Artificial Intelligence Specialist DGene Launches in Hollywood
DGene, a Silicon Valley and Shanghai-based developer of AI technology, has launched operations in Los Angeles. The company is creating software and services that leverage artificial intelligence and computer vision for entertainment content creation. DGene offers proprietary solutions for virtual production, visual effects, digital restoration, volumetric and holographic capture, and the creation of virtual actors and digital influencers.
Yang and Packer have assembled a team of computer scientists and engineers specializing in computer vision, computational photography, computer graphics, machine learning, and related technologies. The U.S. operation will also tap into the extensive development and R&D resources of DGene, China, which has produced groundbreaking AI solutions for companies such as Alibaba, Tencent, and China Mobile.
See the full story here: https://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/the-wire/artificial-intelligence-specialist-dgene-launches-in-hollywood
First Vietnamese digital human projects launched in HCM City
Gumee, a digital girl with a stylish appearance and personality representing Generation Z, was introduced by fashion company Gumac. She will be a fashionista and a new friend of Gumac’s young customers on social media.
The Digital Humans Day 2021 was also attended by Cai Luong (reformed opera) singer and People’s Artist Bach Tuyet and singer and composer Ngoc Son who have engaged in the development of their own digital versions in an attempt to preserve culture and arts using artificial intelligence.
Singer Bach Tuyet said the project offers a great experiment in combining the world’s advanced AI technology and the traditional arts – Cai Luong. It shows that, with digital humans, no area is left behind in the digital transformation process, she said.
See the full story here: https://vietnamnet.vn/en/sci-tech-environment/first-vietnamese-digital-human-projects-launched-in-hcm-city-725830.html
Facebook, Apple and Niantic Bet People Are Ready for Augmented-Reality Glasses
Facebook last month said it is working on AR glasses in tandem with sensor-packed wristbands that can detect finger movements, part of a broader push in researching the development of software and hardware to support the eyewear.
John Hanke last week posted a tweet touting progress on its planned AR glasses, which it is making in partnership with chip maker Qualcomm Inc.
Other companies are guarding their plans. Apple is working on an AR headset for consumers, which analysts expect to hit the market as soon as next year, and has plans for AR glasses to follow. Analysts also say SnapInc., SNAP +5.50% which already sells camera-equipped sunglasses it calls Spectacles, is developing consumer AR glasses, and thatAlphabet Inc.’s Google, which entered the space in 2013 with Google Glass before focusing on sales to business customers, is likely to try a consumer play again.
“A lot of the magic in AR is going to come from the device knowing your place in the world,” Mr. Hanke said.
Another challenge for companies making AR glasses is dealing with issues such as user privacy and security. Facebook is soliciting feedback from tech experts, regulators and consumers on this front, Mr. Bosworth said. For example, he said it will be important to consider how people might feel talking to or just walking past someone wearing AR glasses.
“These things are going to have always-on cameras, always-on microphones,” Mr. Bosworth said. “This really is a technology that demands a public conversation about what the capabilities are going to be, what’s acceptable and not.”
See the full story here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-apple-and-niantic-bet-people-are-ready-for-augmented-reality-glasses-11617713387
Can VR concerts save a music industry brought to its knees by Covid-19?
Ever wanted to travel to an alien world on a virtual spaceship to see David Guetta’s avatar DJ-ing your own personal concert? Well, now you can, thanks to a new VR experience called Sensorium Galaxy, a multi-user social virtual realityplatform where users are transported to virtual alien ‘worlds’ to watch their favorite DJs in concert.
These worlds come with “supernatural features,” as Sasha Tityanko, Sensorium’s deputy CEO (Art & Marketing) explains. One such world, called Prism, is “a remote planet filled with black rock, lakes, and oceans,” where “everything transforms and evolves, under the influence of music that the artist plays while they’re giving a performance”.
There are obvious benefits to using virtual reality for live music performances, not least the ability to experience them in a way that would not be possible in real life. Virtual concerts are accessible from anywhere, at any time, so you don’t have to wait years for your favorite artists to tour in your country.
Virtual reality is only now approaching mainstream adoption in a meaningful way. Right now, there are just four main players when it comes to mainstream VR headsets you can use at home, including Oculus, PlayStation, HTC, and Valve – and these headsets don’t exactly come cheap.
See the full story here: https://www.techradar.com/news/can-vr-concerts-save-a-music-industry-brought-to-its-knees-by-covid-19
Artists Jump Into NFTs, Seeing a Digital Bonanza
Top-tier artists like Damien Hirst and John Gerrard already are converting some of their works into NFTs. Now, Urs Fischer is diving in. The 47-year-old Swiss-born artist will offer his first NFT, “Chaos #1 Human,” on Fair Warning, an auction app, on April 11. The animated work depicts a 3D scan of a brown egg and a cigarette lighter slowly colliding and moving through each other. It is part of a new series exploring cultural artifacts through hundreds of NFT pairings of everyday objects that will be capped with one amalgamation of all 1,000 images.
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If resale royalties become standard in the industry, he said, NFTs could be a windfall for artists. That is partly why he thinks artists now are pushing into NFTs faster than galleries or collectors. “I think it’ll come down to the artists to lead the galleries into this space,” he said.
Soaring prices haven’t persuaded everyone that this highly volatile market is a good bet. Overall, NFT sales dropped 20%, to $37.2 million, in the past 10 days, according to industry tracker Nonfungible.com, though it isn’t clear how much of the drop was NFT art compared with other tokenized offerings, such as sports clips or virtual cats. The art world, unlike crypto-collectibles, is seasonal, and tentpole auctions at the major houses planned for the next couple months will feature NFT art, which could affect the medium’s overall momentum.
Comedian and actor John Cleese poked fun at the new medium by auctioning his NFT doodle of the Brooklyn Bridge, ...
See the full story here; https://www.wsj.com/articles/artists-jump-into-nfts-seeing-a-digital-bonanza-11617634274
A.I. Can’t Detect Our Emotions
A conversation with the professor who just turned down a $60,000 grant from Google
A few examples are revealing: The automotive industry sees value in algorithms determining when drivers are distracted and drowsy. Companies see value in algorithms analyzing how customer support agents talk and computationally coaching them to be better speakers. And researchers see value in children with autism using A.I.-infused glasses to interpret the facial reactions conveyed by people around them.
Not everyone, however, is smiling about emotion-sensing A.I. Indeed, strong criticism is pervasive and high-profile controversies are grabbing headlines. For example, there’s been considerable pushback against companies unfairly using emotion detection and analysis software during interviews to determine a candidate’s “employability score.” ...
I’m excited to talk about the promises and pitfalls of emotion-sensing A.I. with Luke Stark, assistant professor in the faculty of information and media studies at the University of Western Ontario. ... has an exciting new book coming out with MIT Press, Ordering Emotion: Histories of Computing and Human Feelings From Cybernetics to AI. In addition to being a renowned scholar who studies ethical issues, Luke prioritizes ethical action. ...
Evan: If banning facial analysis creates a whack-a-mole problem where automation will scan and classify other bodily channels for emotional information at scale, what’s the best regulatory way forward?
Luke: Well, Jevan Hutson and I are trying to figure that out, not just for emotion recognition but for all forms of what we call “physiognomic A.I.” We’re working on a law review piece that identifies outcomes society should prohibit across all the different ways of making human bodies computationally tractable that are used to infer interior states or characteristics.
See the full story here: https://onezero.medium.com/a-i-cant-detect-our-emotions-3c1f6fce2539
