philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Taiwan central bank says no timetable for launching digital currency

... Taiwan's central bank has been working on a pilot for a government-run digital currency, to allow people to use a digital wallet and make payments without using a debit or credit card.

"Although the bank currently has no timetable for issuing central bank digital currency, in the process of continuous research and experimentation it is already improving the processing efficiency and innovative application of the payment system," it said in a report to parliament. ...

See the full story here: https://www.digitalnationaus.com.au/news/taiwan-central-bank-says-no-timetable-for-launching-digital-currency-609529

Why Bill Gates says AI Superintelligence requires some self-awareness

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Reporting on and writing about AI has given me a whole new appreciation of how flat-out amazing our human brains are. While large language models (LLMs) are impressive, they lack whole dimensions of thought that we humans take for granted. Bill Gates hit on this idea last week on the Next Big Idea Club podcast. Speaking to host Rufus Griscom, Gates talked at length about  “metacognition,” which refers to a system that can think about its own thinking. Gate defined metacognition as the ability to “think about a problem in a broad sense and step back and say, Okay, how important is this to answer? How could I check my answer, and what external tools would help me with this?”

The Microsoft founder said the overall “cognitive strategy” of existing LLMs like GPT-4 or Llama was still lacking in sophistication. “It’s just generating through constant computation each token and sequence, and it’s mind-blowing that that works at all,” Gates said. “It does not step back like a human and think, Okay, I’m gonna write this paper and here’s what I want to cover; okay, I’ll put some text in here, and here’s what I want to do for the summary.” ...

HOW THE SUPREME COURT’S LANDMARK CHEVRON RULING WILL AFFECT TECH AND AI 

... As Axios’s Scott Rosenberg points out, the removal of the Chevron Doctrine may make passing meaningful federal AI regulation much harder. Chevron allowed Congress to define regulations as sets of general directives, and left it to the experts at the agencies to define the specific rules and settle disputes on a case-by-case basis at the implementation and enforcement level. Now, it’ll be on Congress to hash out the fine points of the law in advance, doing their best to anticipate disputes that might arise in the future. And that might be especially difficult with a young and fast-moving industry like AI. ...

But there’s no guarantee that the courts will rise to the challenge. Just look at the high court’s decision to effectively punt on the constitutionality of Texas and Florida regulations governing social networks’ content moderation. “Their unwillingness to resolve such disputes over social media—a well-established technology—is troubling given the rise of AI, which may present even thornier legal and Constitutional questions,” Mercatus Center AI researcher Dean Ball points out. ...

See the full story here: https://www.fastcompany.com/91150606/bill-gates-ai-superintelligence

The Future of AR Beyond the Vision Pro Is Already Brewing

I recently flew out to Long Beach, California, for the AWE augmented and virtual reality conference, but I left my mixed reality VR devices — the Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest 3 — back in New Jersey. Instead I took two pairs of smart glasses: Meta's Ray-Bans and Xreal's Air 2 Pro. I took photos and made calls with the Ray-Bans. I watched movies on the plane with Xreal. And I didn't miss those chunky VR goggles one bit. ...

These gadgets don't offer up anything like the full-fledged mixed reality that can happen in the Vision Pro or Quest 3, but their increasing utility points to a future of augmented reality beyond bulky headsets. ...

Meanwhile, AWE reminded me that better lenses, displays and hand tracking are coming but still face real challenges. How will future glasses offload all their processing? What about the battery? ...

The Meta Quest 3 and Vision Pro were scattered everywhere around AWE's expo floor in plenty of peripheral and software demos. That's because they both support hand tracking, and they combine camera feeds of the real world with overlays of virtual graphics to mix reality surprisingly well.  ...

Ultraleap, a company that already has hand-tracking technology on existing VR and AR headsets, is testing a smaller, more power-efficient event camera technology — which only senses rough changes in light and movement as opposed to specific details — that could last for hours on smaller glasses while looking for hand micro gestures, similar to what the Apple Vision Pro does with more power-hungry infrared. ...

See the full story here: https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/the-future-of-ar-beyond-vision-pro-is-already-brewing/

The US intelligence community is embracing generative AI

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As the functional manager for the intelligence community’s open-source data collection, Raman said the CIA is turning to generative AI to keep pace with, for example, “all of the news stories that come in every minute of every day from around the world.” AI, Raman said, helps intelligence analysts comb through vast amounts of data to pull out insights that can inform policymakers. In a giant haystack, AI helps pinpoint the needle. ...

In May, Microsoft announced the availability of GPT-4 for users of its Azure Government Top Secret cloud, which includes defense and intelligence customers. Through the air-gapped solution, customers in the classified space can make use of a tool very similar to what’s used in the commercial space. Microsoft officials noted security accreditation took 18 months, indicative of how complex software security vetting at the highest levels can be even for tech giants. ...

Amodei said that while Anthropic is responsible for the security of the large language model, it partnered with AWS because of its superior cloud security standards and reputation as a public sector leader in the cloud computing space. Amodei said the classified marketplace, which allows government customers to spin up and try software before they buy it, also simplifies procurement for the government. And, he said, it gives intelligence agencies the means to use the same tools available to adversaries.

“The [Intelligence Community Marketplace] makes it easier, because AWS has worked with this many times, and so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” Amodei said. “AI needs to empower democracies and allow them to function better and remain competitive on the global stage.”

See the full story here; https://www.nextgov.com/artificial-intelligence/2024/07/us-intelligence-community-embracing-generative-ai/397849/

Beyond sight: Comparing traditional virtual reality and immersive multi-sensory environments in stress reduction of university students

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Results: The findings suggest that participants’ experiences in both VR and IME environments effectively contributed to reducing anxiety levels and fostering a tranquil atmosphere. Both experimental groups reported a significantly heightened sense of relaxation post-experiments. Although the disparity was not statistically significant, the IME group displayed a more pronounced reduction in stress levels compared to the VR group.

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See the full study here: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/virtual-reality/articles/10.3389/frvir.2024.1412297/full

As Apple and OpenAI Grow Partnership, Studios Stand on Sidelines of AI Battle

OpenAI is partnering with Apple to give the iPhone maker a role on its board, Bloomberg reported, affording the Sam Altman-led firm another foothold into Hollywood as the industry grapples artificial intelligence tools that have the potential to upend production, along with livelihoods of creators who’re concerned about being replaced by the tech.

As part of a seismic agreement announced last month, head of Apple App Store and former marketing chief Phil Schiller will assume the so-called “observer” position, according to Bloomberg. Under the pact, he’ll be able to attend board meetings and gain a glimpse into company operations — part of which involves courting Hollywood to adopt its products — but won’t be allowed to vote. ...

In response to the Copyright Office exploring policy questions surrounding the intersection of AI and intellectual property, the MPA landed on opposite sides of several hot-button issues with SAG-AFTRA, the Writers Guild of America and Directors Guild of America. Joined by OpenAI, Meta and tech advocacy groups, the MPA diverged with the unions on whether new legislation is warranted to address the unauthorized use of copyrighted material to train AI systems and the mass generation of potentially infringing works based on existing content. The group maintained that existing intellectual property laws are sufficient to address thorny legal issues posed by the technology. This stood in contrast to SAG-AFTRA’s call for a federal right of publicity law that would protect members’ rights to profit off of their images, voices and likenesses. ...

See the full story here: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/apple-openai-studios-1235938049/

Sentient Raises $85 Million Co-Led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund to Accelerate Open AI Development

Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of Polygon and a core contributor to Sentient, said centralized AI development is dangerous. ...

Viswanath, who is also a professor of engineering at Princeton University, emphasizes a balanced approach to AI development. The goal is not strict decentralization, he explained, but rather the fair distribution of power through the respect of property rights and aligned incentives. ...

While acknowledging the practical difficulties of decentralizing certain AI processes, Viswanath argued that ensuring community ownership and returning economic value for contributions is key. ...

See the full story here: https://decrypt.co/238014/open-artificial-general-intelligence-sentient

California considers unique safety regulations for AI companies, but faces tech firm opposition

California lawmakers are considering legislation that would require artificial intelligence companies to test their systems and add safety measures so they can't be potentially manipulated to wipe out the state's electric grid or help build chemical weapons - scenarios that experts say could be possible in the future as technology evolves at warp speed.

Legislators plan to vote Tuesday on this first-of-its-kind bill, which aims to reduce risks created by AI. It is fiercely opposed by tech companies, including Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, and Google. They say the regulations take aim at developers and instead should be focused on those who use and exploit the AI systems for harm.

Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener, who authors the bill, said the proposal would provide reasonable safety standards by preventing "catastrophic harms" from extremely powerful AI models that may be created in the future. The requirements would only apply to systems that cost more than $100 million in computing power to train. No current AI models have hit that threshold as of July. ...

See the full story here: https://abc30.com/post/california-considers-unique-safety-regulations-artificial-intelligence-companies/15020077/

Voices of Burt Reynolds, Judy Garland Recreated With AI

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The distinct voices of four actors from Hollywood’s golden age are finding new life thanks to artificial intelligence thanks to a deal between audio AI developer ElevenLabs and celebrity estate manager CMG Worldwide, the company announced on Tuesday.

Users of ElevenLabs’ new Reader App, which was launched last week, will be able to have text read aloud to them by authorized recreations of the voices of “Rebel Without A Cause” star James Dean, “The Wizard of Oz” star Judy Garland, “Spartacus” star Sir Laurence Olivier, and “Smokey and the Bandit” star Burt Reynolds. ...

For actress and singer Liza Minnelli, daughter of Judy Garland and representative of the Garland estate, the project is an exciting way to introduce new fans to her mother’s work. ...

While the larger ElevenLabs platform provides AI voice generation for various purposes, these celebrity voices will only be found in the Reader App. ...

See the full story here: https://decrypt.co/238226/ai-voices-james-dean-judy-garland-elevenlabs-reader-app

Holocaust Museum L.A. launches new augmented-reality app with an assist from Hollywood

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The oldest Holocaust museum in the U.S., Holocaust Museum L.A. has teamed up with the technology studio Magnopus, led by visual effects artists Craig Barron and Ben Grossmann — who earned Oscars for 2008's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and 2011's "Hugo," respectively — to create a new educational app that uses augmented reality to bring Sobibor to virtual life.

The Sobibor AR exhibit, available for free download in Apple's app store, allows users to interact with a 3D model of Sobibor, with actor Ben Feldman serving as a holographic guide providing historical context and encouraging deeper exploration of the camp's layout and daily life. The app centers on the story of Polish survivor Thomas Blatt, who escaped from Sobibor during a famous 1943 uprising and created a detailed map from memory, including key locations such as the barracks, guard towers, gas chambers and mass graves. ...

The museum, which was founded in 1961 by a group of Holocaust survivors, houses a physical model of Sobibor based on Blatt's map. But Davids, who frequently speaks to young people about what happened to his family and the millions of other victims of the Holocaust, says the app allows for a more immersive experience. ...

For Holocaust Museum L.A., which is currently closed as it undergoes an expansion that will double its footprint in Pan Pacific Park, the app offers a way to continue its mission at a time of rising antisemitism fueled by ongoing conflict over the war in Gaza. ...

Magnopus is exploring other ways it can collaborate with the museum on cutting-edge educational tools, including an app in which users would enter the pages of a Nazi children's propaganda book to learn about how German youth were indoctrinated with antisemitism. ...

See the full story here: https://www.yahoo.com/news/holocaust-museum-l-launches-augmented-100039190.html