AI Goes Hollywood... And No, It's Not Sora.

Welcome, AI entrepreneurs & enthusiasts.

Lionsgate just teamed up with AI startup Runway to create custom video generation models trained on its iconic film catalogue.

As Hollywood grapples with AI's role in filmmaking, could this partnership redefine the future of movie production? Let's get into it…?

In today’s AI news:

• Lionsgate partners with Runway for GenAI
• YouTube launches AI-powered creation tools
• Google uses AI to understand whales
• More AI & tech news

Lionsgate partners with Runway for GenAI

The News: Lionsgate, the film company behind The Hunger Games, John Wick, and Saw, teamed up with AI video generation company Runway to create a custom AI model trained on Lionsgate’s film catalogue.

The details:

• The partnership will develop an AI model specifically trained on Lionsgate’s proprietary content library, designed to generate cinematic video that filmmakers can further manipulate using Runway’s tools.
• Lionsgate sees AI as a tool to augment and enhance its current operations, streamlining both pre-production and post-production processes.
• Runway is considering ways to offer similar custom-trained models as templates for individual creators, expanding access to AI-powered filmmaking tools beyond major studios.

Why it matters: As many writers, actors, and filmmakers strike against ChatGPT, Lionsgate is diving head-first into the world of generative AI through its partnership with Runway. This is one of the first major collabs between an AI startup and a major Hollywood company — and its success or failure could set precedent for years to come.

YouTube launches AI-powered creation tools

The News: YouTube just announced a range of new AI features designed to assist creators, including text-to-video generation, AI-powered inspiration tools, and automated dubbing capabilities.

The details:

• Veo, Google’s new AI video generation tool, will allow creators to generate six-second video clips for YouTube Shorts using text prompts, with the resulting content watermarked and labelled as AI-generated.
• YouTube’s new AI-powered “Inspiration” features will help creators brainstorm video ideas and even suggest responses to comments.
• The platform is also expanding its AI dubbing capabilities with expressive speech to make translations sound more natural, mimicking the original audio’s pitch and intonation.
• These new features aim to enhance human creativity rather than replace it, according to YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, who revealed that 92% of YouTube creators already use AI tools (in some capacity).

Why it matters: This is another win for global AI acceptance with YouTube leaning into AI generation on its platform, rather than fighting back against it. The platform is also showing how sensible AI watermarks can offset potential downsides for both creators and viewers.

Google uses AI to understand whales

The News: Google Research recently developed a new AI model capable of identifying vocalizations from eight distinct whale species, including the mysterious “Biotwang” sound recently attributed to Bryde’s whales.

The details:

• The model classifies 12 different whale vocalizations across a broad acoustic range (10 Hz to 120+ kHz), covering multiple calls for some species.
• The AI tool is designed to aid conservation efforts by improving the ability to track whale populations and movements through passive acoustic monitoring.
• The model includes newly identified sounds like the Bryde’s whale “Biotwang”, which was a decades-old mystery until recently solved by NOAA researchers.
• Google has made the model available for download via Kaggle Models, allowing researchers and conservationists to use the technology in their studies.

Why it matters: The benefits of AI in chatbots and medical research are obvious by now, but AI is impacting the entire globe — even deep down in the depths of the ocean. This AI model, in particular, is helping us better understand diverse whale species, which could lead to more effective protection strategies for endangered marine life.

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QUICK HITS

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The Biden administration announced an international AI safety meeting in San Francisco for this November, gathering experts from nine countries and the EU.

OpenAI reportedly warned users against probing its new o1 AI models’ reasoning processes, threatening bans for policy violations.

Northwestern University received $20 million to lead a new AI research institute developing tools for astronomy and astrophysics data analysis.

Google announced $25 million in funding to support AI education initiatives, aiming to train over 500,000 educators and students in new artificial intelligence skills.

Alibaba released Qwen 2.5, a multilingual AI model with 72B parameters, rivaling larger models in performance across various benchmarks.

Nvidia launched its AI Aerial platform to optimize wireless networks and enable new AI experiences on a unified infrastructure for telecom providers.

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