Google researchers unveil ‘VLOGGER’, an AI that can animate a single still photos to allow them to talk

Described in a research paper titled “VLOGGER: Multimodal Diffusion for Embodied Avatar Synthesis,” the AI model can take a photo of a person and an audio clip as input, and then output a video that matches the audio, showing the person speaking the words and making corresponding facial expressions, head movements and hand gestures. The Read more about Google researchers unveil ‘VLOGGER’, an AI that can animate a single still photos to allow them to talk[…]

Europe’s landmark AI Act passes Parliament vote

After a 523-46 voting result, with 49 abstentions, the act heads down a lengthy and complex implementation path. An AI Office that will guide the process under the Commission’s wing has already started hiring. The Act sets out a tiered approach to regulation based on how risky applications of the technology are deemed and sets Read more about Europe’s landmark AI Act passes Parliament vote[…]

India reverses AI stance, follows EU and starts regulating significant AI models

India has waded into global AI debate by issuing an advisory that requires “significant” tech firms to get government permission before launching new models. India’s Ministry of Electronics and IT issued the advisory to firms on Friday. The advisory — not published on public domain but a copy of which TechCrunch has reviewed — also Read more about India reverses AI stance, follows EU and starts regulating significant AI models[…]

Microsoft calls NYT copyright claims ‘doomsday futurology’ – also, VCRs are legal too

Microsoft is coming out swinging over claims by the New York Times that the Windows giant and OpenAI infringed copyright by using its articles to build ChatGPT and other models. In yesterday’s filing [PDF], Microsoft’s lawyers recall the early 1980s efforts of the Motion Picture Association to stifle the growth of VCR technology, likening it Read more about Microsoft calls NYT copyright claims ‘doomsday futurology’ – also, VCRs are legal too[…]

AI outperforms humans in standardized tests of creative potential

[…] Divergent thinking is characterized by the ability to generate a unique solution to a question that does not have one expected solution, such as “What is the best way to avoid talking about politics with my parents?” In the study, GPT-4 provided more original and elaborate answers than the human participants […] The three Read more about AI outperforms humans in standardized tests of creative potential[…]

Video generation models as world simulators by OpenAI Sora

[…] Our largest model, Sora, is capable of generating a minute of high fidelity video. Our results suggest that scaling video generation models is a promising path towards building general purpose simulators of the physical world. This technical report focuses on (1) our method for turning visual data of all types into a unified representation Read more about Video generation models as world simulators by OpenAI Sora[…]

US judge dismisses authors’ ridiculous copyright claim against OpenAI

A US judge has dismissed some of the claims made by writers in a copyright infringement lawsuit against OpenAI, though gave the wordsmiths another chance to amend their complaint. The case – Paul Tremblay et al vs OpenAI – kicked off in 2023 when novelists Paul Tremblay, Christopher Golden, and Richard Kadrey, and writer-comedian-actress Sarah Read more about US judge dismisses authors’ ridiculous copyright claim against OpenAI[…]

Meet GOODY-2, The World’s Most Ethical (And Useless) AI

AI guardrails and safety features are as important to get right as they are difficult to implement in a way that satisfies everyone. This means safety features tend to err on the side of caution. Side effects include AI models adopting a vaguely obsequious tone, and coming off as overly priggish when they refuse reasonable Read more about Meet GOODY-2, The World’s Most Ethical (And Useless) AI[…]

OpenAI latest to add ‘Made by AI’ metadata to model output

Images emitted by OpenAI’s generative models will include metadata disclosing their origin, which in turn can be used by applications to alert people to the machine-made nature of that content. Specifically, the Microsoft-championed super lab is, as expected, adopting the Content Credentials specification, which was devised by the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), Read more about OpenAI latest to add ‘Made by AI’ metadata to model output[…]

Hugging Face launches open source AI assistant maker to rival OpenAI’s custom GPTs

Hugging Face, the New York City-based startup that offers a popular, developer-focused repository for open source AI code and frameworks (and hosted last year’s “Woodstock of AI”), today announced the launch of third-party, customizable Hugging Chat Assistants. The new, free product offering allows users of Hugging Chat, the startup’s open source alternative to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Read more about Hugging Face launches open source AI assistant maker to rival OpenAI’s custom GPTs[…]

EU countries give crucial nod to first-of-a-kind Artificial Intelligence law

The ambassadors of the 27 countries of the European Union unanimously approved the world’s first comprehensive rulebook for Artificial Intelligence, rubber-stamping the political agreement reached in December. In December, EU policymakers reached a political agreement on the main sticking points of the AI Act, a flagship bill to regulate Artificial Intelligence based on its capacity Read more about EU countries give crucial nod to first-of-a-kind Artificial Intelligence law[…]

AI robot dreaming

AI can better retain what it learns by mimicking human sleep

[…] Concetto Spampinato and his colleagues at the University of Catania, Italy, were looking for ways to avoid a phenomenon known as “catastrophic forgetting”, where an AI model trained to do a new task loses the ability to carry out jobs it previously aced. For instance, a model trained to identify animals could learn to spot Read more about AI can better retain what it learns by mimicking human sleep[…]

OpenAI-New York Times Copyright Fight Further Illustrates Autonomy-Automaton Dichotomy

The latest dispute between the New York Times and OpenAI reinforces the distinction in understanding artificial intelligence (AI) between autonomy and automatons, which we have previously examined. The Gray Lady turned heads late this past year when it filed suit against OpenAI, alleging that the artificial intelligence giant’s ChatGPT software infringed its copyrights. Broadly speaking, the Times alleged that the famous Read more about OpenAI-New York Times Copyright Fight Further Illustrates Autonomy-Automaton Dichotomy[…]

The US really really wants private companies out of EU AI Human Rights treaty – because you can trust them more than governments?

[…] The Council of Europe (CoE), an international human rights body with 46 member countries, is approaching the finalisation of the Convention on Artificial Intelligence, Human Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law. Since the beginning, the United States, the homeland of the world’s leading AI companies, has been pushing to exclude the private sector Read more about The US really really wants private companies out of EU AI Human Rights treaty – because you can trust them more than governments?[…]

EU Commission readies establishment of AI Office on 21 feb

The AI Office will play a pivotal role in the enforcement architecture of the AI Act, the EU’s landmark law to regulate Artificial Intelligence, set to be formally adopted in the coming weeks based on a political agreement nailed down in December. The idea of an AI Office to centralise the enforcement of the AI Read more about EU Commission readies establishment of AI Office on 21 feb[…]

OpenAI must defend ChatGPT fabrications after failing to defeat libel suit

OpenAI may finally have to answer for ChatGPT’s “hallucinations” in court after a Georgia judge recently ruled against the tech company’s motion to dismiss a radio host’s defamation suit. OpenAI had argued that ChatGPT’s output cannot be considered libel, partly because the chatbot output cannot be considered a “publication,” which is a key element of Read more about OpenAI must defend ChatGPT fabrications after failing to defeat libel suit[…]

Samsung and Google launch ‘Circle to Search’ Too

Samsung announced many interesting products and features at its latest Galaxy Unpacked event (including the Galaxy S24 series) but one of the more impressive developments isn’t actually unique to the Galaxy brand itself. The feature, Circle to Search, was developed in partnership with Google, which means it’ll live on Google phones, too. What is Circle Read more about Samsung and Google launch ‘Circle to Search’ Too[…]

amazon alexa echo device covered in green goo

Amazon wants you to pay to give them your data with Its Next-Gen “Remarkable Alexa” – which is remarkable in how poorly it works

Amazon is revamping its Alexa voice assistant as it prepares to launch a new paid subscription plan this year, according to internal documents and people familiar with the matter. But the change is causing internal conflict and may lead to further delay. Tentatively named “Alexa Plus,” the paid version of Alexa is intended to offer Read more about Amazon wants you to pay to give them your data with Its Next-Gen “Remarkable Alexa” – which is remarkable in how poorly it works[…]

Running your AI Locally on your own PC

Having your AI going on your own laptop or PC is perfectly viable. For textual conversations you don’t always need a Large Language Model (LLM) when Small Language Models can perform at the same or in some cases even better levels (eg MS Phi-2 small language model – outperforms many LLMs but fits on your Read more about Running your AI Locally on your own PC[…]

US wants private sector AI exempt from Human Rights laws. EU pushes back.

[…] The Council of Europe, an international human rights body with 46 member countries, set up the Committee on Artificial Intelligence at the beginning of 2022 to develop the Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence, Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law. […] The most consequential pending issue regards the scope of the convention. In Read more about US wants private sector AI exempt from Human Rights laws. EU pushes back.[…]

Text-to-3D model startup Luma raises $43M in latest round

Luma, a generative AI startup building software that transforms text descriptions to corresponding 3D models, just raised $43 million (£34 million) in a series-B funding round led by Andreesen Horowitz, Nvidia, and others. Founded in 2021 by CEO Amit Jain, a former systems engineer working on computer vision at Apple, and CTO Alex Yu, a Read more about Text-to-3D model startup Luma raises $43M in latest round[…]

two people holding hands watching a pc screen. On the screen is a robot painting a digitised Bob Ross painting

Generative AI Will Be A Huge Boon For The Public Domain, Unless Copyright Blocks It

A year ago, I noted that many of Walled Culture’s illustrations were being produced using generative AI. During that time, AI has developed rapidly. For example, in the field of images, OpenAI has introduced DALL-E 3 in ChatGPT: When prompted with an idea, ChatGPT will automatically generate tailored, detailed prompts for DALL·E 3 that bring your idea to life. Read more about Generative AI Will Be A Huge Boon For The Public Domain, Unless Copyright Blocks It[…]

The NY Times Lawsuit Against OpenAI Would Open Up The NY Times To All Sorts Of Lawsuits Should It Win, shows that if you feed it a URL it can regurgitate what’s on the first parts of that URL

This week the NY Times somehow broke the story of… well, the NY Times suing OpenAI and Microsoft. I wonder who tipped them off. Anyhoo, the lawsuit in many ways is similar to some of the over a dozen lawsuits filed by copyright holders against AI companies. We’ve written about how silly many of these Read more about The NY Times Lawsuit Against OpenAI Would Open Up The NY Times To All Sorts Of Lawsuits Should It Win, shows that if you feed it a URL it can regurgitate what’s on the first parts of that URL[…]

Using Local AI On The Command Line To Rename Images (And More)

We all have a folder full of images whose filenamees resemble line noise. How about renaming those images with the help of a local LLM (large language model) executable on the command line? All that and more is showcased on [Justine Tunney]’s bash one-liners for LLMs, a showcase aimed at giving folks ideas and guidance Read more about Using Local AI On The Command Line To Rename Images (And More)[…]