AI Frontier Weekly | 23rd September 2024

AI IMAGES:

Over the coming months, Google will introduce a new feature to identify whether an image found in its search results (including Circle to Search and Google Lens) was taken with a camera, edited by software (like Photoshop), or generated using AI.

?Key Points:

• Google has partnered with the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA)—the biggest group tackling AI imagery—and will use their ‘Content Credentials’ standards to flag/label the origins of images.
• They worked with C2PA to develop the latest version of the credentials and will use these and C2PA’s ‘Trusted List’ which validates the content's origins, to confirm if the information is accurate.
• They will start by adding the origins of images within an ‘About this image’ button on search results pages, but they also plan to roll it out for YouTube viewers and also include it in their ads, later this year.

?Why you should care: While the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, Adobe, Arm, OpenAI, and Intel, have all publicly backed CP2A’s image authentication standards, Google will be the first to implement it, as there are several adoption challenges, like just a handful of cameras from Leica and Sony have agreed to adopt it and be on the Trust List (although Nikon and Canon have pledged their support) and there are also issues with how to view the data, once its added to an image—most major platforms don’t have label systems, like Google—but its thought that Google’s uptake might encourage others. (Source).

BlackRock + Microsoft: Big AI push:

• Venture giant BlackRock plans to launch one of Wall Street’s biggest AI-focused funds—over $100B—with Microsoft and others, to build AI data centers and the energy infrastructure to power them.
• The companies involved have formed a ‘Global Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership’ which is “committed to ensuring AI advances innovation and drives growth across every sector of the economy.”
• GAIIP will initially seek $30B of private equity, which it will then leverage to raise $100B, which it doesn’t “believe will be a difficult task,” with?most of the infrastructure being deployed in the US. (Source).

Amazon AI revolutionizes shopping!

At its annual seller conference—Amazon Accelerate—Amazon announced new AI tools that will improve the shopping and selling experience for customers and retailers.

?Key Points:

• Amazon will use customer’s shopping habits (eg. search, browsing, and buying history) to recommend products with specific features and curate relevant product descriptions, based on user interests.
• It will give sellers access to an AI video tool that will use product images/features to create AI-generated ads, and a new ‘live image’ feature that can partially animate still images (eg. adding steam to mugs).
• They’ll also get access to AI selling expert—Amelia—a chatbot (trained on public data and Amazon seller resources) who can investigate/resolve account issues, fetch sales/inventory data, and provide performance metrics.

?Why you should care: While the ‘live image, ’AI video generator, and Amelia chatbot are just available to a small group of US-based sellers—where they'll be fine-tuned ahead of a wider release over the coming months—this marks a big step into the world of AI for Amazon, who has been struggling to keep up with bigger players, like Google and Meta, and comes after they announced Anthropic’s Claude will power the new Alexa, launched an AI shopping assistant (Rufus), introduced a chatbot for businesses (Q/Bedrock), and made its largest venture deal (to date) in Anthropic: They’re catching up! (Source).

Lionsgate AI film breakthrough:

AI video start-up Runway, has partnered with Lionsgate—the Hollywood Studio behind the Twilight and Hunger Games franchises—to build a custom AI video generation model and train it on Lionsgate’s massive catalog of films and TV shows.

?Key Points:?

• According to Lionsgate, the partnership is a “capital-efficient” way of creating content for the studio, as filmmakers, directors, and other creatives will have access to the AI model to “augment their work.”
• Runway wants to give filmmakers “new ways of bringing their stories alive,” and also plans to license the model as a template for individual creators to build and train their own custom AI video models.
• Although other studios—like Disney and Paramount—have had discussions about teaming up with AI providers—like OpenAI and Google—this is the first public partnership between a studio and an AI startup.

?Why you should care: The partnership comes as filmmakers have raised concerns over the culling of jobs, thanks to AI, and after the SAG-AFTRA strike, last year, which saw performers stand up against the use of AI clones in production, but California Governor Gavin Newsom signed two SAG-AFTRA-backed bills this week, which should give more control over how AI is used within the industry. (Source).

OpenAI’s big move into education.

• OpenAI has hired the ex-Chief Revenue Officer at online learning platform—Coursera Inc—Leah Belsky, to be its first ‘General Manager of Education’ to bring AI products (namely its own) into more schools.
• Belsky will share industry feedback with internal teams, bring AI products into elementary schools, higher education, and continuing education, and boost engagement with teachers and students.
• This comes after OpenAI launched ChatGPT Edu for universities, in May, to help with tutoring, reviewing resumes, writing grant applications, and grading, enabling schools to responsibly deploy AI. (Source).

“There is no reason and no way that a human mind can keep up with an artificial intelligence machine by 2035.”—Gray Scott.