philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

12May/21Off

Leading facial recognition technology provider, Corsight AI, announces Netpoleon as distribution partner for Asia

Recognised as the top scoring Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) without the presence of masks by the US Department of Homeland Security – as well as ranking second when masks were present – Corsight's technology can accurately identify individuals on watchlists even within highly challenging conditions. This advanced AI technology allows for ethical and accurate detection, significantly reducing the chance of false positives and ensuring its capabilities go far beyond that of the human eye. Alongside real-time detection, Corsight also provides law enforcement, transportation, government agencies, airports, retail outlets, banks, and more with forensic video analysis that can analyse hours of footage in minutes.

See the full story here: https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/leading-facial-recognition-technology-provider-corsight-ai-announces-netpoleon-as-distribution-partner-for-asia-837044974.html

12May/21Off

GOOGLE PLANS TO DOUBLE AI ETHICS RESEARCH STAFF

...the hires will increase the size of the responsible AI team that she leads to 200 researchers. Additionally, she said that Alphabet Chief Executive Sundar Pichai has committed to boost the operating budget of a team tasked with evaluating code and product to avert harm, discrimination and other problems with AI.

Health will be one area of focus for the group, she said. The AI team recently assisted in the development of an algorithm that can detect abnormal heart rhythms by scanning fingertips on an Android phone. During its development, she said the ethics team helped determine that darker-skinned people had more variabilities and errors in testings, which had to be addressed before the product’s release.

See the full story here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-plans-to-double-ai-ethics-research-staff-11620749048

11May/21Off

Google Envisages A GPT-3-like Query System, Without Search Results

A new paper from four Google researchers proposes an ‘expert’ system capable of authoritatively answering users’ questions without presenting a list of possible search results, similar to the Q&A paradigm that has come to public attention through the advent of GPT-3 over the past year.

The paper, entitled Rethinking Search: Making Experts out of Dilettantes, suggests that the current standard of presenting the user with a list of search results in response to an inquiry is a ‘cognitive burden’, and proposes improvements in the ability of a natural language processing system (NLP) to provide an authoritative and definitive response.Under the proposed model of an 'expert', cross-domain oracle, the thousands of possible search result sources will be baked into a language model instead of being explicitly available as an exploratory resource for users to evaluate and navigate for themselves. Source: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2105.02274.pdf

Under the proposed model of an ‘expert’, cross-domain oracle, the thousands of possible search result sources will be baked into a language model instead of being explicitly available as an exploratory resource for users to evaluate and navigate for themselves. Source: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2105.02274.pdf

The paper, led by Donald Metzler at Google Research, proposes improvements in the type of multi-domain oracle responses that can currently be obtained from deep learningautoregressive language models such as GPT-3. The main improvements envisaged are a) that the model would be capable of accurately citing the sources that informed the response, and b) that the model would be prevented from ‘hallucinating‘ responses or inventing non-existent source material, which is currently an issue with such architectures.

Multi-Domain Training And Capabilities

Additionally, the proposed language model, characterized in the paper as ‘A Single Model for all Information Retrieval Tasks’, would be trained on a variety of domains, including images and text. It would also need an understanding about the provenance of knowledge, which is lacking in GPT-3 style architectures.

‘To replace indexes with a single, unified model, it must be possible for the model itself to have knowledge about the universe of document identifiers, in the same way that traditional indexes do. One way to accomplish this is to move away from traditional LMs and towards corpus models that jointly model term-term, term-document, and document-document relationships.’

In the image above, from the paper, three approaches in response to a user inquiry: left, the language models implicit in Google’s algorithmic search results have chosen and prioritized a ‘best answer’, but have left it as the top result of many. Center, a GPT-3 style conversational response, which speaks with authority, but does not justify its claims or cite sources. Right, the proposed expert system incorporates the ‘best response’ from the ranked search results directly into a didactic answer, with academic-style footnote citations (not depicted in the original image) indicating the sources that inform the response.

See the full story here: https://www.unite.ai/google-envisages-a-gpt-3-like-query-system-without-search-results/

11May/21Off

Animation continues to grow: Commissioning boosted further by pandemic

A main factor in the continued growth of animated commissions since 2018 is the increased accessibility and variety of adults’ Animation. This has attracted a greater, more varied, viewership. As VoD platforms see a greater demand, they then commission more Animation, further increasing the availability and variety of animated series available. However, the influence of COVID-19 on the film and TV industry must be considered. Lockdowns have encouraged consumers to explore the content available in their VoD libraries. Additionally, many of the increased risks and costs of live-action production resulting from the pandemic do not apply to Animation. 

...what makes these new US commissions stand out is that they are not Comedies. Being part of popular franchises guarantees these titles a high level of viewership. Moreover, they will introduce an even wider range of audiences to non-comedic Animation genres, perpetuating Animation’s ongoing cycle of growth. 

See the full story here: https://www.ampereanalysis.com/insight/animation-continues-to-grow-commissioning-boosted-further-by-pandemic?mkt_tok=ODUwLVRBQS01MTEAAAF8-meWqqbS4qBaWwTHPYBRflpIPXSi9-X4XX-a7xfYAqWfyuoPZEH0xcBBeDud2-oxeDacPHYnDjo7_npJ8VaI387VIRrbSe-30dTVMomHpcb-

10May/21Off

Augmented reality produces real results for Ally Bank

See the full story here: https://www.americanbanker.com/news/augmented-reality-produces-real-results-for-ally

6May/21Off

AI Expert Charles Simon Publishes Guide for Creating Artificial General Intelligence

“The Brain Simulator II software is now robust enough to need a full explanation which not only documents the program, but explains the background and philosophy behind it and the direction of future development,” notes Simon. “I wrote the companion book to provide neuroscientists, cognitive scientists, and programmers interested in AGI or spiking AI software with everything they might need to build a system that can learn about object permanence, spatial relationships, and time/causality, and ultimately help AI to become AGI.”

Highlighting the features that set Brain Simulator II apart from other AI software – including user and programming interfaces which allow users to examine and modify the network’s internal workings in real time, a powerful spiking neuron engine that is a biologically plausible emulation of the brain, and more than 50 modules for performing a variety of AI tasks – Brain Simulator II: The Guide for Creating Artificial General Intelligence contains chapters which describe: 

  • Neuron simulation models currently being implemented, and the distinction between biological neurons and traditional AI;
  • Applications of neurons that work together to perform digital logic functions;
  • Modules which allow programmers to create custom computer code for any cluster of neurons; and 
  • The Universal Knowledge Store (UKS), a set of modules which can store any kind of information and create relationships between different types of information.

See the full story here: https://www.prweb.com/releases/ai_expert_charles_simon_publishes_guide_for_creating_artificial_general_intelligence/prweb17910195.htm

6May/21Off

AT&T Adds Augmented Reality Statistics to the Chicago Bulls Mobile App

AT&T is working with the Chicago Bulls and Nexus Studios to roll out a new fan experience within the Chicago Bulls app that gives fans the ability to see immersive 3D stats during Chicago Bulls’ games.

With AT&T StatsZone, Bulls fans can view their favorite team and player stats of current and past games in a customized AR view on their smartphone. In addition, they will be able to send and share clips of their favorite stats highlights and milestone celebrations from the game to their friends, family and on social media.

See the full story here: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2021/05/05/att-adds-augmented-reality-statistics-to-the-chicago-bulls-mobile-app/

4May/21Off

‘It makes surgery very precise’: Stamford spine team mastering augmented reality

"It makes surgery very precise," Dr. Sandhu told the publication. "The technology allows us to see through the tissue. It's a little like a GPS system — it tells us where we are and gives us a road map of where we need to go."

Bennett Medical Center is the only hospital in the tristate area currently offering an AR spine surgery system, according to the report.

See the full story here: https://www.beckersspine.com/orthopedic-spine-practices-improving-profits/item/51696-it-makes-surgery-very-precise-stamford-spine-team-mastering-augmented-reality.html

1May/21Off

Jenny Holzer’s spectacular AR takeover of Guggenheim Bilbao

Like Beauty In Flames sees Holzer’s signature text-based art translated into three distinct AR experiences: two site-specific works that engage the Guggenheim Bilbao’s architecture and one that can be accessed from devices anywhere in the world.

See the full story here: https://www.wallpaper.com/art/jenny-holzer-like-beauty-in-flames-ar-guggenheim-bilbao

1May/21Off

Warner Music Group Dives Into NFT Fray With Genies Partnership To Create Artist Avatars

Warner Music Group entered a global partnership with technology company Genies to create avatars and digital wearable NFTs for WMG artists. While musicians from Deadmau5 to Grimes to Shawn Mendes have dipped into the smoldering NFT trend, WMG’s deal marks the first time a major record company has entered the fray.

The move may be as defensive as it is forward-looking. NFTs have the potential to be big, if currently unstable, business. Indie artist and cryptocurrency proponent 3LAU scored $11.7 million on an NFT of his three-year-old album Ultraviolet. On the other hand, Kings of Leon recently released their latest album When You See Yourself as an NFT, the first band to do so for an entire album—to mediocre response.

Genies also has a partnership with blockchain company Dapper Labs, the maker of the popular licensed collectibles NBA Top Shot, in which WMG is an investor. 

See the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathyolson/2021/04/30/warner-music-group-dives-into-nft-fray-with-genies-partnership-to-create-artist-avatars/?sh=7e8e9a4c6a9e