Technology Gone Wild: Rise of the Machines

[sparcboxbuck]

Soylent Green

It's coming

The generative AI stuff, and what’s available in foundational models alone, is mind blowing. I’ve been doing what amounts to deep learning since the mid ‘90s where my first job was DoD related… so I’ve been at this for a long time. Reason I share, as a cognitive scientist (by education, anyhow), I’ve been floored by what we’re seeing.

You can stop there if you want. If you want more explanation, keep reading…

Not to put anyone in a but I’m deeply involved in the AI work being done in our company. Given my background, as a practitioner and by education, I’m a bit beside myself in how good this stuff really is. It used to be that if you wanted to train a BIG deep learning model or something like one of these generative language models, there wasn’t enough computational horse power to pull it off. That’s no longer the case. But what’s really crazy is now the computational resources exist and with it, a LOT of the heavy lift that you’d have to do for a bespoke solution is already being done and being put in the public domain. That is to say, I can train a LLM (large language model) from scratch at the cost of $30-$50K, minimum, in computational resources alone. But there exists a number of general LLM models that have been “pre-trained” (that’s what the “PT” stands for in the G”PT” acronym). The pre-trained models can be fine tuned with significantly less resources cost wise, and a very limited amount of data to be adapted for custom use cases.

So, great… I can make a sex-bot from a foundation model on the cheep? What’s the big deal?

The number of fucks I give about your sex-bot? Zero. It’s where this shit is going… and how quickly we’re going to get there. I’m sure that some of you have seen the AI-based Morgan Freeman?


Or the Joe Rogan deep fake? Guess what, that shit is funny. Maybe a bit spooky, but it’s fucking funny…

That is, until you realize that this technology is literally in it’s infancy relative to the computational resources we have today. NGL, compared to the DoD work I was doing, this is light years in front of what we were doing in the ‘90s… but we had nowhere near the kind of resources we have now. I won’t even go into the shit we had access to in DoD work back then… even by today’s standards, it was impressive… but it sure as fuck wasn’t available to my 18-year old son and a credit card.

But back to the point of foundational models. When the requirements to adapt someone else’s heavy lift is 1% of the initial lift, it democratizes (not necessarily in a good way) the technology. This makes it available to any hack with decent skills and a credit card… and combine that with bad intentions, this shit can go sideways in a hurry.

And we’ve only discussed generative AI for language, video and voice.

This is where you need to, how did the sorority girl from UMD (recall the “cunt punch” email) say it? Ahh, that’s right… “tie yourself down to whatever chair you’re sitting in, this is going to be a rough fucking ride.”

Imagine a parallel technology with equal or greater computational power being applied to the encryption algorithms that do things like protect networks and… awww… fuck… our national security… and those of our friends and our foes.

I’ll stop there and let that shit sink in for a bit. The world is being sidetracked by the shiny object called GPT while spoofing someone’s likeness and having an AI model writing a term paper is the LEAST OF YOUR FUCKING CONCERN, or sure as fuck should be.

Pray that the encryption technology stays well in front of whateverthehell is being used to break the encryption. I’m not convinced it’s a fair race.

Last thing I’ll say is that we discuss ethical uses of this technology all the time. That’s all well and fucking good when everyone buys into the idea of ethical use. No need in saying any more.

 

[Tomateaux Quinoa Gumbeaux]

Microscopic Louis Vuitton bag sells for $63,750 | Fortune

The so-called ant purse was designed by MSCHF, the organization behind the controversial blood-infused “Satan shoes.”

fortune.com

Shoppers wanting to take home a Louis Vuitton handbag would need to have around $2,300 in their bank account.

To take home a microscopic version of the bag—which has been created without the brand’s sign-off—it would cost them around 27 times that much.

According to a listing from Joopiter, a digital-first auction house founded by musician and creative Pharrell Williams, a neon Louis Vuitton tote bag “smaller than a grain of salt” sold this week for nearly $63,750.

The piece, named Microscopic Handbag, was created by Brooklyn art collective MSCHF (pronounced “mischief”).

The group raised eyebrows in 2021 after it tore up Hermès Birkin bags—which retail for around $11,000 each—and transformed the pieces into Birkenstock-style sandals, which sold for $76,000. MSCHF also made headlines for selling sneakers with holy water trapped in the soles, dubbed “Jesus shoes,” and “Satan shoes” containing human blood, which were released in collaboration with rapper Lil Nas X.

As well as causing a stir among the public, the Lucifer-inspired footwear was met with a less-than-enthusiastic response from Nike, which sued MSCHF for the unauthorized use of its Air Max 97s in the design. The lawsuit was ultimately settledoutside of court.

On Instagram, MSCHF said the Microscopic Handbag—which is small enough to pass through the eye of a needle—had been made to underline the fashion trend of micro-bags, many of which aren’t large enough to accommodate a mobile phone.


“There are big handbags, normal handbags, and small handbags, but this is the final word in bag miniaturization,” the collective wrote. “As a once-functional object like a handbag becomes smaller and smaller its object status becomes steadily more abstracted until it is purely a brand signifier.”
The bag—dubbed the “ant purse”—measures 657 by 222 by 700 micrometers and is visible to the human eye only via a microscope with digital screen, which also pictured in the listing.

Micro matters​

The piece was made using polymerization printing methods—a type of 3D printing—and created out of resin; it’s since been put in a gel casing so it won’t be misplaced.

This is a factor the team creating the piece needed to consider. According to Smithsonian magazine, MSCHF lost some shards of the material when sending them off for review.

In a statement alongside the listing, MSCHF argued that usability of items like bags is no longer in the hands of mere mortals.

“Previous small leather handbags have still required a hand to carry them—they become dysfunctional, inconveniences to their ‘wearer,’” the group said.


“Microscopic Handbag takes this to its full logical conclusion. A practical object is boiled down into jewelry, all of its putative function evaporated; for luxury objects, usability is the angel’s share.”
As well as potentially losing shards of the handbag, MSCHF also faced the issue of Louis Vuitton’s branding—which they didn’t seek permission to use.
Earlier this month, Kevin Wiesner, chief creative officer of MSCHF, told the New York Times: “We are big in the ‘ask forgiveness, not permission’ school.”
It’s a mentality that hasn’t worked seamlessly in the past. As well as facing legal troubles for its “Satan shoes,” which sold out almost instantly but were recalled as part of Nike’s settlement,MSCHF is also currently embroiled in a lawsuit with Vans.

The skateboarding apparel company sued MSCHF after it released a line of “Wavy Baby” shoes, distorting Vans’ “Old Skool” sneakers. Sales of the shoes were initially blocked in April last year, with a judge finding Vans was likely to prove that MSCHF’s shoes would be confused with Vans’ trademark-protected design.

 

[Tomateaux Quinoa Gumbeaux]

I’m not sure what’s more amazing: modern technological capabilities, or the absolutely idiotic things humanity is doing with those capabilities.

 

[ScriptOhio]

Las Vegas' MSG Sphere leaves residents and tourists mesmerized

After a more than $2billion spend, Sphere's Vegas debut will light up the night sky in a whole new way.

www.dailymail.co.uk

'This is definitely going to attract more UFOs': Las Vegas' MSG $2.3billion Sphere leaves residents and tourists mesmerized with its displays since opening on July 4th​

• Sphere, the largest LED screen in the world, debuted its abilities in Las Vegas on July 4th
• The gigantic orb, which will also serve as a nearly 20,000-seat venue, will light up the Vegas strip in a new way
• The company behind Sphere says it is the largest spherical structure on earth

The long-awaited Sphere made its debut in Las Vegas on Independence Day, and locals are still trying to figure out how to feel about the $2.3billion light-up ball.

The Sphere, brought into existence by Sphere Entertainment Co., is 366 feet tall, 516 across and features 580,000 square feet of fully-programmable LED lighting. The structure also serves as a nearly 20,000-seat arena.

The company claims it is the largest LED screen on the planet, in addition to being the largest spherical structure on Earth.

 

[Tomateaux Quinoa Gumbeaux]

Las Vegas' MSG Sphere leaves residents and tourists mesmerized

After a more than $2billion spend, Sphere's Vegas debut will light up the night sky in a whole new way.

www.dailymail.co.uk

'This is definitely going to attract more UFOs': Las Vegas' MSG $2.3billion Sphere leaves residents and tourists mesmerized with its displays since opening on July 4th​

• Sphere, the largest LED screen in the world, debuted its abilities in Las Vegas on July 4th
• The gigantic orb, which will also serve as a nearly 20,000-seat venue, will light up the Vegas strip in a new way
• The company behind Sphere says it is the largest spherical structure on earth

The long-awaited Sphere made its debut in Las Vegas on Independence Day, and locals are still trying to figure out how to feel about the $2.3billion light-up ball.

The Sphere, brought into existence by Sphere Entertainment Co., is 366 feet tall, 516 across and features 580,000 square feet of fully-programmable LED lighting. The structure also serves as a nearly 20,000-seat arena.

The company claims it is the largest LED screen on the planet, in addition to being the largest spherical structure on Earth.

$2.3 bn? What a waste of money. But a pretty cool way to waste money I guess

 

[Tomateaux Quinoa Gumbeaux]

 

[5 STAR U-G-A]

Virtual AI supermodels trigger wider fears in fashion workforce

Anxiety about tech displacing humans is common in many industries undergoing change. But in the fashion world, those worries are colliding with other long-running labor concerns.

www.nbcnews.com

Plans by Levi’s to test out virtual clothing models generated by artificial intelligence drew swift backlash in the industry late last month. While the furor mainly focused on diversity concerns, the retailer’s proposal also stirred up other anxieties that have been simmering in the industry for years.

Some critics of Levi Strauss & Co.’s partnership with AI design firm Lalaland.ai, which aimed to show online shoppers different types of people wearing Levi’s garments, accused the retailer of looking to inexpensively address issues of representation — potentially pushing professional models out of their jobs in the process.

“When you have to hire a model, book an agency, have a stylist, do the makeup, feed them on set — all that costs money,” said Shawn Grain Carter, a professor of fashion business management at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. “Let’s make no mistake about it, Levi’s is doing this because this saves them money.”

A Levi’s spokesperson referred to a statement in which the company denied any intentions to save costs with the project. The retailer said that the AI models it planned to introduce would supplement but not replace its photoshoots with live models. Lalaland didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Worries about technology displacing human labor are nothing new, and they’re far from distinct to the fashion workforce. But while AI has been used in fashion for years, some workers are watching its expansion in the space with growing alarm.

Yanii Gough, a model and the founder of Yanii Models, where she works with over 100 models, said that many are still “dying to get back to consistency” as the industry re-emerges from pandemic-related disruptions.
With the rise of AI modeling firms, clients can simply “send an email to the agency and say, ‘Hey, this is exactly what I’m looking for,’ and someone will find that person,” she said, referring to companies that book models for everything from photoshoots to fittings.

There is some precedent for concerns like Gough’s.

Shudu, created in 2017 and thought to be the world’s first digital supermodel, has booked gigs within the past year with high-end brands such as BMW and Louis Vuitton. Shudu, who was designed as a Black woman, also drew criticism toward The Diigitals, the AI modeling agency that created her, and its founder, Cameron-James Wilson, who is white.

Today, options continue to expand for brands and advertisers looking to use AI to help market and sell clothes. In addition to Lalaland, there’s also Deep Agency, a new AI startup that allows users to create a virtual photoshoot with either synthetic models or an AI version of a real person.

Gough said she also worries about models’ images being used without their permission via AI, a concern that Sara Ziff, the founder of a nonprofit advocacy group called the Model Alliance, said she is hearing as well.

“Fit models may be replaced by AI body scans,” she said, adding that these models — who try on clothes for designers and manufacturers to check sizing and silhouettes — are already calling her organization in growing numbers.

Ziff said some have complained that companies are hiring them to conduct body scans, which can form the basis for product development without their knowledge or receiving compensation.
“So they’re able to design the clothes on virtually using a scan of the model’s body, rather than actually having to book the model in person,” said Ziff, who declined to provide examples, citing the Model Alliance’s policy of maintaining an anonymous hotline for industry workers to flag complaints.
Fashion brands have defended their AI efforts as add-ons that benefit shoppers, and the AI design studios and agencies working in the space similarly describe their efforts as supplemental. Lalaland’s founders, for example, have said they created the company to sustainably increase representation in fashion.
Agents and management companies who book models for the types of jobs Ziff described don’t legally have to tell them their body scans could be used on more projects without compensation, she said. Ziff is advocating for the proposed Fashion Workers Act in New York, which she said would force agencies to more fully disclose the scope of work and pay.
Current law leaves some gray area around models’ rights to organize unions, Ziff added, resulting in limited labor protections.
Because most models are considered independent contractors, many face heightened risks of being sued or retaliated against by their agencies. Representatives for other professionals in creative fields, like the Writers Guild of America, have the power to propose standards and best practices for AI use in their industries.
Meanwhile, AI models have become so realistic that it’s already impossible for many consumers to distinguish them from images of humans. Ashley France, an influencer who criticized Levi’s partnership with Lalaland, said she hopes regulators will step in.
“The same way that we have to put a PSA that something’s an ad, or that something’s a dietary supplement — or now, thankfully, that something is photoshopped — I feel like it should be the same type of regulations,” France said.

 

[5 STAR U-G-A]

Ex-Google exec says AI-powered sex robots will seem ‘alive’ and eliminate need for ‘another being’

Human beings will be able to simulate sex through virtual reality and augmented reality headsets like Apple’s Vision Pro or a Quest 3, Mo Gawdat said.

nypost.com

Ex-Google exec says AI-powered sex robots will seem ‘alive’ and eliminate need for ‘another being’​

A former senior executive at Google predicted that sex robots powered by artificial intelligence could eliminate the need for a human partner in the bedroom.

Mo Gawdat, who was chief business officer for Google’s clandestine research-and-development arm X, said that AI will usher in a “redesign of love and relationships” in that people won’t be able to tell the difference between real-life sexual encounters and those that are created artificially.

Human beings will soon be able to simulate sex through virtual reality and augmented reality headsets such as Apple’s Vision Pro or a Quest 3, Gawdat told YouTube host Tom Bilyeu of the “Impact Theory” podcast.

The headsets combined with AI-powered bots will trick people into thinking that the sex robot is real, according to Gawdat.

“Just think about all of the illusions that we’re now unable to decipher,” Gawdat told Bilyeu.

“But if we can convince you that this sex robot is alive, or that sex experience in a virtual reality headset or an augmented reality headset is alive, it’s real, then there you go.”

Gawdat said that technological advances will enable computer-backed systems to link into the human brain and make it think it is interacting with a peer.

Mo Gawdat, who was chief business officer for Google’s clandestine research-and-development arm X, said that AI will usher in a “redesign of love and relationships.”Getty Images for BoF

“If we think a few years further and think of Neuralink and other ways of connecting directly to your nervous system, and why would you need another being in the first place?” Gawdat said.

“You know, that’s actually quite messy,” he said, referencing real-life human relationships.

Gawdat said that even the mental and emotional stimuli that come with intimacy can be recreated artificially.

“It’s all signals in your brain that you enjoy companionship, and sexuality, and — if you really want to take the magic out of it — it can be simulated,” he said.

Gawdat scoffed at the raging debate over whether AI-powered bots can be considered “sentient” — saying it’s irrelevant if the human brain is convinced they are real.


“Once again there is that huge debate of whether they are sentient or not,” Gawdat said.

“Does it really matter if they’re simulating sentientism so well?”

He added: “Does it really matter if the Morgan Freeman talking to you on the screen is actually Morgan Freeman or an AI generated avatar, if you’re convinced that it is Morgan Freeman?”

“We get lost in those conversations of are they alive are they sentient, doesn’t matter if my brain believes they are, they are.”

Earlier this year, 23-year-old Snapchat influencer Caryn Marjorie created a ChatGTP-powered doppelgänger of herself that engages in erotic pillow talk.

The sexbot, CarynAI, boasts over 1,000 boyfriends who each pay $1 a minute for its services.

Rosanna Ramos, a 36-year-old mother of two from the Bronx, virtually “married” an AI bot that was created with the Replika app.

Replika uses AI to lean people’s texting styles, enabling it to mimic humans.

The advance of AI has sparked fears that bots will replace humans in knowledge-based industries — prompting critics to call for a halt in research and development.

 

[Tomateaux Quinoa Gumbeaux]

This YouTube content creator felt that creating content for YouTube was too hard so decided to have AI create it for him instead

 

[Tomateaux Quinoa Gumbeaux]

 

[DubCoffman62]

 

[Tomateaux Quinoa Gumbeaux]

It had a ways to go.

Pretty funny concept and AI will be good at making what are essentially full-length motion picture shitposts , but it needs to evolve for me to really be interested in seeing a full movie.

 

[Tomateaux Quinoa Gumbeaux]

Roblox’s CEO predicts “thousands” of adults will meet in Roblox dating experiences

That’s not as far-fetched as it may seem.

www.theverge.com

Roblox wants to be a dating app​

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Roblox’s chief executive made 10 big predictions about the future of the platform, and one of them involved dating.​

By Jay Peters, a news editor who writes about technology, video games, and virtual worlds. He’s submitted several accepted emoji proposals to the Unicode Consortium.
Roblox really wants to move beyond being an app for kids, and that includes making it a place where adults actually meet and date. As he closed out Friday’s Roblox Developers Conference (RDC) 2023 keynote, CEO David Baszucki predicted that “thousands” of adults will meet and form “real-life relationships” in dating experiences on the platform over the next five years.
It’s a wild idea, but Roblox is now in a place where this prediction could feasibly come true. The company recently added experiences that can only be played by users who have verified that they are 17 or older, meaning that people hanging out in those exclusive experiences can be relatively sure they’re spending time with people who are old enough to be there. Next year, Roblox is planning to release an AI-powered tool that would let you make an avatar with an image and a text prompt, which could help you make a more realistic version of yourself. And with the platform’s soon-to-launch Roblox Connect video chat feature, people who form a connection could move to a video call to talk more.


The forecast was one of 10 five-year predictions Baszucki made onstage to cap off a jam-packed show. Here are the rest of the predictions, one of which hints at a future update that will let creators sell physical merchandise on the platform:

10. A Fortune 500 company will use a Roblox experience as part of their recruiting process
9. A school will integrate a full K-12 curriculum with Roblox, including language classes with schools in other countries and virtual field trips
8. For 17+ verified people in 17+ experiences: Thousands of adults will meet for the first time in Roblox dating experiences and subsequently form real life relationships
7. Roblox employees will spend more time using Roblox for remote meetings than with video
6. We will share a universal civility metric, and show that for most players, it increases over time
5. Some Roblox creators will make more money from selling physical merchandise on Roblox than virtual merchandise
4. Roblox will be a frequent communication channel for my family
3. A top fashion designer will be discovered on Roblox, without having any experience in physical fashion
2. A musician will perform live to over 1 [million] people on Roblox, using a phone for motion capture
1. A Roblox developer will be valued at $1 [billion]

 

[knuckifyoubuck]

I just hope the machines rise up before my bills are due next month

 

[Tomateaux Quinoa Gumbeaux]

MSN

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt Bets AI Will Shake Up Scientific Research​

Story by Jackie Davalos, Nate Lanxon and David Warren • 1h

(Bloomberg) -- Eric Schmidt is funding a nonprofit that’s focused on building an artificial intelligence-powered assistant for the laboratory, with the lofty goal of overhauling the scientific research process, according to interviews with the former Google CEO and officials at the new venture.

The nonprofit, Future House, plans to develop AI tools that can analyze and summarize research papers as well as respond to scientific questions using large language models — the same technology that supports popular AI chatbots. But Future House also intends to go a step further.

The “AI scientist,” as Future House refers to it, will one day be able to sift through thousands of scientific papers and independently compose hypotheses at greater speed and scale than humans, Chief Executive Officer Sam Rodriques said on the latest episode of the Bloomberg Originals series AI IRL, his most extensive comments to date on the company.

A growing number of businesses and investors are focusing on AI’s potential applications in science, including uncovering new medicines and therapies. While Future House aims to make breakthroughs of its own, it believes the scientific process itself can be transformed by having AI generate a hypothesis, conduct experiments and reach conclusions — even though some existing AI tools have been prone to errors and bias.

Rodriques acknowledged the risks of AI being applied in science. "It's not just inaccuracy that you need to worry about,” he said. There are also concerns that “people can use them to come up with weapons and things like that.” Future House will "have an obligation" to make sure there's safeguards in place,” he added.


Eric Schmidt© Bloomberg
In an interview, Schmidt said early-stage scientific research “is not moving fast enough today.” Schmidt helped shape the idea behind Future House and was inspired by his time at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center, which developed ethernet, laser printing and other innovations.

“It was a place where you got these people in their late 20s and early 30s, gave them independence and all the resources they needed, and they would invent things at a pace that you didn't get anywhere else,” Schmidt said. “What I really want is to create new environments like what PARC used to be, where outstanding young researchers can pursue their best ideas.”

Schmidt has an estimated net worth of $24.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He’s funneled some of that fortune into philanthropic efforts like Schmidt Futures, an initiative that funds science and technology entrepreneurs. In recent months, he’s emerged as an influential voice on AI policy in Washington.

Rodriques, a biotechnology inventor who studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said Schmidt will fund Future House for its first five years. He estimated that the non-profit will spend about $20 million by the end of 2024. After that, “it will depend on how we grow and what we need,” he said, adding that a substantial portion of that cash will go to hiring talent and setting up what’s called a “wet” laboratory, a space designed to test chemicals and other biological matter. While Schmidt is providing most of the upfront capital, Future House is also in talks with other philanthropic backers, Rodriques said.

“The key thing about Future House is that we are getting together this biology talent and this AI talent in a way that you don't get in other places,” Schmidt said.

One of the first hires is Andrew White, the nonprofit’s head of science, who was most recently an associate professor of chemical engineering at the University of Rochester. “I think most scientists probably read five papers a week. Imagine what's going to happen when you have systems that can process all 10,000 papers that are coming out every day,” White said. “In some fields, the limiting factor is not the equipment. It's not really the cost. It's the ability of humans to come up with the next experiment.”

Future House will start with biology but its system will eventually be applicable to other scientific fields, White said.

With his financial backing, Schmidt believes Future House will be able to prioritize research rather than racing to make money. “I think getting the incentives right is especially important right now, when there’s a very high expectation that progress in AI will lead to products in the short term, which is leading a lot of the big AI research centers to focus very much on commercialization over research,” Schmidt said.