philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has a bold claim about the exponential progress of AI

... Many experts — who are far more concerned with such active harms of bias, algorithmic discrimination, misinformation and hallucination — remain unconvinced that AGI will ever be possible. 

"I believe that we should address the harms that we are seeing in the world right now that are very concrete," prominent AI researcher Dr. Suresh Venkatasubramanian told TheStreet in September. "And I do not believe that these arguments about future risks are either credible or should be prioritized over what we're seeing right now." ...

 AI expert Dr. John Licato told TheStreet in July that AI models would need to be able to process many more types of data, including visual, auditory and real-world sensory data, in order to move closer to AGI. 

"I would say it's realistic to have something fully human level within the next 10 years," Licato said at the time. "You have to take that with a grain of salt because AI experts have been making this prediction since the 1950s at least, but I'm pretty convinced that 10 years is a generous timeframe." ...

See the full story here: https://www.thestreet.com/technology/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-artificial-general-intelligence

Meet the Company Fighting to Make AI Ethical for Voice Actors

... Jones is a co-founder and vice president of strategic partnerships at Morpheme, whose goal, as she describes, is the “ethical coexistence of voiceover and artificial intelligence.” The process, essentially, is to create a “digital double” of an actor with their consent. ...

First, they schedule a recording session with an actor, getting all new data – this, Jones says, is something unique to Morpheme, and ensures the data won’t come into legal disputes later down the line. 

The second part comes in when a client wants to use an actor’s digital double. Here, the actor is informed of the project, and then gets to choose whether or not they’d like to be part of it. Then, when a client utilizes the voice, they pay a generation fee, part of which goes to the actor. 

It’s all part of what Morpheme adviser Scott Mortman calls the three Cs: “compensation, consent – which includes control – and then clarity or transparency.” ...

 it’s important for clients, too, to know they won’t be sued by a voice actor or company over a AI model illegally scraping their voice.  ...

“People are just like, ‘Wow, you actually have coherent statements and you're getting out there. You're talking to lawmakers, you're making statements left, right, and center about how to do this the ethical way,’ “ she says. “People are excited to see that because nobody has done it yet."

See the full story here: https://www.ign.com/articles/meet-the-company-fighting-to-make-ai-ethical-for-voice-actors

Doc Producers Call for Generative AI Guardrails in Open Letter

... Among the examples of generative AI use in nonfiction archival work, the group cites the generation of fake newspaper articles and headlines and of re-creations and nonexistent historical artifacts without identification. Additionally, AI-generated “historical” images that are meant to depict real people and events, “rather than sourcing real ones where available” are being used “in order to save time and money,” the open letter notes. ...

The Alliance’s open letter concludes: “We feel that it is imperative that the documentary community lead by example in setting a precedent of transparency and best practices.”   ...

See the full story here: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/doc-producers-call-for-generative-a-i-guardrails-in-open-letter-exclusive-1235649102/

Sony and AP Introduce In-Camera Authentication to Combat Fake Images

In an effort to fight deepfakes and other types of manipulated and generated images, Sony, in partnership with the Associated Press (AP), has unveiled in-camera authentication technology. The technology, which will be available in Sony’s existing camera models like the a1 and a7S III and the upcoming a9 III, creates a digital signature at the moment of capture, ensuring that each image can be verified for authenticity. ...

If you’re interested in learning more about the industry’s approach to this issue, explore the initiatives of The Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA). It was established to combat misinformation by developing technical standards that certify the source and provenance of media.

See the full story here: https://shellypalmer.com/2023/11/sony-and-ap-introduce-in-camera-authentication-to-combat-fake-images/

Yuval Noah Harari feels AI could lead to ‘catastrophic’ financial crisis, may indirectly trigger war

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AI and unpredictability

The author emphasised that AI is unique among all the new technologies developed by humans as it can make decisions, create new ideas, and learn on its own. While pointing out that the finance sector is the most suited for AI as it is data-driven, the author also said that it could be a serious source of the AI-made crisis. 

He highlighted the possibility of AI gaining control over the world’s financial systems and creating complex financial tools that humans may be incapable of understanding or regulating. Harari drew parallels between the financial crisis of 2007-07 which was an outcome of the issues created by complex debt instruments such as collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) which were poorly understood and regulated. ...

See the full story here: https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/artificial-intelligence/yuval-noah-harari-finacial-crisis-ai-9045537/

ChatGPT Prompt Frameworks

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TREF: Task, Requirement, Expectation, Format

Ideal for assignments or deliverables. In a report writing task, specify the task (topic of the report), requirements (data sources), expectations (depth of analysis), and format (structure of the report).

...

See the full table of prompt design suggestions here: https://shellypalmer.com/2023/11/chatgpt-prompt-frameworks/?mc_cid=67f3345d2d&mc_eid=f55a714a2f

Unpacking the hype around OpenAI’s rumored new Q* model

... Math is a benchmark for reasoning, Li says. A machine that is able to reason about mathematics, could, in theory, be able to learn to do other tasks that build on existing information, such as writing computer code or drawing conclusions from a news article. Math is a particularly hard challenge because it requires AI models to have the capacity to reason and to really understand what they are dealing with.

A generative AI system that could reliably do math would need to have a really firm grasp on concrete definitions of particular concepts that can get very abstract. A lot of math problems also require some level of planning over multiple steps, says Katie Collins, a PhD researcher at the University of Cambridge, who specializes in math and AI....

See the full story here: https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/11/27/1083886/unpacking-the-hype-around-openais-rumored-new-q-model/

New Kodak Super 8 Film Camera Thought to Be Vaporware Is Actually Coming Out, Costs $5,495, Charges With MicroUSB

Kodak showed off a brand new Super 8 film video camera at CES in 2016 that blended the iconic film format with some digital quality-of-life features, like digital monitoring of what you’re shooting. The world then heard basically nothing about the camera for many years, and it was assumed to be vaporware. Tuesday night, Kodak suddenly started taking reservations for the camera. It has an MSRP of $5,495 (!) and its battery charges with MicroUSB (!).  ...

The footage it captures is very beautiful...

See the full story here:https://www.404media.co/new-kodak-super-8-film-video-camera-thought-to-be-vaporware-is-actually-coming-out-costs-5-495-charges-with-microusb/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

See the Kodak order link here: https://www.kodak.com/en/motion/page/super-8-camera?CID=go&idhbx=super8camera&ref=404media.co&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Does A.I. Have an Inherent Governance Problem?

... OpenAI’s dilemma: Commentators have noted the company’s unusual, conflicted, structure. A nonprofit board with a mission to benefit humanity oversees a for-profit arm backed by Microsoft and venture capital firms including Thrive Capital and Khosla Ventures. ...

The entire enterprise’s goal is to build an artificial general intelligence, highly autonomous systems that “outperform humans at most economically valuable work” but “benefits all of humanity.” OpenAI’s commercial arm was created to support that enormously expensive goal, but it is hemmed in by limits on profits that flow to investors, as well as no governance rights for investors. That’s why Microsoft, Thrive and others have little direct leverage on how the company is run. ...

That’s not the only unusual corporate structure in the A.I. industry.Anthropic, begun by a dozen ex-OpenAI employees concerned about their former employer’s race for profits, is set up as a B Corp, or public benefit corporation, that is meant to balance the interests of a wide array of stakeholders.

It also has a so-called long-term benefit trust that includes A.I. ethicists and other experts and is allowed to choose a majority of the company’s directors. ...

See the full story here: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/21/business/dealbook/openai-corporate-governance-altman-board.html

Meow Wolf expands into virtual reality mini golf

Meow Wolf debuts in virtual reality Dec. 7 in Walkabout Mini Golf: Meow Wolf.

The Austin, Texas-based Mighty Coconut has created 23 VR Walkabout Mini Golf games since fall 2020, but this is only its third collaboration with an outside entity. Meow Wolf was the first to be "hands-on partners" with the creation of the game, said David Wyatt, head of communications at Mighty Coconut. ...

Walkabout Mini Golf: Meow Wolf will be available for download as an add-on to the Mighty Coconut base station for $3.99. The base station costs $14.99 and is available at mightycoconut.com/minigolf and can be downloaded to Meta Quest 2, PlayStation VR2, Steam and PICO platforms. ...

See the full story here: https://sports.yahoo.com/meow-wolf-expands-virtual-reality-003300863.html