philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

2Oct/23Off

Humane shows off its futuristic ‘Ai Pin’ wearable

... The company describes the device as a "screenless, standalone device and software platform built from the ground up for AI." It's powered by an "advanced" Qualcomm Snapdragon platform and equipped with a mini-projector that takes the place of a smartphone screen, along with a camera and speaker. It can perform functions like AI-powered optical recognition, but is also supposedly "privacy-first" thanks to qualities like no wake word and thus no "always on" listening." ...

In any case, we'll learn more when it's fully unveiled next month on November 9.

See the full story here: https://www.engadget.com/humane-shows-off-its-futuristic-ai-pin-wearable-113510130.html?fbclid=IwAR0ECsEQVJ2JobSs8bxmRfYwdVtPtA6NO1tnnRYzgCmMTKK_sZM4ILol7Iw&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9sLmZhY2Vib29rLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHDfAxmVODh9iPUkGXS11tHYBHDiduy6ug_1JBpFi2_pXJGr4P_JJU7XvxwYQ7o0Z2T_4hWtbQ0YfpoA9kSsdRVKFz6dfq4PS3L-1T5qQOhSA3G0YgHnUapU3UkQe2panAnRanOa-jT_LGCyIhfFMCyPEEIz9q3Z90s2UCieakB_

2Oct/23Off

... “Robert Basiuk from Borneo Adventure (Sarawak), during WiT Indie, said that while bookings for his  company’s experiences changed from fax machine to online booking, his  best-selling product fundamentally did not change for the last 30-40 years. It is still experiencing the heart of Borneo in all its splendour.  Likewise for breakfast in the wild by Mandai Zoo, no change except for the different animals.”

What’s changed is how consumers search and take in information which has gone from words to pictures to videos – “from Google to Facebook to TikTok”.

“As content creator operators to content delivery people (OTAs), we cannot ignore the changing trends and the various platforms that our customers are choosing to discover us.  The fortunate thing is that consumers now want authenticity which means it’s much easier to create the videos.  There are also plenty of tools outside to help you with videos.”

See the full story here: https://www.webintravel.com/human-touch-blended-with-ar-the-next-frontier-in-tour-storytelling/

2Oct/23Off

Augmented Reality App Makes Empty House Into Potential Home

So Lowenthal and his team in Israel and the US came up with their platform – using a proprietary algorithm to allow potential home renters and buyers to furnish the property they were standing in, in real time and in front of their eyes.  ...

According to international website HomeAdvisor, staging could cost a private seller up to $2,800, while US real estate professionals say that realtors could pay that sum every month for their listed properties. ...

“Thanks to SparX patented technology, users can immersively visualize a space’s potential and change the design by functionality, style and budget,” Lowenthal says. 

While other companies do offer technology used to show house listings, including digital imagery to furnish an empty home, none use AR to recreate a fully furnished apartment or house while actually standing inside the property, he explains. ...

See the full story here: https://nocamels.com/2023/10/augmented-reality-app-makes-empty-house-into-potential-home/

2Oct/23Off

Artists Are Losing the War Against AI

... Not everyone is skeptical of the opt-out mechanism, which has also been implemented for future versions of the popular image-generating model from Stability AI. Problems identifying copies of images or challenges with enforcement will exist with any policy, Jason Schultz, the director of the Technology Law and Policy Clinic at NYU, told me, and might end up being “edge case–ish.” Federal Trade Commission enforcement could keep companies compliant. And he worries that more artist-friendly alternatives, such as an opt-in mechanism—no training AI on copyrighted images unless given explicit permission—or some sort of revenue-sharing deal, similar to Spotify royalties, would benefit large companies with the resources to go out and ask every artist or divvy up some of their profits. Extremely strict copyright law when it comes to training generative AI, in other words, could further concentrate the power of large tech companies.

The proliferation of opt-out mechanisms, regardless of what one makes of their shortcomings, also shows that artists and publishers will play a key role in the future of AI. To build better, more accurate, or even “smarter” computers, companies will need to keep updating them with original writing, images, music, and so on, and originality remains a distinctly human trait.

See the full story here: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/10/openai-dall-e-3-artists-work/675519/

1Oct/23Off

Lithuania supermarket opens 5th autonomous store

...

The Iki store, based in Vilnius, is an Iki Go store that operates without staff for approximately 95% of its houses, requiring only restocking. The store offers over 200 items, from hot drinks to essential noon-food items.

Customers take what items they want from the shelves while cameras and shelf sensors compile a virtual shopping basket. Customers then tap the same payment card to exit the store, without any checkout process required and receive a real-time receipt which can be printed upon leaving.

Iki is the second-largest supermarket chain in Lithuania. ...

See the full story here: https://www.retailcustomerexperience.com/news/lithuania-supermarket-opens-5th-autonomous-store/

29Sep/23Off

Building Trust in AI with ID Verification

... While the capabilities of AI technology have spearheaded innovation, its widespread use has also led to the development of dangerous tech such as deepfakes-as-a-service. ...

AI and Large Language Model (LLM) generative language applications can be used to create more sophisticated and evasive fraud that is difficult to detect and remove. ...

The AI threat landscape is constantly evolving and teams need to be equipped with technology that can quickly and easily adjust and implement new techniques.

Some opportunities in using AI with identity verification technology include:

  • Examining key device attributes
  • Using counter-AI to identify manipulation: To avoid being defrauded and protect important data, counter-AI can identify the manipulation of incoming images.
  • Treating the ‘absence of data’ as a risk factor in certain circumstances
  • Actively looking for patterns across multiple sessions and customers

These layered defenses provided by both AI and identity verification technology, investigate the person, their asserted identity document, network and device, minimizing the risk of manipulation as a result of deepfakes and ensuring only trusted, genuine people gain access to your services.

AI and identity verification need to continue to work together. ...

Companies need to widen their defense landscape, and cannot be afraid to invest in tech, even if it adds a bit of friction. ...

https://www.unite.ai/building-trust-in-ai-with-id-verification/See the full story here:

28Sep/23Off

Starship Technologies now offering autonomous robot delivery on 50 US college campuses

Starship Technologies, which claims to be the world’s leading provider of autonomous delivery services, says it is now offering its service to 50 college campuses across the US.

This includes several new schools launching services, including Wichita State University, Boise State University and The University of New Orleans. ...

The character voices include Sunshine (for a dose of positivity), Harry (British accent for a proper butler experience) and Asher (keeping it cool and casual).

Students can alternatively continue the popular option of having the robot play a song from a pre-selected list. All options are available in the app (iOS and Android) and can be selected when placing an order. ...

See the full story here: https://roboticsandautomationnews.com/2023/09/26/starship-technologies-now-offering-autonomous-robot-delivery-on-50-us-college-campuses/72392/

28Sep/23Off

Snap to close AR division for enterprises months after launch

Snap Inc (SNAP.N) is shutting its division focused on making augmented reality (AR) services for businesses within months of its launch, as the ad-dependent social media company struggles in a tough economy. ...

CEO Spiegel said rising adoption of generative artificial intelligence made it hard for Snap to differentiate its offering that allowed customers to use its AR tech on their sites as companies created their own experiences. ...

See the full story here: https://www.reuters.com/technology/snap-close-augmented-reality-division-enterprises-2023-09-27/

27Sep/23Off

CREAL Announces Commercial Availability of Light Field Augmented Reality Display

... Swiss startup CREAL - an innovator in light field micro-display technology - today announced commercial availability by early 2024 of its patent-protected AR display technology stack, which enables OEM/ODMs to develop AR glasses that uniquely provide correct depth perception to users. ...

Unlike current 3D displays which present two flat-screen images each to one eye, light field recreates the light rays as they exist in the real world, creating an incredibly realistic image with true depth and top quality.CREAL’s light field technology is used with a combiner (no waveguides needed), a simple-to-apply thin holographic film laminated onto a standard or prescription lens. ...

CREAL’s light field display technology also removes the main sources of eye-strain, eye-fatigue, and nausea that are so commonly experienced with AR and VR headsets today.Several leading AR glasses and headset ODM’s are currently evaluating CREAL technology for their next-generation designs, expected to become commercially available in 2024. ...

See the full story here: https://us1.campaign-archive.com/?e=c26a19770d&u=d7aed5c8f1c6da05338626e41&id=c5fa9f950d

27Sep/23Off

Elvis returns to Las Vegas in Marco Brambilla’s new video for the Sphere, created with AI

... starting 29 September, he is back in Las Vegas to help inaugurate the Sphere ...

... The latest Elvis extravaganza is the work of London-based artist Marco Brambilla: a four-minute, hyper-detailed, image-dense video starring the King in his different incarnations—from young army officer to swaggering movie star to bloated has-been—as well as the dream-city of Vegas itself, which somewhat similarly evolves from a small desert oasis into the neon epicenter of debacle-spectacle. In keeping with its themes of celebrity-image proliferation and saturation, King Size (2023) is Brambilla’s biggest video collage yet, using 1,000 looped video clips from different movies, including all 33 Elvis films. ...

Brambilla turned to AI instead of human researchers or video editors this time because, he says, he was on deadline to complete this project quickly, within four months. “What I found is that it was very good at sketching, making conceptual sketches and hybrid images. It often comes up with things that are very magical,” he says. ...

See the full story here: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/09/26/marco-brambilla-elvis-video-artificial-intelligence-las-vegas-sphere-u2