philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Year of the Full-Length AI Movie

...

The Heist follows a thief on the run driving a green muscle car through an urban hellscape trying to evade the cops, and it stoked a lot of passionate conversation from the millions who saw it. Unlike the movies whose run times are pushing three hours, though, The Heistclocks in at 1:56 — as in one minute, 56 seconds.

The short is shockingly good. It’s dynamic, fast-paced — and yes, made with AI. Three things make The Heist worthy of deeper consideration: It was made with Google’s Veo 2 generative video model, an unheralded entrant into the AI video wars that debuted on Dec. 16. It was created by Jason Zada, a veteran Hollywood filmmaker who directed the 2016 horror film The Forest, which grossed almost $41 million globally. Zada is now the founder of an AI film studio called Secret Level. And the film has a level of polish that should make Hollywood take notice. ...

See the full story here; https://theankler.com/p/year-of-the-full-length-ai-movie-2025-heist-jason-zada?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Watch The Heist here: https://www.instagram.com/jasonzada/reel/DD5hBbZS6B8/?hl=en

Davos 2025 – in the heated debate around AGI, will no-one think about where Godzilla got his fish?

... In the 1940s and 50s, there was a lot of concern about nuclear weapons, and then, of course, we got Godzilla. There are some real concerns about nuclear weapons. They are dangerous. It's also led to some of the greatest peace in mankind ever, because of people's fear of using them. But I'll leave you with this with respect to Godzilla - where did Godzilla get all the fish? That is an organism that is massive. There's no way that that thing could exist. You have to look at the physics. AI requires energy, and each token that comes out of one of these systems is one to three joules. So if intelligence started going out of control, you would notice it would use a lot of energy.

While everyone digested that thesis, Choi made an attempt at a more grounded pitch for a middle ground:

We need more investment on scientific understanding about gen AI. The fact that we know how to create that doesn't mean that we actually understand it. The fact that you can give life to humans doesn't mean that we actually understand how the the body actually works, or mental health works. We still have a lot to find out. Similarly, the fact that we know how to create gen AI doesn't mean that we know how to control it, or we know how things work. We do not know the limits of it. ...

See the full story here: https://diginomica.com/davos-2025-heated-debate-around-agi-will-no-one-think-about-where-godzilla-got-his-fish

Robotic hand helps pianists overcome “ceiling effect”

...

“I’m a pianist, but I [injured] my hand because of overpracticing,” coauthor Shinichi Furuya of Kabushiki Keisha Sony Computer Science Kenkyujo told New Scientist. “I was suffering from this dilemma, between overpracticing and the prevention of the injury, so then I thought, I have to think about some way to improve my skills without practicing.” Recalling that his former teachers used to place their hands over his to show him how to play more advanced pieces, he wondered if he could achieve the same effect with a robotic hand.

So Furuya et al. used a custom-made exoskeleton robot hand capable of moving individual fingers on the right hand independently, flexing and extending the joints as needed.  ...

A total of 118 pianists participated in three different experiments. In the first, 30 pianists performed a designated "chord trill" motor task with the piano at home every day for two weeks: first simultaneously striking D and F keys with the right index and ring fingers, then striking the E and G keys with the right middle and little fingers. "We used this task because it has been widely recognized as technically challenging to play quickly and accurately," the authors explained. ...

After two weeks, they were assigned to one of two laboratory groups, in which the robot exoskeleton hand passively moved those four fingers for 30 minutes to perform the chord trill—faster than the players could do so themselves. ...

The results: "Even when the skill plateaued after weeks of piano practice, passive training of the fast and complex motor skill with the robot further facilitated the maximum rate of repetitive piano keystrokes involving fast and complex multifinger movements," the authors wrote, and the training effect also showed up in the untrained hand, so there was an "inter-manual transfer effect." ...

See the full story here: https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/01/robotic-hand-helps-pianists-overcome-ceiling-effect/

What is ‘authentic’ music in the age of AI?

....

The Recording Industry Association of America and other industry groups have advocated for stronger regulations to prevent the unauthorized use of artists’ voices and likenesses in AI-generated content. This push is not just about protecting individual artists but also preserving the unique qualities that make each performer special and feel inclined to create their own art. ...

In addition to the legal challenges, there is also a philosophical debate about what constitutes ‘authentic’ music. As AI continues to improve, it becomes harder to distinguish between human-created and AI-generated songs. While some view this as an exciting frontier for creativity, others worry that it may devalue human artistry, turning unique voices into easily replicable templates. This anxiety is particularly pronounced in genres like hip-hop and blues, where AI-generated content has sometimes been accused of cultural appropriation or misrepresentation. ...

See the full story here: https://www.thetriangle.org/entertainment/ai-in-music-industry/

The future of international education is brighter than ever

...

The pandemic disrupted international education in unprecedented ways. Programmes were suspended, students were sent home and universities worked urgently to adapt. Yet, amidst the challenges, new opportunities emerged, reshaping the landscape of international learning and engagement.

Institutions quickly pivoted to alternative modalities, such as virtual internships and Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL). Virtual internships gave students the chance to gain international work experience without leaving their homes. Similarly, COIL evolved from a niche initiative into a widely adopted modality, connecting students across continents through shared coursework and cultural exchange.

Such modalities allowed students to remain engaged during a time of immense uncertainty. More importantly, they democratized access, creating opportunities for learners previously excluded due to financial or geographical barriers. ...

See the full story here: https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=2025011808104177

Official Trump Coin: How Did We Get Here?

In a move that perfectly encapsulates the peculiarities of our times, Donald Trump launched a meme coin on January 17th, 2025, just a few days before his presidential inauguration. Within less than 24 hours it has reached a staggering market capitalization of $4.8 billion and a fully diluted valuation of $24.3 billion. "Trump Coin" has taken the cryptocurrency world by storm, potentially positioning itself to challenge Dogecoin's supremacy in the meme coin ecosystem.

... What's different this time isn't the strategy, but the medium – and ironically, the regulatory environment that made it possible. ...

The strict interpretation of securities laws that follows from Gensler’s school of thought, while intended to protect investors, may have inadvertently pushed cryptocurrency innovation toward meme coins rather than utility tokens. ...

This dynamic has created what might be called "the regulatory safe harbor of absurdity" – the more explicitly a token positions itself as a meme with no serious utility, the safer it becomes from securities regulation. This perverse incentive structure has contributed to the proliferation of meme coins, which now represent a significant portion of the cryptocurrency market cap. ...

See the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2025/01/18/official-trump-coin-how-did-we-get-here/

Philosophy Eats AI

...

Philosophy is eating AI: As a discipline, data set, and sensibility, philosophy increasingly determines how digital technologies reason, predict, create, generate, and innovate. The critical enterprise challenge is whether leaders will possess the self-awareness and rigor to use philosophy as a resource for creating value with AI or default to tacit, unarticulated philosophical principles for their AI deployments. Either way — for better and worse — philosophy eats AI. For strategy-conscious executives, that metaphor needs to be top of mind.

While ethics and responsible AI currently dominate philosophy’s perceived role in developing and deploying AI solutions, those themes represent a small part of the philosophical perspectives informing and guiding AI’s production, utility, and use. Privileging ethical guidelines and guardrails undervalues philosophy’s true impact and influence. Philosophical perspectives on what AI models should achieve (teleology), what counts as knowledge (epistemology), and how AI represents reality (ontology) also shape value creation. Without thoughtful and rigorous cultivation of philosophical insight, organizations will fail to reap superior returns and competitive advantage from their generative and predictive AI investments. 

This argument increasingly enjoys both empirical and technical support. ...

See the full story at: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/philosophy-eats-ai/

AI researcher François Chollet founds a new AI lab focused on AGI

François Chollet, an influential AI researcher, is launching a new startup that aims to build frontier AI systems with novel designs. 

The startup, Ndea, will consist of an AI research and science lab. It’s looking to “develop and operationalize” AGI. ...

“We’re betting on a different path to build AI capable of true invention, adaptation, and innovation,” Chollet wrote in a series of posts on X. “We believe we have a small but real chance of achieving a breakthrough — creating AI that can learn at least as efficiently as people, and that can keep improving over time with no bottlenecks in sight.”

Ndea plans to use a technique called program synthesis, in tandem with other technical approaches, to unlock AGI. Chollet thinks that program synthesis, which allows AI to generalize problems it hasn’t seen before from only a few examples, can help to overcome the most intractable problems in AI research.

Program synthesis is traditionally computing-intensive. But Chollet thinks this limitation can be overcome — and that overcoming it will help accelerate scientific progress.

“[W]e are not alone in recognizing the potential of program synthesis — it’s a technique every frontier AI lab is now starting to explore,” reads a blog post on Ndea’s website. “We are at the crest of a pivotal moment in scientific history and the world deserves every possible direct, unique attempt to build AGI.” ...

But even more exciting is the chance to metaphorically time-travel into the future: learn, invent, and discover things that would not organically happen for decades or even centuries.” ...

See the full story here: https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/15/ai-researcher-francois-chollet-founds-a-new-ai-lab-focused-on-agi

Fame King Sheeraz Hasan Dominates 1 Billion Followers Summit Amid Buzz over Hollywood.ai and Bollywood.ai

... Hasan, celebrated for catapulting the careers of stars like Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton, Zendaya, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Priyanka Chopra, Jake & Logan Paul, and Lindsay Lohan, has consistently put Dubai on the global map. From shutting down the Dubai Mall with Logan Paul for one of the largest meet-and-greets in history to hosting an even larger crowd for a historic Kim Kardashian appearance covered by every major outlet worldwide, Hasan’s mark on the UAE’s entertainment scene is undeniable. All eyes were on Sheeraz Hasan’s master stroke involving Hollywood.ai and Bollywood.ai, as top creators and business moguls at the summit engaged in discussions to explore the potential of these groundbreaking domains. His innovative approach and impressive track record captured the attention of industry leaders who recognize the enormous possibilities these platforms hold for reshaping global entertainment. ...

See the full story at https://www.reuters.com/press-releases/fame-king-sheeraz-hasan-dominates-1-billion-followers-summit-amid-buzz-over-hollywood-ai-and-bollywood-ai-2025-01-13/

Shelly Palmer “think about this”