philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Facebook develops new method to reverse-engineer deepfakes and track their source

Deepfakes aren’t a big problem on Facebook right now, but the company continues to fund research into the technology to guard against future threats. Its latest work is a collaboration with academics from Michigan State University (MSU), with the combined team creating a method to reverse-engineer deepfakes: analyzing AI-generated imagery to reveal identifying characteristics of the machine learning model that created it.

Previous studies in this area have been able to determine which known AI model generated a deepfake, but this work, led by MSU’s Vishal Asnani, goes a step further by identifying the architectural traits of unknown models. These traits, known as hyperparameters, have to be tuned in each machine learning model like parts in an engine. Collectively, they leave a unique fingerprint on the finished image that can then be used to identify its source.

Identifying the traits of unknown models is important, Facebook research lead Tal Hassner tells The Verge, because deepfake software is extremely easy to customize. This potentially allows bad actors to cover their tracks if investigators were trying to trace their activity.

Not only can the resulting algorithm fingerprint the traits of a generative model, but it can also identify which known model created an image and whether an image is a deepfake in the first place. “On standard benchmarks, we get state-of-the-art results,” says Hassner.

But it’s important to note that even these state-of-the-art results are far from reliable. When Facebook held a deepfake detection competition last year, the winning algorithm was only able to detect AI-manipulated videos 65.18 percent of the time. Researchers involved said that spotting deepfakes using algorithms is still very much an “unsolved problem.”

See the full story here: https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/16/22534690/facebook-deepfake-detection-reverse-engineer-ai-model-hyperparameters

[Monoco] How is virtual reality revolutionising the way we live?

A virtual model of Monaco

Whilst also undergoing a digital transformation, the Principality is creating a 3D model of the country. “A real sandbox simulating many parts of Monaco, particularly places in the city centre, helping us to make  urban policy decisions,” explains Cyrille-Rainier Boisson, Head of the digital twin project led by the Smart City team, which was put together in 2019 as part of the Extended Monaco programme.

As of now, the model includes around 1,500 buildings in Monaco, but it needs regularly updating, since the Principality’s landscape is constantly changing.

“These virtual reality spaces could become the latest way to discover Monaco and people all over the world could use them to view many of the Principality’s digital projects,” says Cyrille-Rainier Boisson. “Traders and service providers could also get involved.”

See the full story here: https://www.monaco-tribune.com/en/2021/06/how-is-virtual-reality-revolutionising-the-way-we-live/

Facebook to start testing advertisements in Oculus VR games

• Facebook on Wednesday announced that it will begin testing advertisements that will appear within the company’s Oculus virtual reality headsets.
• Oculus headset ads could be a significant step for Facebook, which derives more than 97% of its overall revenue from advertisements.
• The Oculus headset ads will first appear in the shooter game Blaston from Resolution Games.

See the full story here: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/16/facebook-to-begin-testing-ads-inside-oculus-virtual-reality-headsets.html

and here: https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2021-06-16/facebook-to-start-testing-advertisements-in-oculus-vr-games

What Is Diminished Reality, and How Does It Differ From Augmented Reality?

Diminished Reality (DR) is a type of computer-aided reality that allows you through technology, to remove, conceal, or eliminate real-life objects from your environment. Information from your environment is removed or made visually invisible to your vision and replaced with seemingly believable backgrounds or other digital 3D objects.

When referring to Diminished Reality, four important terms come into play. They are:

1. Diminish
2. See-through
3. Replace
4. Inpaint

Film Production

In many films, props and equipment are used for the production of the movies and stunts behind the scenes. These props are not to be seen in the actual movie and are removed from the scene through diminished reality (DR).

See the full story here: https://www.makeuseof.com/what-is-diminished-reality-and-how-does-it-differ-from-augmented-reality/

Could a quantum leap someday aid ethical AI?

[philNote: from Pew Research Center - a large collection of statements by experts in the field]

As they considered the potential evolution of ethical AI design, the people responding to this canvassing were given the opportunity to speculate as to whether quantum computing(QC), which is still in its early days of development, might somehow be employed in the future in support of  the development of ethical AI systems.

In March 2021, a team at the University of Vienna announced it had designed a hybrid AIthat relies on quantum and classical computing and showed that – thanks to quantum quirkiness – it could simultaneously screen a handful of different ways to solve a problem. The result was a reinforcement learning AI that learned more than 60% faster than a nonquantum-enabled setup. This was one of the first tests to show that adding quantum speed can accelerate AI agent training/learning. It is projected that this capability, when scaled up, also might lead to a more-capable “quantum internet.”

How likely is it that quantum computing will evolve over the next decade to assist in creating ethical artificial intelligence systems? If you think that will be likely, why do you think so? If you do not think it likely that quantum computing will evolve to assist in building ethical AI, why not?

See the large number of informed responses here: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/06/16/4-could-a-quantum-leap-someday-aid-ethical-ai/

Using AI in fundraising – where it helps, where it doesn’t, & key challenges

AI in fundraising – how it’s helping

In practical terms for fundraisers, this means the likes of:

• Enabling donations via conversational interfaces like Alexa and Siri, such as the NSPCC’s Alexa skill.
• Robotic Process Automation (RPA): low-cost AI tools that can automate basic tasks (or parts of them) like diary management and data entry, giving fundraisers more time for their main jobs.

• Generating content. There are AI tools that can automate tasks such as producing written content for marketing, and creating natural sounding language.
• Analysis. AI and Natural Language Processing are also being used in social listening tools and to analyse the performance of campaign and marketing collateral to help spot patterns, and make predictions.

• Recommendation algorithms. These use data to generate tailored recommendations to an individual – something we’re all used to in the consumer world, and are starting to be used by charities, for example on websites and with chatbots to promote the content most relevant for that person.
• Predictive analytics. Machine learning can be applied to donor or prospect lists to spot patterns and make predictions to improve prospect research, or gain a better understanding of existing supporter preferences and behaviour.

“As charities start racing more and more towards using machine learning applications, they’re going to start realising the importance of having integrated data around an individual, and being able to make sure it’s good, appropriate, relevant data and it’s permission based. And that’s going to be an interesting challenge for a lot of organisations, because many don’t necessarily have their data organised in a useful way.”

And, clever though AI and its subsets are, in many ways they still can’t replace human intelligence and all activity needs to be overseen, so it’s also important to keep people involved in the process.

See the full story here: https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/06/16/using-ai-in-fundraising-where-it-helps-where-it-doesnt-key-challenges/

Asad J. Malik, the Hologram-Loving Virtual-Reality Entrepreneur — Future 25

Malik’s latest venture is an interactive hologram app called Jadu, a marriage of music and technology that allows fans to interact with their favorite artists to make clips that can be shared on short-form video apps like TikTok. Malik’s company has made dancing holograms for Pussy Riot, Vic Mensa, and TikToker Josh Richards; most notably, he recently created a nonchalantly speaking, bright red, satanic-themed Lil Nas X in a viral teaser for the rapper’s hit “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” and its much-discussed music video.

See the full story here: https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/features/vr-asad-malik-future-25-1179555/

Welcome to China’s new neighbourhood stores

[PhilNote: Retail in a post-Starbucks, post-Amazon world. Personalized localized neighborhood store experiences for major brands sounds a bit attractive, and a bit of a good application for AI and surveillance capitalism.]

The template first appeared outside China. In 2018, Nike launched Nike by Melrose, the first Nike Live experience store, on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. Created as a hub for members of the brand’s NikePlus running community, it has the energy of a pop-up and an experimental edge (including automatic vending machines). The store arranges goods according to the shopping preferences of local consumers, adjusting them regularly to respond to purchase data. 

In 2020, Nike opened similar neighbourhood experience stores in Taikoo Hui in Shanghai and Sanlitun in Beijing. Both stores are warm and bright with product displays that are responsive to consumer purchase data, fitting rooms with natural light, a yoga room and a gym. Consumers can immerse themselves in the intimate, relaxing, friendly vibe. The stores also have a neighbourhood community sharing area, a member-exclusive Unlock Box and other in-store special services and products. 

Shanghai’s new neighbourhood stores

Now, this trend is turning local. Chinese online women’s fashion retailer Short Sentence opened its first boutique on Shanghai’s Anfu Road in January, seeking to create a similar atmosphere. In April, the store held a first Next-Door-Neighbour gathering, hosted by representatives from the shop’s retail design team AIM, urban culture platform SandwiChina and guests from the community who shared stories about the store space, life and history in the Anfu Road neighbourhood. 

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Retail freehold owners and developers can play an important role in encouraging neighbourhood shops in commercial districts. Several stores on Anfu Road are owned by the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, while Nio House and the Nike experience store in Shanghai’s HKRI Taikoo Hui are owned by Swire Properties. Similarly, enlightened retail developers around the world are recognising the value of small retail units with a more neighbourly feel. Watch them flourish.

See the full story here: https://www.voguebusiness.com/consumers/welcome-to-chinas-new-neighbourhood-stores

HOW TO CREATE AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE GENERAL TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM

AI” is becoming a construct that has been the subject of increasing attention in technology, media, business, industry, government and civil life during recent years.

Today's AI is the subject of controversy. You might have heard about narrow/weak, general/strong/human level and super artificial intelligence, or about machine learning, deep learning, reinforced learning, supervised and unsupervised learning, neural networks, Bayesian networks, NLP, and a whole lot of other confusing terms, all dubbed as AI techniques.

Many of the rules and logic-based systems that were previously considered Artificial Intelligence are no longer AI. In contrast, systems that analyze and find patterns in data are dubbed as machine learning, widely promoted as the dominant form of AI.

See the full story here: https://www.bbntimes.com/technology/how-to-create-an-artificial-intelligence-general-technology-platform

Space Force Launches Augmented Reality Enabled NFTs

[PhilNote: Travis Cloyd ,WorldwideXR CEO and NFT Executive Producer, owns the rights to many dead celebrities including James Dean.]

For this ground-breaking initiative, Space Force partnered with digital artist companies WorldwideXR and VueXR, to release their own NFTs with augmented reality.

The NFT collection, called “Armstrong Satellite NFT Launch with Space Force,” is the first USSF Non-Fungible Token (NFT) collection. It included a limited edition digital twin NFT of the GPS III SV05 “ARMSTRONG” satellite and  GPS III SV05 “ARMSTRONG” Coin and Patch NFTs modeled after the commemorative coins and patches typically reserved for USSF mission team members. The NFTs are created to scale and accessible to its owner via the VueXR app available on iOS and Android.

NFTs And Crypto As A Way To Support Veterans

In order to get an “ARMSTRONG” NFT you have to have a wallet on the blockchain and cryptocurrency to fill that wallet. In March, 2021 the Biden Administration took on the challenges of cryptocurrency and filing to the IRS in The American Families Plan. The plan admits that cryptocurrency constitutes “a relatively small portion of business income today, cryptocurrency transactions are likely to rise in importance in the next decade…” Government agencies signal a future of blockchain related activities as they develop guidance and reporting procedures around crypto. The “ARMSTRONG” NFT collection supports the U.S. Military and its veterans but it is not officially connected to or endorsed by the U.S. Department of Defense or any of its branches.

See the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathyhackl/2021/06/14/space-force-launches-augmented-reality-enabled-nfts/?sh=1b30b93d7645