philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Amazing things you didn’t know about AI and more

AI can read your mind

Mind reading may soon be possible: a team of University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) scientists has developed artificial intelligence (AI) that can translate someone's brain activity into text, according to Interesting Engineering.

"We are not there yet but we think this could be the basis of a speech prosthesis," said co-author on the paper Dr. Joseph Makinfrom UCSF.

A whole new AI lexicon

ThisWordDoesNotExist.com is a webpage that uses AI to generate an endless stream of plausible babble, according to the Verge.

The result is a plausible stream of vocabulary worthy of Wikipedia consideration.

...

But what about Artificial consciousness?

If a computer could dream for itself, not because it was programmed to do so, this might be the biggest indicator that AGI is here.

How far are we from that? 

From a technology perspective, we're pretty far off, like a few decades off and experts say the first rough AGI is to be created by around 2030, but add that it won't be until 2060 until AGI has gotten good enough to pass a "consciousness test".

See the full story here: https://www.ameinfo.com/industry/technology/amazing-things-you-didnt-know-about-ai-and-more

‘The Simpsons’ Classic Episodes Will Be Available in Original 4:3 Aspect Ratio on Disney Plus Next Week

Disney Plus is finally giving “The Simpsons” fans what they’ve been clamoring for: Most of the iconic animated sitcom’s older episodes will be available in the original 4-by-3 aspect ratio starting May 28.

When the streaming service launched last November, it presented the full batch of “Simpsons” episodes in 16-by-9 format. That cropped out key details from older episodes — literally destroying some of the sight gags. After a backlash, Disney said it would restore the first 19 seasons and some of Season 20 in the original pre-HD aspect ratio.

See the full story here: https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/the-simpsons-disney-plus-original-aspect-ratio-1234613383/

Success Of NAB Show Express Has Trade Group Considering Future ‘Hybrid’ Events.

Since the online event launched May 13, NAB says participants consumed more than 1.6 million minutes of video content via its broadcast channels, on-demand videos and social media streams during the past week. See Inside Radio’s coverage of individual sessions HERE.

The digital experience also includes a virtual exhibit floor featuring 1,479 exhibiting companies. More than 200 on-demand educational sessions, executive conversations, resources and exhibits are still accessible with free registration open at nabshowexpress.com through the end of August 2020.

See the full story here: http://www.insideradio.com/free/success-of-nab-show-express-has-trade-group-considering-future-hybrid-events/article_0b7b4d06-9ac7-11ea-84b3-6be178ad83a5.html

Gaming AIs: NVIDIA Teaches A Neural Network to Recreate Pac-Man

In a video released by NVIDIA, the company is briefly showing off the Pac-Man-trained GameGAN in action. While the resulting game isn’t a pixel-perfect recreation of Pac-Man – notably, GameGAN’s simulated resolution is lower – the game none the less looks and functions like the arcade version of Pac-Man. And it’s not just for looks, either: the GameGAN version of Pac-Man accepts player input, just like the real game. In fact, while it’s not ready for public consumption quite yet, NVIDIA has already said that they want to release a publicly playable version this summer, so that everyone can see it in action.

Fittingly for a gaming-related research project, the training and development for the GameGAN was equally as silly at times. Because the network needed to consume thousands upon thousand of gameplay sessions – and NVIDIA presumably doesn’t want to pay its staff to play Pac-Man all day – the researchers relied on a Pac-Man-playing bot to automatically play the game. As a result, the AI that is GameGAN has essentially been trained in Pac-Man by another AI. And this is not without repercussions – in their presentation, the researchers have noted that because the Pac-Man bot was so good at the game, GameGAN has developed a tendency to avoid killing Pac-Man, as if it were part of the rules. Which, if nothing else, is a lot more comforting than finding out that our soon-to-be AI overlords are playing favorites.

See the full story here: https://www.anandtech.com/show/15814/gaming-ais-nvidia-teaches-a-neural-network-to-recreate-pacman

Clubhouse Becoming Elite Silicon Valley Virtual Meeting App

Users join pop-up audio chat rooms where they “are segmented into tiers determined by moderators.” NYT adds that, “users can join any chat room, see who is speaking or listening, click into a profile page and follow others … [with] some [saying] Clubhouse had brought back the spontaneity of real-life interactions.”

Digital marketing consultant Sonia Baschez said, “it’s like walking into a party where you know people are ready to mingle.” “You’re not forced to be part of the conversation the entire time on Clubhouse,” she said, reporting she spends three to five hours a day on the app. “You can just listen to other people talking about interesting subjects and jump in when you want.”

See the full story here: https://www.etcentric.org/clubhouse-becoming-elite-silicon-valley-virtual-meeting-app/

RFI – US Department of Defense looking into using Virtual Reality to help “enhance small unity lethality”

The US Department of Defense (DoD) is looking into using virtual reality (VR) to support the enhancement of “small unit lethality”, and is seeking to solicit technologies from private industry, government research & development organizations, and academia for inclusion in an upcoming capability demonstration and experimentation event focused on the use of VR tools.

Titled ‘Thunderstorm 21-1’, the demonstration and experimentation event will focus on VR tools that leverage autonomy and artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) technologies capable of providing operators with ways to improve planning, decision making and efficiency; as well as reduce cost, workload, and risk; improve the safety of operators and operating equipment; and enhance situational awareness in both the rapid response planning and execution of small unit operations.

The application deadline is 5:00 PM EDT on June 19, 2020, and the event is planned to be conducted in the autumn of 2020 at the United States Military Academy (USMA) in West Point, New York.

See the full story here: https://www.auganix.org/us-department-of-defense-looking-into-using-virtual-reality-to-help-enhance-small-unity-lethality/

Are Virtual Reality Tickets The Answer For Watching Michigan Games This Fall?

“You can test both teams,” Harbaugh said. “You can test the officials and everybody. Can you test 100,000 fans coming into a stadium? Probably not. Probably not without a vaccine you probably couldn’t do that. So to answer your question, heck yeah I’d be comfortable coaching a game without any fans. If the choice were play in front of no fans or not play, then I would choose play in front of no fans. And I think darn near every guy on our team, that is the way they feel about it.”

...And once college football fans are allowed back on campus each Saturday, who is to say that the school cannot continue to sell tickets in this fashion to help recoup revenue? Michigan football could be the first school to implement a virtual reality viewing option for fans that have difficulty making it to Ann Arbor for games, potentially opening up the possibility for far more than 110,000 fans to watch a game each week.

See the full story here: https://www.si.com/college/michigan/football/michigan-football-are-virtual-reality-tickets-the-answer-for-watching-games-this-fall

AI and websites: What problems still need to be solved?

One of the dream applications for designers and developers could leave the manual coding behind. The initial creative drawing you do could be taken through an AI-powered program to generate a prototype that’s free from human error. In fact, it already exists in the form of Sketch2Code, which translates user interface (UI) design into HTML markup using AI.

Artificial design intelligence or ADI is the branch of AI that they say will impact the design process itself. At its core, ADI uses machine learning to identify the latest and best web design trends and put it together to create a website. In essence, you enter a series of parameters, and the ADI generates a unique or personalized design.

The Grid is probably the most popular of the potential ADI programs: the team raised $4.6 million in 2014. However, other giants in DIY web design are also playing around with AI: both Wix and GoDaddy have introduced a basic website generator.

So, where are you most likely to first see AI as a designer or developer? The most likely players to entertain a greater application of AI will probably be those in the e-commerce sector. Why? Because e-commerce giants are already leading the way. Amazon has paved the way for greater AI use with its machine-learning-capable recommendation engine, which generates 35 percent of Amazon’s revenue.

AI, UX, and designers

..., UX will be at the core of both customer demands and users’ journeys.

One of the ways AI can do this is by identifying the correct visuals for the site. (Remember that visual search could be ruling the world by the end of 2021.)

All of a sudden, you’re more likely to show the user an image that’s truly useful to them rather than an image that you think looks good strictly from a design perspective.

This practice is where current software like Adobe’s Sensei (mentioned above) comes in.

Ultimately, AI is more likely to impact all the other facets of running a web design or development business before it has any meaningful impact on design itself. What’s more, there are still fundamental problems to be solved: AI can only design based on the data it has, and it’s a fundamental challenge because human creativity and inspiration can outwit it every time.

See the full story here: https://bdtechtalks.com/2020/05/20/artificial-intelligence-web-design/

Inside The Hunt For TikTok’s New CEO—And What’s Next For The World’s Hottest App

In the first quarter, TikTok was downloaded 315 million times across Apple and Android phones, the most quarterly installs for an app ever, according to SensorTower, which monitors app downloads. And with the world stuck in lockdown usage has surged, with total downloads now reaching more than 2 billion. Even more menacing for its competitors: 40% of its users are between16 and 24, and addicted, spending nearly an hour on the app each day on average.

...“We’re pulling some of our best creatives and ‘some of our best talent and taking time that normally would be spent on YouTube and putting them on TikTok. It’s a massive, massive opportunity.”

The first calls went out three months ago after Mayer was bypassed for the coveted Disney prize of succeeding outgoing CEO Bob Iger in favor of former parks and experiences chief Bob Chapek. Zhang had been searching for the right candidate since October, someone with the right mix of digital savvy and leadership experience to manage TikTok’s growth across the U.S., Europe, India and Brazil.

Mayer clearly fit the bill as the executive credited with building Disney’s lone bright spot in a business crushed by the pandemic: Disney+, the wildly successful streaming service. He had the digital and strategic chops Zhang needed to get TikTok to the next level.

But his presence has guys like Pace–and other content providers like him–salivating. Whatever TikTok can’t create, Mayer will be poised to buy, a veteran of some of the company’s most prescient acquisitions, including Pixar, Lucasfilm, Marvel and its latest big gulp, Fox.

Zhang is looking to the Harvard Business School graduate for much more, naming him ByteDance’s chief operating officer as well, making him the billionaire's right hand in managing an ecosystem of apps that are widely popular in Asia, including Lark (a bit like Slack plus video conferencing) and Helo (a bit like Facebook).

“Essentially they hired him to be an American face of a Chinese company,” says Rohit Kulkarni, an MKM Partners analyst who covers internet companies. “And to be a bridge with advertisers.”

See the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2020/05/20/inside-the-hunt-for-tiktoks-new-ceo-and-whats-next-for-the-worlds-hottest-app/?fbclid=IwAR0wpVPVSprNr2c3Ej3n1tuYEnZKG3tnQVecpn281ox6YAuJyOlA5TjnHLU#6e59e012abb4

Ricoh’s New Spin-Out Company Brings 360 Cameras Into Focus

Ricoh will continue to make 360 cameras—the spherical videos captured by these devices have proven popular among amateurs and professionals creating immersive content. However, Shu Ubukata, the brains behind 360 imaging products like the original Theta series, will be leaving Ricoh (along with his team) to lead Vecnos as CEO. Vecnos will operate as a subsidiary of Ricoh, which is also the new brand's largest investor.

"The majority of Ricoh's business is office equipment," Ubukata told WIRED (with Vecnos senior vice president Kiyoshi Hashimoto serving as a translator). "To make a new product, a new culture, they decided we should make a new company. We are part of Ricoh, but Ricoh decided we should be very independent like a startup company."

See the full story here: https://www.wired.com/story/vecnos-360-camera-company/