Roll Uses Generative AI to Simulate Jibs, Dollies, Much More

Roll, a new app for web and iOS, puts an AI spin on timeworn video capture and editing techniques, delivering virtual bokeh, motion graphics and multicam shots, as well as sliders, cranes, dollies and jibs. As the latest consumer artificial intelligence entry, Roll professes to empower anyone to create professional-quality remote video quickly using just an iPhone and Roll’s proprietary software. The Roll app is free to use, with the whole platform offered as a free trial with a paid subscription option. Roll lets users record broadcast-quality remote video calls, add generative AI special effects, and publish quickly. Continue reading Roll Uses Generative AI to Simulate Jibs, Dollies, Much More

Character.AI Lets Users Chat with Wide Variety of Characters

Character.AI is a new chatbot that generates facsimiles of conversations with famous personages or original creations. Napoleon Bonaparte, Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande are among the  historical or contemporary characters the site recreates using a neural network. Anyone can use the free app to create a character, whether fictional or real, dead or alive, but a paid offering called c.ai+ provides perks including faster response times, priority access and early previews of new features. In addition to a website, the app launched on iOS and Android this month, triggering 700,000 Android installs within 48 hours. Continue reading Character.AI Lets Users Chat with Wide Variety of Characters

Snapchat+ Introduces ‘My AI Snaps’ for Chatbot Snap Backs

Snapchat is rolling out a new feature for its premium Snapchat+ platform that enables users who send Snaps to My AI let the artificial intelligence know what they’re up to “receive a unique generative Snap back that keeps the conversation going” via My AI Snaps. The feature was previewed at the Snap Partner Summit in April as part of a larger push on AI updates, including the ability to invite the My AI chatbot to participate in group chats with friends and the ability to get AI Lens suggestions and place recommendations. In addition, the My AI chatbot — made free to all users this year — was updated to reply to users’ Snaps with a text-based response. Continue reading Snapchat+ Introduces ‘My AI Snaps’ for Chatbot Snap Backs

Industry Leaders Caution That AI Presents ‘Risk of Extinction’

Mitigating the risk of extinction due to AI must should be as much a global priority as pandemics and nuclear war, according to the non-profit Center for AI Safety, which this week released a warning that artificial intelligence systems may pose an existential threat to humanity. Among the more than 350 executives, researchers and engineers who signed the statement are the CEOs of three leading AI firms: OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei. The statement comes as rapid advancements in large language models raise fears of societal disruption through job loss and widespread misinformation. Continue reading Industry Leaders Caution That AI Presents ‘Risk of Extinction’

Twitter Community Notes Aim to Curb Impact of Fake Images

Twitter is emphasizing crowdsourced moderation. The launch of Community Notes for images in posts seeks to address instances where morphed or AI-generated images are posted. The idea is to expose altered content before it goes viral, as did the image of Pope Francis wearing a Balenciaga puffy coat in March and the fake image of an explosion at the Pentagon in May. Twitter says Community Notes about an image will appear with “recent and future” posts containing the graphic in question. Currently in the test phase, the feature works with tweets featuring a single image. Continue reading Twitter Community Notes Aim to Curb Impact of Fake Images

Nvidia Announces a Wide Range of AI Initiatives at Computex

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote at Computex Taipei marked the official launch of the company’s Grace Hopper Superchip, a breakthrough in accelerated processing, designed for giant-scale AI and high-performance computing applications. Huang also raised the curtain on Nvidia’s new supercomputer, the DGX GH200, which connects 256 Hopper chips into a single data-center-sized GPU with 144 terabytes of scalable shared memory to build massive AI models at the enterprise level. Google, Meta and Microsoft are among the first in line to gain access to the DGX GH200, positioned as “a blueprint for future hyperscale generative AI infrastructure.” Continue reading Nvidia Announces a Wide Range of AI Initiatives at Computex

TikTok Embraces AI with Tako Chatbot, Now in Limited Tests

TikTok is floating a trial balloon of its own AI chatbot, named Tako, now testing in select markets. Tako invites users to ask questions about TikTok videos and is also designed to help with discovery and recommendations. Tako’s public testing was first reported by Israeli app intelligence firm Watchful. TikTok subsequently confirmed testing in the Philippines and said Tako tests were live in some other global markets, but said the chatbot is not yet deployed in the United States. Unlike Microsoft’s Bing Chat, Google’s Bard and Snap’s My AI, Tako seems hyperfocused on TikTok content. Continue reading TikTok Embraces AI with Tako Chatbot, Now in Limited Tests

Google Search Labs Provides Access to Generative AI Tools

After teasing new artificial intelligence capabilities for search during its I/O conference this month, Google has opened access to Search Labs, a program that lets people test new concepts prior to release. First up for U.S. users are the Search Generative Experience (SGE), Code Tips and Add to Sheets. Users who want to opt-in to these experiments can do so by tapping the Labs icon in the Chrome browser or the latest version of the Google app for Android and iOS. Those who previously signed up using the waitlist are being notified by email as to activation. Waitlist status can also be checked on the Labs site. Continue reading Google Search Labs Provides Access to Generative AI Tools

AI Helps Steer Nvidia Toward $1 Trillion Market Capitalization

Nvidia announced $7.19 billion in revenue for the first quarter ended April 30. That’s down 13 percent compared to the February through April frame in 2022, but up 19 percent from Q4, which ended January 29. Nvidia has forecast a stunning $11 billion in sales for Q2. That projected 64 percent increase puts Nvidia on track to be the first chip company with a $1 trillion valuation. CEO Jensen Huang attributes the sales spike to exploding demand for GPUs to run artificial intelligence systems. “We are significantly increasing our supply to meet surging demand for them,” Huang said of the processors. Continue reading AI Helps Steer Nvidia Toward $1 Trillion Market Capitalization

Register Now: Two Weeks Until ETC Synthetic Media Summit

Artificial intelligence promises to change the way media content is produced, distributed and consumed. It even alters the nature of media itself. None of us, inside or outside of the media industry, is fully ready for what AI is about to bring about. So, to chart the course of this AI-driven future, the Entertainment Technology Center at the University of Southern California is organizing its inaugural Synthetic Media Summit on June 8 on the USC campus. This high-level event will gather the world’s top AI experts and media executives to discuss the state, media use cases, and ethics of synthetic media for the news and entertainment industries. Continue reading Register Now: Two Weeks Until ETC Synthetic Media Summit

Windows Gets AI Boost and Bing Is ChatGPT’s Search Engine

The focus was on artificial intelligence at Microsoft Build 2023, where the software giant showcased AI enhancements across Windows 11, Microsoft 365, Edge and more. The company also said Bing is now the default search engine for OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot. A Copilot AI button is being integrated into the Windows 11 taskbar, making it the first personal computer operating system to integrate AI assistance to help users seamlessly connect across apps and improve productivity. “For example, you cannot only copy and paste, but also ask Windows Copilot to rewrite, summarize or explain your content,” Microsoft points out. Continue reading Windows Gets AI Boost and Bing Is ChatGPT’s Search Engine

G7 Leaders Call for Global AI Standards at Hiroshima Summit

Leaders at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, are calling for discussions that could lead to global standards and regulations for generative AI, with the aim of responsible use of the technology. The chief executives of the world’s largest economies — which in addition to the host nation include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the UK, the U.S. (and additionally the EU) — expressed the goal of forming a G7 working group to establish by the end of the year a “Hiroshima AI process” for discussion about uniform policies for dealing with AI technologies including chatbots and image generators. Continue reading G7 Leaders Call for Global AI Standards at Hiroshima Summit

Meta In-House Chip Designs Include Processing for AI, Video

Meta Platforms has shared additional details on its next generation of AI infrastructure. The company has designed two custom silicon chips, including one for training and running AI models and eventually powering metaverse functions like virtual reality and augmented reality. Another chip is tailored to optimize video processing. Meta publicly discussed its internal chip development last week ahead of a Thursday virtual event on AI infrastructure. The company also showcased an AI-optimized data center design and talked about phase two of deployment of its 16,000 GPU supercomputer for AI research. Continue reading Meta In-House Chip Designs Include Processing for AI, Video

ETC’s Synthetic Media Summit Scheduled for June 8 at USC

Artificial intelligence promises to change the way media content is produced, distributed and consumed. It even alters the nature of media itself. None of us, inside or outside of the media industry, is fully ready for what AI is about to bring about. So, to chart the course of this AI-driven future, the Entertainment Technology Center at the University of Southern California is organizing its inaugural Synthetic Media Summit on June 8 on the USC campus. This high-level event will gather the world’s top AI experts and media executives to discuss the state, media use cases, and ethics of synthetic media for the news and entertainment industries. Continue reading ETC’s Synthetic Media Summit Scheduled for June 8 at USC

Politicians and Tech Leaders Gather to Discuss Regulating AI

A new government agency that licenses artificial intelligence above a certain capability, regular testing, and independent audits were some of the ideas to spring from a three-hour Senate judiciary subcommittee hearing to explore ways in which the government might regulate the nascent field. OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman advocated for all of the above, stressing the need for external validation by independent experts, strict cybersecurity, and a “whole of society approach” to combatting disinformation. While Altman emphasized AI’s advantages, he warned “if this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong.” Continue reading Politicians and Tech Leaders Gather to Discuss Regulating AI