philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

The Metaverse Is Coming. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on the Fusion of Virtual and Physical Worlds

Do you worry about bad actors getting their hands on all this powerful technology and using it to sow chaos, perpetrate evil and disrupt this utopian vision of the future? 

The best way is to democratize the technology in order to enable all society, which is vastly good—and to put great technology in their hands, so that they could use the same technology—and, ideally, superior technology—to stay safe.

See the full story here: https://time.com/5955412/artificial-intelligence-nvidia-jensen-huang/

What is Triller? How to live stream Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren fight on the social media app

What is Triller?

Triller is a video-sharing social networking service. It allows users to create and share short videos, including videos manually set to music or otherwise have it sync automatically via artificial intelligence technology. Released for Android and iOS in 2015, it has evolved to include social networking features after originally operating as a video editing app.

Triller has a heavy association with the music business, having deals in place with Spotify and Apple Music to use songs from their libraries. Proxima Media is the majority investor, but Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and Universal Music Group have also invested in the app. Several artists have invested in the app as well, including Marshmello, The Weeknd, Snoop Dogg and Lil Wayne.

Why is the Jake Paul fight on Triller?

Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren is the first main event of Triller's new partnership with Snoop Dogg, called "Triller Fight Club." It's a series of annual pay-per-view cards, produced and hosted by Snoop Dogg, that carries over elements from Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr.'s fight in November 2020. That was the first fight on the Triller app.

See the full story here: https://www.sportingnews.com/us/boxing/news/jake-paul-ben-askren-live-stream-triller/994ly2d5pkq81gtu1ykcp74a3

Europe eyes strict rules for artificial intelligence

According to a draft of its upcoming rules, obtained by POLITICO, the European Commission would ban certain uses of "high-risk" artificial intelligence systems altogether, and limit others from entering the bloc if they don't meet its standards. Companies that don't comply could be fined up to €20 million or 4 percent of their turnover. The Commission will unveil its final regulation on April 21.

The rules are the first of their kind to regulate artificial intelligence, and the EU is keen to highlight its unique approach. It doesn't want to leave powerful tech companies to their own devices like in the U.S., nor does it want to go by the way of China in harnessing the tech to fashion a surveillance state.

See the full story here: https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-strict-rules-artificial-intelligence/

Cinerama Dome Tribute Revisits Marquee Moments in Augmented Reality

The developers of ReplayAR released an augmented reality video that highlights the renowned venue by virtually projecting old photographs from the past onto the real-life Cinerama Dome of today. 

Closer to home, ReplayAR will soon be releasing a new augmented reality history tour of greater Los Angeles, allowing local Angelenos a chance to revisit memorable moments from LA's past.

ReplayAR, an augmented reality technology startup company founded in Burbank, is currently working with it's partners towards the full realization of their patented technology: connecting their users to form a global real-world AR social network.

"Seeing AR photos of my son growing up in our home is a timeless experience" said ReplayAR co-founder Brandon Martin, "It's not just for historical events. It's also a great way to capture and replay personal memories right at home where they happen, like your own virtual scrapbook."

ReplayAR's historical exploration of the Cinerama Dome and other video installments of their "AR Time Capsule" series can be found on their YouTube channel and at ReplayAR.com. A single-user version of the ReplayAR augmented reality app is available for free on the App Store for iOS and Play Store for Android.

See the full story here: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cinerama-dome-tribute-revisits-marquee-moments-in-augmented-reality-301269693.html

Pay attention to India’s future of A.I.

The researchers learned, for instance, that Indian investors participated in A.I.-related deals in the country worth an estimated $1.2 billion from 2015 through 2019. During that same time period, U.S. financers were estimated to have invested $858 million into Indian companies that specialize in A.I., underscoring the significance of  U.S. funding in India’s A.I. ecosystem. Chinese investors, by comparison, only invested an estimated $159 million into Indian A.I. companies during that timespan.

A misunderstanding that some Americans may have about India and A.I. is that the two countries may be heavily competing for A.I. talent, whereas “the fact is, it is more an avenue of cooperation between India and the U.S. then an avenue of conflict,” Chahal said.

...“There is more hope than fears as of now,” she said regarding Indian technologists coming to the U.S.

See the full story here: https://fortune.com/2021/04/13/pay-attention-to-indias-future-of-a-i/

Big Tech’s guide to talking about AI ethics

50-ish words you can use to show that you care without incriminating yourself.

...

Now they’ve developed a new vocabulary to use when they want to assure the public that they care deeply about developing AI responsibly—but want to make sure they don’t invite too much scrutiny. Here’s an insider’s guide to decoding their language and challenging the assumptions and values baked in.

accountability (n) - The act of holding someone else responsible for the consequences when your AI system fails.

accuracy (n) - Technical correctness. The most important measure of success in evaluating an AI model’s performance. See validation.

adversary (n) - A lone engineer capable of disrupting your powerful revenue-generating AI system. See robustness, security.

...

See the full article here: https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/04/13/1022568/big-tech-ai-ethics-guide/

Disney Developing Augmented Reality System Capable of Virtually Lighting Real-World Objects

A new Disney invention could eliminate traditional lighting, moving lighting effects to an augmented reality viewer.

The “Introducing Real-time Lighting Effects to Illuminate Real-world Physical Objects in See-through Augmented Reality Displays” patent application (US 2021/0097757 A1) published April 1, 2021 sheds some light on the invention. A shader and a light source generator are used to apply virtual illumination to physical objects viewed through an augmented reality (AR) display.

This system is able to map three dimensional objects in the real world. The shader identifies points on the object; those are the vertices. Those vertices are then connected to create numerous polygons, mapping the real-world object for the computer.

A computer-generated lighting source is then applied to the polygons identified by the shader. The rendered scene lighting is displayed on top of the real-world objects through the AR screen.

See the full story here: https://wdwnt.com/2021/04/disney-developing-augmented-reality-system-capable-of-virtually-lighting-real-world-objects/

The Sandbox Attracts Strategic Gaming & Silicon Valley Partners to build Virtual Lands in its NFT Metaverse

Uken Games, Bill Lee, Ken Howery, Galaxy Interactive, Tyler Winklevoss, Gemini Frontier Fund, Nifty Gateway, Avenged Sevenfold, and others entered into strategic partnerships to acquire LAND and build experiences in The Sandbox’s NFT-based metaverse

The Sandbox, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands and the leading decentralized social metaverse platform, announced that it has added multiple partners from the NFT, investment, and music industries to its growing list of partners. As with previous partners, the new entrants have joined in The Sandbox’s virtual real estate by acquiring LAND NFTs in the open metaverse and committed to building experiences across the metaverse. To celebrate the new partners, The Sandbox will launch a new LAND sale on April 14 that allows players to purchase choice spots near partner LANDS.

The involvement of the partners announced follows the beta launch of The Sandbox’s NFT marketplace, which gives anyone the opportunity to earn SAND, The Sandbox’s utility token, by monetizing voxel-based NFT creations created with the dedicated software VoxEdit. Each NFT can be used inside the game platform in the future or used to build custom game experiences. LAND NFTs are the main gateway to publishing games in The Sandbox, as the platform prepares for opening its first public beta for players later this year. The Sandbox was recently featured by the Wall Street Journal and CNBC as a pioneer in the space.

“The Sandbox is revolutionizing gaming by empowering users to build, own, and monetize their gaming experiences in a virtual world that is decentralized,” said Tyler Winklevoss, Co-Founder of Gemini Exchange. “We plan to extend our existing platforms into The Sandbox and develop unique experiences on our properties that advance our mission of empowering the individual through crypto.”

See the full story here: https://europeangaming.eu/portal/latest-news/2021/04/12/90247/the-sandbox-attracts-strategic-gaming-silicon-valley-partners-to-build-virtual-lands-in-its-nft-metaverse/

Fruit carts flying over MacArthur Park: How you can see LACMA’s first AR monuments

“LACMA × Snapchat: Monumental Perspectives” aims to illuminate untold stories and little-known histories from around Los Angeles. The site-specific works — viewable on the Snapchat app — add to the national conversation aroundrepresentation and historical accuracy in monuments, murals and other public works of art. When the viewer looks through their device at the location the work is set in, the digital art appears onscreen.

LACMA Director Michael Govan said in the project announcement that the AR monuments “are not only relevant to issues of today — Los Angeles, civic space, community — but also to the medium of art, opening doors to new ways of thinking about art in both physical and virtual spaces.”

The project will premiere more virtual monuments in 2021 and in years to come.

See the full story here: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-04-13/lacma-snapchat-ar-monuments-los-angeles

University of Chicago Debuts First U.S. Quantum Accelerator

The Washington Post reports that the accelerator program, based at the University’s Booth School of Business, will invest $20 million over the next 10 years to help “up to 10 quantum startups a year.” Each chosen startup will receive “$50,000 grants, access to lab and office space and close mentoring by science and business faculty members.”

It also reveals that, “the Duality accelerator is hoping to leverage the physics and engineering expertise from its university partners, and from the nearby Argonne and Fermi national labs, to support commercial ideas bubbling up from PhD students and others.” An earlier startup program at the University supported Grubhub and Venmo.

See the full story here: https://www.etcentric.org/university-of-chicago-debuts-first-u-s-quantum-accelerator/#more-158673