philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Lawmakers stop worrying about AI’s existential risk and instead embrace its economic potential

... This vibe shift is perhaps most notable in the U.K., where I live. The previous Conservative Party-led British government tried to make a name for itself on AI policy by hosting an international conference aimed at addressing AI’s potential doomsday risks. The AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in November 2023 brought together the heads of leading AI companies along with diplomats from 28 nations to discuss a shared approach to identifying AI risks and building mechanisms to prevent them. Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also created the world’s first AI Safety Institute to test leading AI models for potential dangers. But yesterday, the Labour Party government of Keir Starmer, which was elected in July, endorsed an “AI Opportunities Action Plan” that is all about how the country can move at speed to embrace AI and hopefully use it to boost Britain’s moribund economy. In fact, in its official announcement, Starmer’s government said the plan “mainlines AI into the veins” of the U.K. economy. ...

See the full story here: https://fortune.com/2025/01/14/keir-starmer-ai-action-plan-ai-policy-vibe-shift-away-from-x-risk/

Top 10 Web3/Blockchain Legal Developments of 2024

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Conclusion

The days when the federal government is actively hostile to crypto are likely to be numbered, but how this plays out is open to significant speculation. Will Congress bring regulatory clarity? Will the SEC drop some of its existing enforcement actions and take a more laissez-faire approach to policing the industry? Will we get last-minute surprises from the current administration, such as the final crypto DeFi broker rules issued by the Department of Treasury, dropped on Christmas Eve, or events such as the Ripple lawsuit, filed while Jay Clayton was a lame duck as Chairman of the SEC? The year 2025 brings with it cautious optimism, but companies in the blockchain space should prepare now for potential changes, and there may be significant opportunity for traditional finance services companies to enter the digital assets space.

See the full story here: https://natlawreview.com/article/top-10-web3blockchain-legal-developments-2024

Cohere co-founder sees big AI opportunity in enterprise, happy to stay out of ChatGPT’s way

• Cohere on Thursday debuted its early access program for its AI agent platform called North, deepening its focus on the enterprise.
• Co-founder Nick Frosst indicated that he’s happy to cede the consumer market to OpenAI, Google and others, while Cohere sticks with generative AI businesses.
• “I’m in meetings with companies in health care, banking and IT all the time,” he said.

See the full story here: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/09/cohere-sees-big-ai-opportunity-in-enterprise-away-from-chatgpt.html

At the Intersection of A.I. and Spirituality

... Rabbi Fixler is among a growing number of religious leaders experimenting with A.I. in their work, spurring an industry of faith-based tech companies that offer A.I. tools, from assistants that can do theological research to chatbots that can help write sermons. ...

But the ethical questions around using generative A.I. for religious tasks have become more complicated as the technology has improved, religious leaders say. While most agree that using A.I. for tasks like research or marketing is acceptable, other uses for the technology, like sermon writing, are seen by some as a step too far. ...

Jay Cooper, a pastor in Austin, Texas, used OpenAI’s ChatGPT to generate an entire service for his church as an experiment in 2023. He marketed it using posters of robots, and the service drew in some curious new attendees — “gamer types,” Mr. Cooper said — who had never before been to his congregation. ...

On a recent afternoon at his synagogue, Rabbi Hayon recalled taking a picture of his bookshelf and asking his A.I. assistant which of the books he had not quoted in his recent sermons. Before A.I., he would have pulled down the titles themselves, taking the time to read through their indexes, carefully checking them against his own work.

“I was a little sad to miss that part of the process that is so fruitful and so joyful and rich and enlightening, that gives fuel to the life of the Spirit,” Rabbi Hayon said. “Using A.I. does get you to an answer quicker, but you’ve certainly lost something along the way.”

See the full story here: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/03/technology/ai-religious-leaders.html

Understanding And Preparing For The 7 Levels Of AI Agents

Level 1—Reactive Agents

Level 2—Task-Specialized Agents

Level 3—Context-Aware AgentsLevel

4—Socially Savvy Agents

Level 5—Self-Reflective Agents

The idea of self-reflective agents ventures into speculative territory. These systems would be capable of introspection and self-improvement. The concept has roots in philosophical discussions about consciousness, first introduced by Alan Turing in his early work on machine intelligence and later explored by thinkers like David Chalmers.

Self-reflective agents would analyze their own decision-making processes and refine their algorithms autonomously, much like a human reflects on past actions to improve future behavior. For businesses, such agents could revolutionize operations by continuously evolving strategies (not just processes) without human input.

For example, in a manufacturing context, such agents could monitor production line inefficiencies, identify the root causes, and recalibrate machinery or workflows to enhance output. ...

However, the journey to this level is fraught with challenges, including defining and gauging machine "self-awareness," complex ethical considerations, and what is referred to as "model collapse" (in which an AI agent's performance degrades by relying too much on itself rather than upon variegated inputs).

For now, organizations can prepare by developing robust feedback mechanisms and fostering a culture of iterative learning—both for their AI systems and their teams.

Level 6—Generalized Intelligence Agents

Level 7—Superintelligent Agents

Reaching Beyond Human Conception

See the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/douglaslaney/2025/01/03/understanding-and-preparing-for-the-seven-levels-of-ai-agents/

Would You Entrust A Non-Human General Intelligence Without Integrity?

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A critical shortcoming of the ARC-AGI benchmark is its lack of emphasis on integrity considerations. Evaluating an AI’s ability to make ethically, morally, and socially acceptable reasoning and decisions is paramount. This involves presenting the system with scenarios that require balancing competing values, such as fairness, safety, and privacy.

There can be no such thing as (artificial) intelligence benefiting all of humanity without (artificial) integrity.

This goes well beyond adapting to novel tasks validated through visual puzzles that require an understanding of basic concepts such as objects, boundaries, and spatial relationships. ...

See the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/hamiltonmann/2025/01/02/would-you-entrust-a-non-human-general-intelligence-without-integrity/

From Loneliness to Belonging: 5 Trends are Hacking the Museum Experience

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Case Study: ‘Neighbourhood Nights’ – The Museum Reimagined

Picture this: a mid-sized museum hosts monthly ‘Neighbourhood Nights.’ Each event focuses on a local issue—climate resilience, mental health, cultural preservation—with an open-door policy.

• Community First: Partnerships with grassroots groups drive the agenda.
• Hands-On Creation: Visitors contribute to living exhibits, whether through art, stories, or digital interactions.
• Anti-Loneliness Design: Social spaces are built intentionally for conversation and connection.
• Wellness Meets Action: Health experts and eco-advocates pop up with hands-on stations.
• Hybrid Layer: Events are live-streamed, with virtual chats keeping online attendees in the mix.

See the full story here: https://www.museumnext.com/article/from-loneliness-to-belonging-5-trends-are-hacking-the-museum-experience/

Advice For Aspiring AI Leaders: Start Small, Think Big, Move Fast

How does one take the reins of AI initiatives when 85,000 employees with a wide range of skills are involved? Proceed carefully to see what works, then step on the gas if an AI application looks promising.

That’s the word from Dr. John Halamka, president of the Mayo Clinic Platform, who recently shared advice with current and aspiring AI leaders in two interviews published in MIT Sloan Management Review on dealing with the evolving risks and opportunities related to artificial intelligence, and how to get ahead of the pack. ...

Look beyond traditional measures or thinking when it comes to seeking use cases for AI. Values need to be aligned, he urged. “I ask clinicians, ‘do you want more AI?’ They say, ‘well no, what I want is to get home for dinner. I want a quality of proactive life, so I can practice on top of my license.’”

Halamka’s response is “I can bring you AI which can do ambient listening, write your charts for you, fill out your forms, and get you home earlier. And by the way, help figure out what patients are likely to see benefit from you.” ...

See the full story here; https://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2024/12/30/advice-for-aspiring-ai-leaders-start-small-think-big-move-fast/

The Surprising Ways AI Is Changing Media And Entertainment

... AI is also playing a crucial role in online content moderation. By detecting and removing harmful or inappropriate material in real-time, AI ensures a safer and more enjoyable user experience. This not only alleviates the need for lots of human moderators, but now allows for moderation at scale in real time which isn't possible without the help of AI. ... [PhilNote: you don't know what the AI isn't telling/showing you!!!]

See the full story here; https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenwalch/2024/12/28/the-surprising-ways-ai-is-changing-media-and-entertainment/

Did artificial intelligence shape the 2024 US election?

... But the anticipated avalanche of AI-driven misinformation never materialised. As Election Day came and went, viral misinformation played a starring role, misleading about vote counting, mail-in ballots and voting machines. However, this chicanery leaned largely on old, familiar techniques, including text-based social media claims and video or out-of-context images. ...

The AI-generated claims that got the most traction supported existing narratives rather than fabricating new claims to fool people, experts said. For example, after former President Donald Trump and his vice presidential running mate, JD Vance, falsely claimed that Haitians were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, AI images and memes depicting animal abuse flooded the internet. ...

“In this election, AI’s impact may appear muted because traditional formats were still more effective, and on social network-based platforms like Instagram, accounts with large followings use AI less,” said Herbert Chang, assistant professor of quantitative social science at Dartmouth College. Chang co-wrote a study that found AI-generated images “generate less virality than traditional memes,” but memes created with AI also generate virality. ...

Prominent people with large followings easily spread messages without needing AI-generated media. Trump, for example, repeatedly falsely said in speeches, media interviews and on social media that illegal immigrants were being brought into the US to vote even though cases of noncitizens voting are extremely rare and citizenship is required for voting in federal elections. Polling showed Trump’s repeated claim paid off: More than half of Americans in October said they were concerned about noncitizens voting in the 2024 election. ...

In other cases, politicians flipped the script — blaming or disparaging AI instead of using it. Trump, for example, falsely claimed that a montage of his gaffes that the Lincoln Project released was AI-generated, and he said a crowd of Harris supporters was AI-generated.  ...

The majority of the deepfake incidents were created as satire, the data showed. Behind that were deepfakes that intended to harm someone’s reputation. And the third most common deepfake was created for entertainment. ...

See the full story here; https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/25/did-artificial-intelligence-shape-the-2024-us-election