philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

TikTok Pioneers the Rise of Virtual Influencers Using AI Technology

... In a world where the terms ‘artificial intelligence’ and ‘influencer’ seldom intersect, TikTok is setting the stage for a significant shift, leveraging its sophisticated AI algorithms to create virtual entities. These AI-generated figures are expected to engage with viewers, delivering key messages with potential impact akin to their human counterparts. ...

See the full story here: https://elblog.pl/2024/04/14/tiktok-pioneers-the-rise-of-virtual-influencers-using-ai-technology/

How I Built an AI-Powered, Self-Running Propaganda Machine for $105

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I selected Huzafa Nawaz, drawn by his record (at the time) of 293 reviews with a 5.0 rating. The price—$80—also seemed more than reasonable.

Nawaz is a young Pakistani who told me he is “around 30” years old; he communicated with me in English, with limited proficiency, by instant message. He is among dozens of developers on freelance marketplaces who build fully automated AI websites from the ground up for a minimal fee. “I will create automated news website autoblog,” Nawaz’s posting on Fiverr stated. “If you are looking for an automated website to generate extra passive income without any effort, my gig is your best choice.” ...

See the full story here: https://www.wsj.com/politics/how-i-built-an-ai-powered-self-running-propaganda-machine-for-105-e9888705

Sony Electronics announces a 4K 60p pan-tilt-zoom camera with AI-based auto framing

Sony Electronics is releasing a flagship 4K 60p pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera model with an integrated lens, the BRC-AM7. Incorporating PTZ Auto Framing technology, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology for advanced recognition, the camera facilitates accurate and natural automatic tracking of moving subjects. These innovations enable simplified high-quality video production for broadcast, live event, and sports productions. ...

See the full story here: https://www.newscaststudio.com/2024/04/12/sony-electronics-announces-a-4k-60p-pan-tilt-zoom-camera-with-ai-based-auto-framing/

This L.A. escape room explores corporate greed — and shows how corruptible you really are

... For the past five years Los Angeles’ Hatch Escapes has been rethinking the escape room ground rules. The goal: to prove the an escape room is not mere entertainment but can, in fact, be experienced as a work of narrative art. 

Think of the Ladder as a 90-minute interactive movie with puzzles, taking guests through five decades, beginning in the 1950s, in which they will play an exaggerated game of corporate life. Start in the mailroom, and work your way through secretarial and middle-management-themed areas, all the while mixing puzzles, games and choose-your-own-adventure-like choices. ...

You may find yourself playing a game of memory around digitally enhanced cocktail glasses, as our mid-level exec seemed more interested in company card perks than late nights with the books. Or perhaps you’ll choose to investigate a wall-long switchboard, listening to callers’ problems and trying to connect them with a solution. Elsewhere, in an area dedicated to the 1980s, Nintendo’s “Donkey Kong” gets remixed as “Bossy Kong,” with a suited villain rather than a gorilla trying to thwart our progress. The final room — the corner office — is group game chaos inspired by the popular collaborative video game “Spaceteam,” complete with fully animated windows overlooking a city. ...

If all goes according to plan, wits will be tested but so will morals, as participants are graded on puzzle acumen as well as personal choices. ...

“We wanted to build something that basically would allow a group of 10 people to never stop doing something effective,” says Tommy Wallach, who co-founded Hatch Escapes with Terry Pettigrew-Rolapp. ...

What it does achieve is trying to solve some other escape room problems. Replayability is one of them. Can we create something people want to come back to in the way people want to come back to Disneyland, because it’s not solved and done?” ...

See the full story here: https://www.latimes.com/travel/story/2024-04-10/ladder-escape-room-hatch-escapes-corporate-greed

Getty Images CEO Calls for Industry Standards Around AI

... But the stock images giant is trying to be proactive as well, signing a deal with AI giant Nvidia to create AI text-to-image and text-to-video services with a generative model trained on Getty’s copyright-protected library of stock images. Peters argues the deal will both protect creators by ensuring compensation for use of their work, and guard against abuse. “This model can’t produce deepfakes, because it was trained on only a creative universe. It doesn’t know who Taylor Swift is. It doesn’t know who Joe Biden is,” he says. ...

See the full story here: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/ai-getty-images-ceo-industry-standards-1235869852/

Virtual Coffee, Ice Cream Shops Help Students Learn Business

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Arizona State University began working in the virtual reality realm with its Dreamscape Lab in 2020. The university partnered with the lab and launched a pilot program last fall to test a student-run virtual coffee shop and teach students the ins and outs of supply chain management, without the risk of running a real business. The virtual experience also goes deeper than the surface-level knowledge gleaned from a site visit to an actual business.

“There’s been a long history of simulations in business education and a long history of case studies,” said Daniel Gruber, associate dean for teaching and learning at ASU’s Carey School of Business. “The virtual reality environment fuses some of the best elements of simulation and case studies and allows us to invent something new and innovative.”

Roughly 160 ASU students have donned the VR headsets over the last two semesters and entered the virtual W.P. Coffee Shop, where they immediately encounter a long line of customers. The participating students in the supply chain management course discuss and decide what may help the shop operate more efficiently—which could be adding more staff or more coffee machines—and then implement the plan in real time to see if it brings a boost or dip in revenue. ...

Los Angeles-based Loyola Marymount University held a virtual reality pilot program earlier this spring across nearly two dozen modules, ranging from training for interviews to pitching. The technology company that developed the program, Bodyswaps, gave feedback to students, including on whether they used too many filler words such as “um,” or didn't use their hands enough while speaking. ...

“There’s tremendous potential for virtual reality in the business world; it’s used by learning and development, human resources,” Schwartz said. “It can prepare students for that post-college workplace but it’s also a really powerful teaching and learning tool. As the hardware becomes more affordable and as the experiences become more inclusive, I do think this will become a part of higher education.”

See the full story here: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/tech-innovation/teaching-learning/2024/04/10/business-schools-dive-vr-virtual-coffee-shops

TikTok’s popularity among European politicians rises despite security fears

... With European elections approaching in June, mainstream politicians are wary of ceding ground to fringe parties who have successfully exploited its short video format. ...

TikTok says security warnings are unwarranted and it does not collect more information than other apps.

In a bid to assuage concerns, it launched, opens new tab a site to store European users' data in Dublin last year and hired a third-party security firm to monitor data flows. ...

ByteDance has denied using its product for spying, while the Chinese government has also denied any such intention.

Harris, 37, was an early adopter in March 2021, producing videos that ranged from a 60-second budget summary with musical background to footage of him making a cup of tea when watching football. ...

"We cannot leave social media to the AfD", he said, of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party that surged to become Germany's second-most popular. ...

"Another reason we are on it (TikTok), is that we don't want to leave the field to the far-left or the far-right," a Green party spokesperson told Reuters.

"Young people get news through social media and TikTok is one of the biggest platforms. Some politicians are comfortable with that, others are not."

See the full story here: https://www.reuters.com/technology/tiktoks-popularity-among-european-politicians-rises-despite-security-fears-2024-04-08/

HARVARD DEVELOPS “INTELLIGENT” LIQUID THAT CAN BE PROGRAMMED

... While the substance may not literally be "intelligent," it is remarkably responsive. As detailed in a new study published in the journal Nature, the fluid, or "metafluid," is designed to have programmable compressibility, optical behavior, and viscosity. In a first for metafluids, it can even transition between Newtonian and non-Newtonian states. ...

Metamaterials are artificially engineered materials with rare properties that are, in the researchers' words, "determined by their structure rather than composition." ...

Unlike other metamaterials, whose building blocks are traditionally "arranged in fixed positions within a lattice structure," this latest creation is made of tiny rubber-like spheres suspended in an incompressible fluid, in this case silicon oil.

These spherical capsules are filled with air and, when subjected to enough pressure, will buckle. Collapsed, the capsules form a lens-like half-sphere. Leave them alone, and they retain their normal shape. This radically alters the fluid's properties: for example, the under-pressure half-spheres can allow light to focus and pass through, while the full spheres can block it. ...

See the full story here: https://futurism.com/the-byte/harvard-intelligent-liquid?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Autonomous vertical farming startup to grow crops in space in 2026

The UK Space Agency has awarded Vertical Future £1.5mn to build an autonomous farm in orbit. The high-tech veggie garden will be installed on the world’s first commercial space station. 

Currently being constructed by US-based Axiom Space, the station is due to open its doors to eager astronauts in 2026. ...

In space, Vertical Future’s system will need to overcome a whole new set of challenges. “The main issue is watering and feeding [the plants],” said Bromley. “In microgravity, any fluid movement needs to be carefully controlled as water doesn’t pool the same way it does on Earth.”

Vertical Future is exploring using a kind of “pillow” that will safely contain the liquid for use by the plants. This builds upon previous research at NASA where astronauts manually injected the pillows with fertirrigant (fertiliser mixed with water). The startup will now work on automating the process. ...

See the full story here: https://thenextweb.com/news/vertical-future-farming-startup-grow-crops-axiom-space-station?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

WWE went big on AR at WrestleMania 40

... I chatted with Marty Miller, senior vice president and director of TV at WWE, about why AR has become a core element of the company’s TV repertoire. The main benefit is that everyone sees it the same way regardless of device or screen size, which obviously isn’t the case with VR. This isn’t the kind of AR you can control or interact with by moving your device around; it’s more about layering on some extra polish and glitz for the TV viewers at home. Not everyone loves it, but pro wrestling fans don’t agree on much. ...

“AR is creating an addition; it’s a supplement to the environment that already exists from the viewer’s television or whatever platform they’re watching on — from their iPad or iPhone,” Miller said. “We try to create an immersive environment and complement whatever the physical environment is.” Below is another example of where the AR element works very well. This is all lost on in-person event attendees, but at least they get to enjoy the real thing. ...

See the full story here: https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/8/24123813/wwe-wrestlemania-40-augmented-reality-ar-interview