Adobe previews new cutting-edge generative AI tools for crafting and editing custom audio — from blog.adobe.com by Adobe Research Team
New experimental work from Adobe Research is set to change how people create and edit custom audio and music. An early-stage generative AI music generation and editing tool, Project Music GenAI Control allows creators to generate music from text prompts, and then have fine-grained control to edit that audio for their precise needs.
How a Hollywood Director Uses AI to Make Movies — from every.to by Dan Shipper
Dave Clarke shows us the future of AI filmmaking
Dave told me that he couldn’t have made Borrowing Time without AI—it’s an expensive project that traditional Hollywood studios would never bankroll. But after Dave’s short went viral, major production houses approached him to make it a full-length movie. I think this is an excellent example of how AI is changing the art of filmmaking, and I came out of this interview convinced that we are on the brink of a new creative age.
We dive deep into the world of AI tools for image and video generation, discussing how aspiring filmmakers can use them to validate their ideas, and potentially even secure funding if they get traction. Dave walks me through how he has integrated AI into his movie-making process, and as we talk, we make a short film featuring Nicolas Cage using a haunted roulette ball to resurrect his dead movie career, live on the show.
Online Teaching Is Improving In-Person Instruction on Campus — from edsurge.com by Robert Ubell (Columnist)
In fact a slew of research over the past two decades has found that teaching online makes professors better teachers in their classrooms, so much so that one 2009 study recommended that “faculty should be trained in distance education methods and technologies and should be encouraged to use those methods back in the classroom.”
It’s a message I’ve been arguing for a while. But now that so many educators and students have had direct experience with online formats, it’s a narrative that seems to be sinking in.
Now is the time to fully embrace how physical classrooms can be improved by online techniques.
When professors teaching face-to-face adopt online pedagogy, the classroom is transformed into a “blended” experience, moving from conventional to active learning. And that helps students turn from passive to engaged participants in their own intellectual excursions.
AI fast-tracks research to find battery material that halves lithium use — from inavateonthenet.net
Using AI, the team was able to plow through 32.6 million possible battery materials in 80 hours, a task the team estimates would have taken them 20 years to do.
Other interesting items from inavateonthenet.net:
Medical ‘hologram’ market to reach 6.8 bn by 2029
Providing audio for open spaces
Scammers trick company employee using video call filled with deepfakes of execs, steal $25 million — from techspot.com by Rob Thubron; via AI Valley
The victim was the only real person on the video conference call
The scammers used digitally recreated versions of an international company’s Chief Financial Officer and other employees to order $25 million in money transfers during a video conference call containing just one real person.
The victim, an employee at the Hong Kong branch of an unnamed multinational firm, was duped into taking part in a video conference call in which they were the only real person – the rest of the group were fake representations of real people, writes SCMP.
As we’ve seen in previous incidents where deepfakes were used to recreate someone without their permission, the scammers utilized publicly available video and audio footage to create these digital versions.
Letter from the YouTube CEO: 4 Big bets for 2024 — from blog.youtube by Neal Mohan, CEO, YouTube; via Ben’s Bites
.
#1: AI will empower human creativity.
#2: Creators should be recognized as next-generation studios.
#3: YouTube’s next frontier is the living room and subscriptions.
#4: Protecting the creator economy is foundational.
Viewers globally now watch more than 1 billion hours on average of YouTube content on their TVs every day.
Bard becomes Gemini: Try Ultra 1.0 and a new mobile app today — from blog.google by Sissie Hsiao; via Rundown AI
Bard is now known as Gemini, and we’re rolling out a mobile app and Gemini Advanced with Ultra 1.0.
Since we launched Bard last year, people all over the world have used it to collaborate with AI in a completely new way — to prepare for job interviews, debug code, brainstorm new business ideas or, as we announced last week, create captivating images.
Our mission with Bard has always been to give you direct access to our AI models, and Gemini represents our most capable family of models. To reflect this, Bard will now simply be known as Gemini.
A new way to discover places with generative AI in Maps — from blog.google by Miriam Daniel; via AI Valley
Here’s a look at how we’re bringing generative AI to Maps — rolling out this week to select Local Guides in the U.S.
Today, we’re introducing a new way to discover places with generative AI to help you do just that — no matter how specific, niche or broad your needs might be. Simply say what you’re looking for and our large-language models (LLMs) will analyze Maps’ detailed information about more than 250 million places and trusted insights from our community of over 300 million contributors to quickly make suggestions for where to go.
Starting in the U.S., this early access experiment launches this week to select Local Guides, who are some of the most active and passionate members of the Maps community. Their insights and valuable feedback will help us shape this feature so we can bring it to everyone over time.
Google Prepares for a Future Where Search Isn’t King — from wired.com by Lauren Goode
CEO Sundar Pichai tells WIRED that Google’s new, more powerful Gemini chatbot is an experiment in offering users a way to get things done without a search engine. It’s also a direct shot at ChatGPT.
Video, Images and Sounds – Good Tools #14 — from goodtools.substack.com by Robin Good
Specifically in this issue:
Tips on making professional-looking, engaging videos for online courses — from timeshighereducation.com by Geoff Fortescue
Making videos for online classes doesn’t have to be costly. Here are ways to make them look professional on a budget
During lockdown, we were forced to start producing videos for Moocs remotely. This was quite successful, and we continue to use these techniques whenever a contributor can’t come to the studio. The same principles can be used by anyone who doesn’t have access to a media production team. Here are our tips on producing educational videos on a budget.
Prompt engineering — from platform.openai.com
This guide shares strategies and tactics for getting better results from large language models (sometimes referred to as GPT models) like GPT-4. The methods described here can sometimes be deployed in combination for greater effect. We encourage experimentation to find the methods that work best for you.
Some of the examples demonstrated here currently work only with our most capable model, gpt-4. In general, if you find that a model fails at a task and a more capable model is available, it’s often worth trying again with the more capable model.
You can also explore example prompts which showcase what our models are capable of…
Preparedness — from openai.com
The study of frontier AI risks has fallen far short of what is possible and where we need to be. To address this gap and systematize our safety thinking, we are adopting the initial version of our Preparedness Framework. It describes OpenAI’s processes to track, evaluate, forecast, and protect against catastrophic risks posed by increasingly powerful models.
Every Major Tech Development From 2023 — from newsletter.thedailybite.co
The yearly tech round-up, Meta’s smart glasses upgrade, and more…
Here’s every major innovation from the last 365 days:
News in chatbots — from theneurondaily.com by Noah Edelman & Pete Huang
Here’s what’s on the horizon:
20 Best AI Chatbots in 2024 — from eweek.com by Aminu Abdullahi
These leading AI chatbots use generative AI to offer a wide menu of functionality, from personalized customer service to improved information retrieval.
Top 20 Generative AI Chatbot Software: Comparison Chart
We compared the key features of the top generative AI chatbot software to help you determine the best option for your company…
What Google Gemini Teaches Us About Trust and The Future — from aiwithallie.beehiiv.com by Allie K. Miller
The AI demo may have been misleading, but it teaches us two huge lessons.
TL;DR (too long, didn’t read)
Stay curious, stay informed,
Allie
Chatbot Power Rankings — from theneurondaily.com by Noah Edelman
Here’s our power rankings of the best chatbots for (non-technical) work:
1: ChatGPT-4—Unquestionably the smartest, with the strongest writing, coding, and reasoning abilities.
T1: Gemini Ultra—In theory as powerful as GPT-4. We won’t know for sure until it’s released in 2024.
2: Claude 2—Top choice for managing lengthy PDFs (handles ~75,000 words), and rarely hallucinates. Can be somewhat stiff.
3: Perplexity—Ideal for real-time information. Upgrading to Pro grants access to both Claude-2 and GPT-4.
T4: Pi—The most “human-like” chatbot, though integrating with business data can be challenging.
T4: Bing Chat—Delivers GPT-4-esque responses, has internet access, and can generate images. Bad UX and doesn’t support PDFs.
T4: Bard—Now powered by Gemini Pro, offers internet access and answer verification. Tends to hallucinate more frequently.
and others…
Midjourney + ChatGPT = Amazing AI Art — from theaigirl.substack.com by Diana Dovgopol and the Pycoach
Turn ChatGPT into a powerful Midjourney prompt machine with basic and advanced formulas.
Make music with AI — from aitestkitchen.withgoogle.com re: Music FX
The 2023 Ocean Photographer of the Year Contest Highlights the Stunning Sights Above and Below the Surface — from thisiscolossal.com
It’s Not Kansas Anymore: It’s Cinematic Thinking — from campustechnology.com by Mary Grush and Gardner Campbell
A Q&A with Gardner Campbell
Blogs are like a screenplay to a mental movie the student has made. It’s a kind of narrative, but in a way that’s more associative, the way film can be.
Grush: What about your recorded online class sessions? Do they present another path to cinematic thinking?
Campbell: Yes! A couple years ago I started describing what I did with online learning as making movies on location. That referred to the way that I really wanted each of our class meetings to be: a kind of experience, not just for students to be here as I’m lecturing, though I may be doing that, but an experience that’s similar to a live television show. Or almost like a live recording session. Of course, we’re making something that is recorded on video, and you can go back and look at it to get the flow of the experience of our time together: the way in which that story exists through time.
We’re inviting students from around the country to make a podcast and compete for a chance to have their work featured on NPR.
Students in fifth grade through college are eligible to participate, but the rules vary depending on your grade.
Make your voice heard! Be a part of NPR’s Student Podcast Challenge!
9 Tips for Using AI for Learning (and Fun!) — from edutopia.org by Daniel Leonard; via Donna Norton on X/Twitter
These innovative, AI-driven activities will help you engage students across grade levels and subject areas.
Here are nine AI-based lesson ideas to try across different grade levels and subject areas.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Courtesy of Meta AI Research
A child’s drawing (left) and animations created with Animated Drawings.
1. Bring Student Drawings to Life: Young kids love to sketch, and AI can animate their sketches—and introduce them to the power of the technology in the process.
HIGH SCHOOL
8. Speak With AI in a Foreign Language: When learning a new language, students might feel self-conscious about making mistakes and avoid practicing as much as they should.
Though not necessarily about education, also see:
How I Use AI for Productivity — from wondertools.substack.com by Jeremy Caplan
In this Wonder Tools audio post I share a dozen of my favorite AI tools
From DSC:
I like Jeremy’s mentioning the various tools that he used in making this audio post:
The Beatles’ final song is now streaming thanks to AI — from theverge.com by Chris Welch
Machine learning helped Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr turn an old John Lennon demo into what’s likely the band’s last collaborative effort.
Scientists excited by AI tool that grades severity of rare cancer — from bbc.com by Fergus Walsh
Artificial intelligence is nearly twice as good at grading the aggressiveness of a rare form of cancer from scans as the current method, a study suggests.
By recognising details invisible to the naked eye, AI was 82% accurate, compared with 44% for lab analysis.
Researchers from the Royal Marsden Hospital and Institute of Cancer Research say it could improve treatment and benefit thousands every year.
They are also excited by its potential for spotting other cancers early.
Microsoft unveils ‘LeMa’: A revolutionary AI learning method mirroring human problem solving — from venturebeat.com by Michael Nuñez
Researchers from Microsoft Research Asia, Peking University, and Xi’an Jiaotong University have developed a new technique to improve large language models’ (LLMs) ability to solve math problems by having them learn from their mistakes, akin to how humans learn.
The researchers have revealed a pioneering strategy, Learning from Mistakes (LeMa), which trains AI to correct its own mistakes, leading to enhanced reasoning abilities, according to a research paper published this week.
Also from Michael Nuñez at venturebeat.com, see:
GPTs for all, AzeemBot; conspiracy theorist AI; big tech vs. academia; reviving organs ++448 — from exponentialviewco by Azeem Azhar and Chantal Smith
Personalized A.I. Agents Are Here. Is the World Ready for Them? — from ytimes.com by Kevin Roose (behind a paywall)
You could think of the recent history of A.I. chatbots as having two distinct phases.
The first, which kicked off last year with the release of ChatGPT and continues to this day, consists mainly of chatbots capable of talking about things. Greek mythology, vegan recipes, Python scripts — you name the topic and ChatGPT and its ilk can generate some convincing (if occasionally generic or inaccurate) text about it.
That ability is impressive, and frequently useful, but it is really just a prelude to the second phase: artificial intelligence that can actually do things. Very soon, tech companies tell us, A.I. “agents” will be able to send emails and schedule meetings for us, book restaurant reservations and plane tickets, and handle complex tasks like “negotiate a raise with my boss” or “buy Christmas presents for all my family members.”
From DSC:
Very cool!
Introducing, Motion Brush.
A new way to add controlled movement to your generations.
Coming soon to Gen-2. pic.twitter.com/htyjf1gstz
— Runway (@runwayml) November 10, 2023
Nvidia Stock Jumps After Unveiling of Next Major AI Chip. It’s Bad News for Rivals. — from barrons.com
On Monday, Nvidia (ticker: NVDA) announced its new H200 Tensor Core GPU. The chip incorporates 141 gigabytes of memory and offers up to 60% to 90% performance improvements versus its current H100 model when used for inference, or generating answers from popular AI models.
From DSC:
The exponential curve seems to be continuing — 60% to 90% performance improvements is a huge boost in performance.
Also relevant/see:
The 5 Best GPTs for Work — from the AI Exchange
Custom GPTs are exploding, and we wanted to highlight our top 5 that we’ve seen so far:
