All posts tagged: Artifical Intelligence

Will Ferrell Predicted Actors Being Replaced by Robots

Will Ferrell Predicted Actors Being Replaced by Robots

Published by Daniella Wilson

It seems Will Ferrell can add predicting the future to his list of talents. Molly Shannon made a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where she opened up about her decades-long friendship with the beloved actor. She recalled working at a “cappuccino, scone place” in Los Angeles in the mid-1990s, when she was introduced to Ferrell through the Groundlings comedy troupe. “We clicked right away,” she said, noting that they met for the first time at the restaurant where she worked, and that she served him a scone and a latte. “We’ve been friends ever since. 30 years.” They were later hired on Saturday Night Live in 1995, which not only launched them both into stardom but also became a defining era for the NBC sketch comedy series. While reflecting on her early SNL days with host Jimmy Kimmel, the Divorce actress remembered one conversation she had with Ferrell that was surprisingly predictive of modern-day Hollywood. “One night when we were at SNL, we had just started, and I was so excited like, ‘Oh my …

Steven Soderbergh Wants to Use ‘A Lot of AI’ for Wagner Moura Movie

Steven Soderbergh Wants to Use ‘A Lot of AI’ for Wagner Moura Movie

Published by Daniella Wilson

Steven Soderbergh is planning to utilize artificial intelligence for a movie he has in the works with Wagner Moura. In a Tuesday interview with Filmmaker Magazine, the Black Bag director told the outlet he was “trying to get a movie made about the Spanish-American War.” The interviewer replied by asking, “With ships and everything? For which you would use…” Soderbergh responded, “A lot of AI.” The Christophers filmmaker continued by shedding light on the status of the project, explaining that Moura is set to star while he’s trying to cast the rest of the film. “It’s a really good story, and nobody’s really done it. Every day that goes by it becomes more timely. I’ve just got to get it cast. I’ve got Wagner Moura. I need a few more people,” he said. “I have two studios circling, but it’s all about how much I can do it for. But if I can get the right cast together, that will eventize it, and people will feel they have to see it now rather than waiting …

Canal+ Names Anne‑Laure Tingry Chief Data & AI Officer

Canal+ Names Anne‑Laure Tingry Chief Data & AI Officer

Published by Daniella Wilson

Canal+ Group has named Anne‑Laure Tingry its first-ever chief data & AI (artificial intelligence) officer. She will be reporting to Maxime Saada, chairman and CEO of Canal+, and also join the media company’s executive committee. “As the global media and entertainment group steps up its focus on artificial intelligence, Anne‑Laure Tingry will be responsible for leading Canal+’s data and AI strategy across all its markets and overseeing the implementation of projects in these areas,” the company said. Canal+ recently struck AI deals with OpenAI and Google Cloud. Starting in June, Canal+ will “roll out a major evolution of the Canal+ App using the technology from OpenAI to power content search and discovery,” the firm said. “This new feature represents a major breakthrough in delivering a more intuitive, intelligent, and personalized user experience.” In addition, Google Cloud and Canal+ struck a multi-year partnership focused on artificial intelligence. Under that pact, Canal+ will deploy, also from June, Google Cloud’s “latest generative AI technologies across European and African markets where the Canal+ App is available, unlocking a new …

Charlie Puth Named Chief Music Officer at Moises

Charlie Puth Named Chief Music Officer at Moises

Published by Daniella Wilson

Charlie Puth has been named the chief music officer at AI music platform Moises, the company announced Wednesday, with Puth set to consult Moises for the company’s “creative and product direction.” Whereas some of the most notable AI music platforms like Suno and Udio have garnered significant buzz — and controversy — for allowing users to generate music recordings with a prompt and push of a button, Moises offers non-generative AI music production tools like vocal isolation and mastering to help speed up the recording process. “I’ve been using Moises in my own creative process for years, as have many of my friends,” Puth said in a statement. “It opens up possibilities that used to take hours or expensive studio setups, whether that’s isolating vocals to study technique or experimenting with arrangements in real time. AI, when done right, isn’t here to replace musicians. It’s here to help artists learn, explore and bring their ideas to life.” Moises CEO Geraldo Ramos added: “Musicianship has always evolved alongside technology, and AI represents the next chapter in that …

ByteDance to Strengthen Seedance Safeguards After Hollywood Threats

ByteDance to Strengthen Seedance Safeguards After Hollywood Threats

Published by Daniella Wilson

ByteDance, the Chinese tech giant that owns TikTok outside the U.S., said it will “strengthen current safeguards” on its AI video generating tool Seedance, following threats of legal action from Disney and other Hollywood studios over the use of their intellectual property in short form videos that are taking over social media. Seedance 2.0 has caused an earthquake in the West, after the latest iteration of the tool seen the rapid creation and proliferation of hyper realistic short form videos featuring some of world’s biggest movie and TV stars, as well as characters from Marvel, DC, Star Wars and other popular franchises. Such has been the spread of Seedance videos, that Hollywood has been quick to fire back. On Friday, Disney sent a cease and desist letter to ByteDance over the brazen infringement of its IP. The reaction from other major Hollywood organizations has been just as swift and vehement. The Motion Picture Association, which represents the studios, has demanded that the tool “immediately cease its infringing activity” and the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA accused Seedance …

X Stops Grok From Editing Images of Real People in Revealing Clothing

X Stops Grok From Editing Images of Real People in Revealing Clothing

Published by Daniella Wilson

Grok, the AI chatbot created by xAI, the artificial intelligence company founded by and majority-owned by Elon Musk, last week switched off its image creation and editing function for non-subscribers after an uproar over sexualized and violent imagery created with it. The restriction came amid threats of fines or even an outright ban on X in the U.K. Now, it has expanded restrictions to all users, including subscribers. “We remain committed to making X a safe platform for everyone and continue to have zero tolerance for any forms of child sexual exploitation, non-consensual nudity, and unwanted sexual content,” an X post said late on Wednesday. “We take action to remove high-priority violative content, including Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) and non-consensual nudity, taking appropriate action against accounts that violate our X Rules. We also report accounts seeking Child Sexual Exploitation materials to law enforcement authorities as necessary.” The post also highlighted updates to Grok: “We have implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing, such as bikinis. This restriction applies …

Grok Image Tool Probed by U.K. Media Regulator Ofcom

Grok Image Tool Probed by U.K. Media Regulator Ofcom

Published by Daniella Wilson

Grok, the AI chatbot created by xAI, the artificial intelligence company founded by and majority-owned by Elon Musk, last week switched off its image creation and editing function for most users after an uproar over sexualized and violent imagery created with it. “Image generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers,” Grok replied to users of Musk’s X attempting to create images on Friday. The restriction came amid threats of fines or even an outright ban on X in the U.K. On Monday, U.K. media regulator Ofcom said it was investigating the issue, opening “a formal investigation into X under the U.K.’s Online Safety Act, to determine whether it has complied with its duties to protect people in the U.K. from content that is illegal in the U.K.” Ofcom described its initial assessment this way: “There have been deeply concerning reports of the Grok AI chatbot account on X being used to create and share undressed images of people – which may amount to intimate image abuse or pornography – and sexualised images of children that may amount to …

How Hollywood’s Top Private Schools Are Embracing AI

How Hollywood’s Top Private Schools Are Embracing AI

Published by Daniella Wilson

Almost immediately after ChatGPT was first released in late 2022, alarm bells sounded in the education world about how it would negatively impact learning. That year, The Atlantic ran stories with headlines like “The College Essay Is Dead” and “The End of High School English.” The predictions were that unleashing AI to the world at large would lead to an exponential rise in cheating at school and that student essays would cease to be original. “I mean since day one the narrative in education has been really focused on cheating. And AI is still mostly seen as that thing that kids are using to cheat. So, you know, let’s not be naive. There are lots of kids using AI to cheat,” says Leon Furze, an educational consultant and the author of Practical AI Strategies: Engaging with Generative AI in Education. But he adds, “We’ve got to kind of go beyond that, I think and meet the students where they’re at with the technology.” Cut to 2025 and that is what’s happening at many of Los Angeles’ top private …