philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

USC student embracing AI for filmmaking and art

... Holly Willis is the chair of USC’s Media Arts and Practice Program, as well as the co-director of the AI for media and storytelling studio. She says on top of saving precious time in putting a film together, AI is also helps keep down cost when it comes shooting, and producing portions of films and art. ...

See the full story here: https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/madison/entertainment/2024/11/28/usc-ai-storytelling

Licking this “lollipop” will let you taste virtual flavors

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A team of Hong Kong scientists has now developed a handheld user interface shaped like a lollipop capable of re-creating several different flavors in a virtual environment, according to a new paperpublished in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

It's well established that human taste consists of sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami—five basic flavors induced by chemical stimulation of the tongue and, to a lesser extent, in parts of the pharynx, larynx, and epiglottis. Recreating those sensations in VR has resulted in a handful of attempts at a flavor user interface, relying on such mechanisms as chemical, thermal, and electrical stimulation, as well as iontophoresis. ...

So Yiming Liu of City University of Hong Kong and co-authors opted to work with iontophoresis, in which stable taste feedback is achieved by using ions flowing through biologically safe hydrogels to transport flavor chemicals. This method is safe, requires low power consumption, allows for precise taste feedback, and offers a more natural human-machine interface. Liu et al. improved on recent advances in this area by developing their portable lollipop-shaped user interface device, which also improves flavor quality and consistency. ...

 There were nine taste-generating channels filled with flavored hydrogels. The gels were made out of agarose mixed with a bit of mineral water and specific flavor essences: sugar, salt, citric acid, cherry, milk, green tea, passion fruit, durian, and grapefruit. ...

Flavors are generated via a current flowing through a target gel, delivering flavor chemicals to the outside of the lollipop. ...

See the full story here: https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/11/licking-this-lollipop-will-let-you-taste-virtual-flavors/

AI In Entertainment: 19 Practical And Ethical Challenges

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8. ‘Filter Bubbles’

A key challenge is AI-driven content personalization, which can create “filter bubbles” and limit the diversity of content recommendations for viewers. While AI optimizes engagement, it may also result in repetitiveness and reduced exposure to new genres. To counter this, the industry should leverage AI to enhance diversity by expanding recommendation algorithms to prioritize novelty alongside user preferences. - Santhosh Vijayabaskar

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16. The Erosion Of Cultural Diversity

One challenge is the erosion of cultural diversity as AI-generated content becomes prevalent. AI might prioritize patterns lacking cultural nuance, leading to a homogenized entertainment landscape. Addressing this requires integrating diverse datasets and collaborating with creators from varied backgrounds to ensure AI tools amplify, not suppress, cultural richness. - Nicola Sfondrini, PWC

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See the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbestechcouncil/2024/11/26/ai-in-entertainment-19-practical-and-ethical-challenges/

Jerry Garcia’s AI Voice Debuts in ElevenLabs’ Audiobook App

ElevenLabs is pushing the boundaries of AI narration by introducing Jerry Garcia’s iconic voice to its Eleven Reader audiobook app. Fans of the legendary Grateful Dead frontman can now hear his distinctive tones narrating a wide range of content, from audiobooks and articles to poetry and PDFs. Dubbed the “Iconic Listening Experience,” this feature extends Garcia’s AI narrator voice to 32 languages, making his legacy accessible to a global audience.

Garcia joins an illustrious lineup of celebrity voice AI narrators on the ElevenLabs platform, including Maya Angelou, John Wayne, and James Dean. This innovation isn’t limited to nostalgic entertainment—it’s also reshaping how we interact with information and creativity. ...

...the Jerry Garcia Foundation, co-founded by Garcia’s daughter, Keelin Garcia, is contemplating using her father’s AI model to narrate documentaries and audio art exhibits. ...

See the full story here: https://www.eweek.com/news/jerry-garcia-ai-voice-eleven-labs/

Can The Legal System Protect the Vibe of a Creator

An Amazon influencer earns her income by sharing content from her beige-themed home. However, when she discovered another account promoting the same minimalist aesthetic, it led to an unprecedented lawsuit. The question arises: can the legal system safeguard a creator's vibe? Moreover, what happens if that vibe is considered basic? ...

Her response to Gifford’s suit opens with a quote attributed to Kim Kardashian, though its origin seems dubious: “People only rain on your parade because they’re jealous of your sun and tired of their shade.” It was Gifford that did the copying, Sheil alleges — not her. ...

See the full story here: https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/26/24303161/amazon-influencers-lawsuit-copyright-clean-aesthetic-girl-sydney-nicole-gifford-alyssa-sheil?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

SpaceX: Cellular Starlink Service Is Ready to Go

 SpaceX now has enough satellites in Earth's orbit to offer commercial services for its cellular Starlink system. The company now has over 320 'direct to cell' Starlink satellites in space. The service will work with normal mobile phones without any extra equipment or special apps. SpaceX is partnering with T-Mobile to offer cellular satellite technology to consumers. The company still needs approval from the FCC before it can operate a commercial cellular service.

See the full story here: https://www.pcmag.com/news/spacex-cellular-starlink-service-is-ready-to-go?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

AI can now create a replica of your personality

... Led by Joon Sung Park, a Stanford PhD student in computer science, the team recruited 1,000 people who varied by age, gender, race, region, education, and political ideology. They were paid up to $100 for their participation. From interviews with them, the team created agent replicas of those individuals. As a test of how well the agents mimicked their human counterparts, participants did a series of personality tests, social surveys, and logic games, twice each, two weeks apart; then the agents completed the same exercises. The results were 85% similar.  ...

In the paper the replicas are called simulation agents, and the impetus for creating them is to make it easier for researchers in social sciences and other fields to conduct studies that would be expensive, impractical, or unethical to do with real human subjects. If you can create AI models that behave like real people, the thinking goes, you can use them to test everything from how well interventions on social media combat misinformation to what behaviors cause traffic jams. ...

https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/11/20/1107100/ai-can-now-create-a-replica-of-your-personality/

Anthropic CEO Says Mandatory Safety Tests Needed for AI Models

Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei said artificial intelligence companies, including his own, should be subject to mandatory testing requirements to ensure their technologies are safe for the public before release. 

“I think we absolutely have to make the testing mandatory, but we also need to be really careful about how we do it,” Amodei said in response to a question on the topic Wednesday at an AI safety summit in San Francisco hosted by the US Departments of Commerce and State. ...

“There’s nothing to really verify or ensure the companies are really following those plans in letter of spirit. They just said they will,” Amodei said. “I think just public attention and the fact that employees care has created some pressure, but I do ultimately think it won’t be enough.” ...

See the full article here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-20/anthropic-ceo-says-mandatory-safety-tests-needed-for-ai-models?srnd=phx-technology&leadSource=uverify%20wall&embedded-checkout=true

New AI Entertainment Studio Gets Backing From Peter Chernin, Andreessen Horowitz

PhilNote: they plan to start delivering “within three years,” so other than the financing they aren’t that special.

... The studio, Promise, is the brainchild of George Strompolos and Jamie Byrne, two former YouTube executives who were early to the influencer space, along with Dave Clark, a generative AI artist.

Unlike traditional studios that are starting to experiment with generative AI for storyboarding or some visual effects, Promise is creating an entire studio centered on using these tools. It is creating production software, called Muse, for its artists to take advantage of generative AI tools, and will look to use them for everything from conceptualizing scenes to actual production, rather than exploring around the edges like others are doing. ...

See the full story here: https://www.wsj.com/business/media/new-ai-entertainment-studio-gets-backing-from-peter-chernin-andreessen-horowitz-8c840236

US government commission pushes Manhattan Project-style AI initiative

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Noting that energy infrastructure is a significant bottleneck for training large AI models, Helberg suggested that streamlining the permitting process for data centers might be an example of how a public-private partnership could accelerate AI development.

ChatGPT maker OpenAI, which last week released a proposed blueprint for U.S. AI strategy, has also called for more government funding for artificial intelligence. ...

The USCC, established by Congress in 2000, provides annual recommendations on U.S.-China relations. Known for its hawkish policy proposals, the commission aims to guide lawmakers on issues of economic and strategic competition with China. ...

See the full story here: https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/us-government-commission-pushes-manhattan-project-style-ai-initiative-2024-11-19/