... Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.), who next term will co-lead the AI caucus that Beyer also sits on, saluted the Virginia Democrat for working overtime on the degree.Having an AI master’s degree himself, and having gotten his doctorate in public administration while serving in the California legislature, he said, “I can tell you from personal experience that doing both at the same time is very difficult.”
But as the power of artificial intelligence and its uses grow, Obernolte said it will be worth it to have another member at the table with all that fresh knowledge — particularly as the AI caucus seeks to steer Congress down responsible avenues for regulating the technology and use of personal data.
“Some people who aren’t familiar with AI think that the biggest drawback of AI is evil robots with red laser eyes. You know what I mean?” Obernolte said. “You get closer to it and you realize that, no, there are actually drawbacks that are even more substantial than that, but they’re also more subtle. So we want to make sure that we approach the regulation of AI in a way that’s thoughtful, that does the protection of consumers and privacy that needs to be done, but also doesn’t stifle the innovation and entrepreneurialism that has characterized the last 50 years of the technology industry in America.” ...
AI SILK is a Japanese wearable-tech startup that’s set to unveil a new haptic glove at CES 2023 next month which approaches both haptic feedback and finger-tracking in a different way altogether. ...
Called Lead Skin, the controller houses these conductive fibers, which not only provides finger-tracking and control buttons on the back of the gauntlet-style controller, but also an electrical haptic pulse that aims to simulate manipulating virtual objects. ...
Weighing in at 380g (~13.5oz), or about the weight of two Quest 2 controllers with batteries included, Lead Skin is said to measure the current impedance from the expansion and contraction of the fabric within, and then through deep machine learning-developed algorithms “understand the intended actions from glove wearers’ physical finger movements,” AI Silk says in a press statement. ...
... the team came up with “quasistatic cavity resonance (QSCR)”, where magnetic fields are generated to deliver kilowatts of power to receivers. These receivers can be connected to a device, like a phone or fan, to supply it with power.
The room built by Disney Research was lined with aluminum panels. In its center was a copper tube between the floor and the ceiling, with a current running through it. Fifteen capacitors in the pole are used to set a resonant frequency in the room and isolate electric fields from a signal generator, which outputs at 1.32 MHz. A uniform magnetic field is then run through the room at the same frequency.
The receivers use a coil of wire to resonate at the same frequency, providing power to a device. The researchers were able to deliver about 1,900 watts with an efficiency of 40 to 95 percent. ...
In 2023, the European Union plans to launch a metaverse regulatory initiative, and the Japanese government has also signaled interest in the topic. In addition to the privacy dimension, the EU will look at competition issues. EC internal market commissioner Thierry Breton wrote (emphasis added):
Private metaverses should develop based on interoperable standards, and no single private player should hold the key to the public square or set its terms and conditions. Innovators and technologies should be allowed to thrive unhindered. [...] We have also learned a lesson from this work: we will not witness a new Wild West or new private monopolies.
EFF agrees interoperability is key for a future of privacy without monopoliesand will advocate for this approach as these Metaverse systems are developed. This type of interoperable standard needs to go beyond sharing avatars and hats between games and must give users meaningful control over who they trust with their data, privacy, and safety online—and the practical ability to leave a platform that doesn’t protect them.
In many cultures, the community’s traditions, oral storytelling and art styles represent knowledge passed down from one generation of relatives to the next, but a new app is aiming to share some of that education virtually.
Through OurWorlds, users can explore culturally significant locations around the world, listen to Native American languages, hear creation stories and use augmented reality as a way to experience Indigenous culture. ...
Founder Kilma Lattin, a member of the Pala Band of Mission Indians, said that in developing OurWorlds, he wanted to create a platform for Indigenous communities to claim technological sovereignty and create a digital space sharing their cultural histories. ...
Rodriguez — who teaches Kumeyaay culture, history and language at Kumeyaay Community College and Cuyamaca College — feels using a digital education platform as a storytelling tool is a way for more people to understand that Indigenous people are a part of the present, not just the past. ...
[PhilNote: iFlyTek, the realtime translation app partially funded by and with ties to the gov't of China, continues its tech advances for the global market.]
Launching the Super Brain 2030 Plan, a series of strategic initiatives to advance the quality and availability of personal robotics and artificial intelligence solutions to assist families and communities;
Achieving significant and sustainable growth amid the ongoing pandemic and challenging economic trends as the only Chinese A-share company to achieve an annual revenue growth rate of over 25% for 10 consecutive years;
Earning recognition for our outstanding performance in making environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies central to the company's advancement by the Hang Seng Corporate Responsibility Benchmark Index.
2. Gender inequality is happening in the metaverse
3. Want to be a chief metaverse officer? This is what the job looks like
4. Motion trackers could make metaverse avatars more lifelike
More on the metaverse from Agenda
Most internet users don't have a digital identity that they own. However, metaverse users will need one to allow them to move across multiple platforms. This means there will also need to be standards and regulations around creating digital identities.
How can companies make the right investment decisions in the metaverse? They’ll need to understand the competing metaverse visions that are being constructed, and closely monitor the key triggers that will determine whether a particular virtual world is gaining more traction than others.
Warith Niallah, CEO of FTC Publications, is investing millions in Entertainment AI, an artificial intelligence-based system that will help streamline the entertainment industry. This technology controls closed captions, voiceovers, and image creation for television and film projects. With this investment, Niallah is looking to revolutionize the way people create content in the entertainment industry. ...
FTC Publications, Inc. is a multinational media, technology, entertainment, and business services organization with 61 locations around the world founded in 1988. Our Company is divided into divisions dedicated to their individual products and services.
... Meow Wolf took pains to ensure that its arrival in Denverwould benefit the community. Executives worked with local activists to outline commitments around sustainability, wages, and diversity and inclusion. In acknowledgement of Denver’s DIY scene, Meow Wolf created a fund to channel money to local arts groups. And it pledged to devote 40% of its exhibition space to Colorado artists. “If a company says that they want to do good in the world and that they’re a B Corp and that they’re about social impact, they’re expected to walk the walk,” Kadlubek says. The Denver Meow Wolf finally opened in September 2021, having already sold $1 million worth of tickets in the first 24 hours they were available.
This past summer, an eclectic crowd of club kids, burners, D&D types, and even some families turned up at a former junkyard near the Denver museum for Meow Wolf’s annual Vortex music festival. When a wall of clouds rolled down from the Rockies and unleashed a ferocious summer thunderstorm, flooding the concrete yard, they stayed put as a lineup of hyperpop groups, SoundCloud rappers, and techno DJs kept the party going. It wasn’t exactly the nightly “fireworks spectacular” over Cinderella’s castle; it was uncontrolled, unexpected, and altogether human. ...
As it’s grown, Meow Wolf has systematized its creativity. A variety of employees, not just those hired as artists, are encouraged to develop installations to fill the smaller rooms of exhibitions. They can also attend workshops on how to operate 3D printers, vacuum-forming machines, laser cutters, and other manufacturing tools. “It’s about, ‘How do we develop everyone to be an artist?’” says Rich Staib, senior vice president for exhibition design and production. This openness, he says, is very different from what he encountered earlier in his career, working on attractions for Disney and Universal. ...
It’s one of art’s most important functions—helping us grapple with the complexities of existence by allowing us to absorb them in small but powerful doses. And it explains why, as Kadlubek told me, Meow Wolf continues to explore all of the realms of human experience, not just the most commercial ones. “The big distinction between us and Disney,” he says, “is we actually want complexity and confusion and existential crisis and struggle. We don’t want to just be the happiest place on earth.”
... But porn or not, this is still AI-generated imagery, and given the protests currently going on at ArtStation, and with the wider controversy surrounding the field in general, Unstable Diffusion landed at the right time to be the campaign to get Kickstarter looking at their own policies on the matter. ...
UPDATE 11:15pm ET: Unstable Diffusion have issued a statement, which reads:
While Kickstarter’s capitulation to a loud subset of artists disappoints us, we and our supporters will not back down from defending the freedom to create. We have updated our new website, to allow our supporters to directly contribute to the creation and release of new artistic AI systems more powerful than ever. We are rising to the call to defend against the artists lobbying to make all AI art illegal, and backers support will allow us to challenge this increasingly well-funded and organized lobby.
