bringing Alcove in-house, Rendever is amplifying its reach through an integrated ecosystem of products that enable a better aging experience for seniors worldwide, regardless of where they live. ...

Through the acquisition, Rendever better supports the aging population by bringing the joy and inspiration of its targeted shared experiences to the millions of seniors at home, along with their families and caregivers. ...

See the full press release here: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/01/05/2583975/0/en/Rendever-Acquires-AARP-s-Alcove-Virtual-Reality-Platform-to-Expand-VR-powered-Social-Network-for-Seniors-Globally.html

Elevators of the future to employ AI and facial recognition

The latest breed of elevators can recognize your face, greet you by name, take you to your floor automatically — and even stop to let on a robot bearing a catering platter or hospital tray.

Why it matters: The widespread fear of elevators that hit during the pandemic served to turbo-charge new innovations, in what some are calling a "digital revolution."

• New features make the ride safer, faster and more convenient, but come with a big price tag for building owners.
• For developers who want to spend the cash, the sky's the limit: AI and facial recognition can push customized entertainment and advertisements on elevator screens to passengers who opt in.
• Elevators that travel horizontally may be on the horizon, paving the way for new architectural innovations.

Driving the news: The race is on among the "big four" elevator manufacturers — Otis, Schindler, Kone and TK Elevator — to sell new or retrofitted high-tech elevators to property owners.

See the full story here: https://www.axios.com/2023/01/04/artificial-intelligence-facial-recognition-elevators-otis-schindler-horizontal

CAA Metaverse Officer Joanna Popper On Evolving AI

DEADLINE: Talk about CAA’s work with Soul Machines. What does it do?

POPPER: Soul Machines is a client and we’re helping them build their entertainment division. This area is so new, it’s moving so fast, and there are huge opportunities for talent to monetize in this area. They’re working with Carmelo Anthony, Mark Tuan, Marilyn Monroe, and Jack Nicholas’s teams on AI-generated ‘digital twins’ who can have real-time, face-to-face conversations. We recognize there are really important steps we have to take to protect the talent, and we are working with companies charting the way in technology and that are ethically-led and talent-friendly. That is our main goal as the industry continues to grow and migrate. There’s a lot more to come. Stay tuned.

See the full story here: https://deadline.com/2023/01/caa-metaverse-officer-joanna-popper-deep-fake-technology-ces-1235210327/

Holoride launches new device to bring VR entertainment to any vehicle

Holoride, the Audi-backed startup, is ready to take its in-vehicle virtual reality entertainment system into the mainstream.

The company unveiled Wednesday at CES 2023 in Las Vegas a device about the size of a smart speaker that can be retrofitted into any vehicle to make it VR ready. The product marks a turning point for a company that has been reliant on partnerships with automakers for its growth.

Today, Holoride’s in-car VR technology is only available in certain 2022 model year (and newer) Audi vehicles. This new product would greatly expand its market reach — if consumers opt to plop down $799 for the package.

See the full story here: https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/04/holoride-launches-device-to-bring-vr-into-any-vehicle

Defensive vs. offensive AI: Why security teams are losing the AI war

Weaponizing artificial intelligence (AI) to attack understaffed enterprises that lack AI and machine learning (ML) expertise is giving bad actors the edge in the ongoing AI cyberwar. ...

Eighty-eight percent of CISOs and security leaders say that weaponized AI attacks are inevitable, and with good reason. Just 24% of cybersecurity teams are fully prepared to manage an AI-related attack, according to a recent Gartner survey. Nation-states and cybercriminal gangs know that enterprises are understaffed, and that many lack AI and ML expertise and tools to defend against such attacks. In Q3 2022, out of a pool of 53,760 cybersecurity applicants, only 1% had AI skills. ...

In 2022, cybercriminal gangs also improved malware design and delivery techniques using ML, as first reported in CrowdStrike’s Falcon OverWatchthreat hunting report. The research discovered that malware-free intrusion activity now accounts for 71% of all detections indexed by CrowdStrike’s Threat Graph. Malware-free intrusions are difficult for perimeter-based systems and tech stacks that are based on implicit trust to identify and stop.  ...

See the full story here: https://venturebeat.com/security/defensive-vs-offensive-ai-why-security-teams-are-losing-the-ai-war/

6 Questions for Entrepreneur Henry Yan of Metaverse AI

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Wharton Global Youth: Back to that notion of the self-sovereign metaverse for a moment. Will we have full control over our information, assets and data in this virtual realm?

Henry: I believe that’s the only way forward. In a more hyperrealistic internet, which is what we like to call the metaverse because it’s a 3D world, everything gets more real and gets more personal and interconnected. It’s even more important to maintain user privacy. We believe that with technology such as blockchain cryptography and zero-knowledge proof, we can really improve user privacy. ...

See the full story here: https://globalyouth.wharton.upenn.edu/articles/science-technology/6-questions-for-entrepreneur-henry-yan-of-metaverse-ai/

‘Kaleidoscope’ Review: Netflix Series’ Time Scramble Offers Mild Confusion More Than a Compelling Hook

... In practice, Kaleidoscope feels like a slick but forgettable two-hour movie puffed up into a jumbled six-hour saga. The main advantage of its unorthodox structure is that it helps obscure how generic some of its component pieces really are. A love triangle subplot hinges on relationships so thinly sketched that I kept assuming I hadn’t gotten around yet to whatever chapter was finally going to explain these people. It wasn’t until I’d gulped down the whole season that I realized that, no, the person at its center was simply never granted an inner life to begin with. ...

See the full story here: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/kaleidoscope-netflix-tv-review-1235288236/