A way to let robots learn by listening will make them more useful
Most AI-powered robots today use cameras to understand their surroundings and learn new tasks, but it’s becoming easier to train robots with sound too, helping them adapt to tasks and environments where visibility is limited. Though sight is important, for some of our daily tasks, sound is actually more helpful, like listening to onions sizzling…
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AI companies are finally being forced to cough up for training data
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. The generative AI boom is built on scale. The more training data, the more powerful the model. But there’s a problem. AI companies have pillaged the internet for training data, and…
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Training AI music models is about to get very expensive
AI music is suddenly in a make-or-break moment. On June 24, Suno and Udio, two leading AI music startups that make tools to generate complete songs from a prompt in seconds, were sued by major record labels alleging widespread copyright infringement. Sony Music, Warner Music Group, and Universal Music Group claim the companies made use…
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My colleagues turned me into an AI-powered NPC. I hate him.
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. It feels weird, talking to yourself online. Especially when you’re pretty much the most unpleasant character you’ve ever met. The “me” I’ve been chatting to this week, called King Fiall of Nirth,…
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Synthesia’s hyperrealistic deepfakes will soon have full bodies
Startup Synthesia’s AI-generated avatars are getting an update to make them even more realistic: They will soon have bodies that can move, and hands that gesticulate. The new full-body avatars will be able to do things like sing and brandish a microphone while dancing, or move from behind a desk and walk across a room….
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How underwater drones could shape a potential Taiwan-China conflict
A potential future conflict between Taiwan and China would be shaped by novel methods of drone warfare involving advanced underwater drones and increased levels of autonomy, according to a new war-gaming experiment by the think tank Center for a New American Security (CNAS). The report comes as concerns about Beijing’s aggression toward Taiwan have been…
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How generative AI could reinvent what it means to play
First, a confession. I only got into playing video games a little over a year ago (I know, I know). A Christmas gift of an Xbox Series S “for the kids” dragged me—pretty easily, it turns out—into the world of late-night gaming sessions. I was immediately attracted to open-world games, in which you’re free to…
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I tested out a buzzy new text-to-video AI model from China
This story first appeared in China Report, MIT Technology Review’s newsletter about technology in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday. You may not be familiar with Kuaishou, but this Chinese company just hit a major milestone: It’s released the first text-to-video generative AI model that’s freely available for the public…
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Meta has created a way to watermark AI-generated speech
Meta has created a system that can embed hidden signals, known as watermarks, in AI-generated audio clips, which could help in detecting AI-generated content online. The tool, called AudioSeal, is the first that can pinpoint which bits of audio in, for example, a full hourlong podcast might have been generated by AI. It could help…
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Why artists are becoming less scared of AI
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. Knock, knock. Who’s there? An AI with generic jokes. Researchers from Google DeepMind asked 20 professional comedians to use popular AI language models to write jokes and comedy performances. Their results…
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