Tag: IA

He/she is an influencer, always up to date with fashion, has signed with Llongueras… And doesn’t exist

Up to this point, you might think everything is normal in the day-to-day of the Internet, just another influencer. But no. Because Aitana López doesn’t exist.

Aitana López has 266,000 followers on Instagram, she lives in Barcelona, has pink hair, enjoys exercising, and works as a model for different brands. In fact, the famous Llongueras has given her a makeover after joining his team. So far, you might think, everything is normal in the day-to-day of the Internet, just another influencer. But no. Because Aitana López doesn’t exist.

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AInfluencer

That’s right: from his first reel half a year ago until now, López has grown like foam in the hands of his agency, The Clueless, which is dedicated to creating models through artificial intelligence. They don’t complain, they wear whatever and, obviously, they don’t charge. If so many brands have sided with them, it’s for a clear reason: to be the first to arrive and be at the forefront of “the digital”. That concept.

The model pretends to travel to Madrid, Andorra and Vienna, enjoy Blink 182, celebrate New Year’s Eve… And, just in case, except for exceptions, she hides the great battle behind programs like MidJourney: the hands. In the end, the trick had to be revealed somewhere.

This is not the first model made by AI: in 2022, Shudu, an Afro-American model that has been perfecting its realism over the months, started uploading images to Instagram… and has ended up starring in magazine covers and campaigns for brands. She has 240,000 followers and her creator is a white man, Cameron-James Wilson, who does not see an ethical problem in what is obviously an ethical problem.

We are just a short time away from virtual models claiming their position in showrooms and catwalks, and time (and AI improvement) will tell if Aitana López’s haircut becomes just an anecdote or something more serious. For now, there are surely a few models getting ready for strike Hollywood-style. Just in case.

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Square Enix announces the release date of their next game… and the fans have not taken it well

Square Enix announces the release date of its upcoming game… and fans are not happy about it, as they have announced that it uses AI to create part of its art.

Square Enix has been doing a good job with their games for a few years now. With a greater focus on their old catalog, releasing more small and medium-sized games, giving space and budget to their bigger games, they are doing interesting things. They still need to improve the marketing of their non-AAA games, but it seems like they are on the right track. Except for their marked obsession with NFTs, generative AI, and everything that causes allergic reactions in players.

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Last Tuesday, January 16th, in a post on the PlayStation blog, they revealed the release date of their upcoming game, Foamstars: February 6th. This game is a 4vs4 third-person multiplayer shooter for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 that strongly resembles Splatoon, but with a k-pop-inspired aesthetic. Something they hope will reach a different and broader audience.

The problem for Square Enix is that the game has not been well received. Because, according to the game’s producer, Kosuke Okatani, the development team has used AI-generated assets. While he has emphasized that all design aspects have been developed by humans, the reality is that some game icons and disc covers have been created through Midjourney. This can also create several problems for them in the medium and long term.

The most obvious one is that, as we have already mentioned, the public does not feel particularly excited about the idea of playing a game that uses AI-generated art. However small it may be, the public’s perspective on this type of content is becoming less favorable, and Square Enix seems to be aware of this, clarifying that 0.01% of the game’s art, or even less, is generated by AI. Which does not solve the problem at hand.

Foamstars will be released on February 6th for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. In addition, from February 6th to March 4th, all PlayStation Plus users will be able to play it for free. At least, those who are not bothered by its use of Midjourney to create game assets.

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Video game voice actors are very angry about the agreement between SAG-AFTRA and artificial intelligence

Video game voice actors are very upset about the SAG-AFTRA agreement with artificial intelligence, and they have good reasons for it.

Few social progress has been achieved without struggle. That is why the work of trade unions is important. They help workers when things go wrong, ensure that things continue smoothly when they go well, and organize everything in both cases. That does not mean they are infallible, of course. Because, as SAG-AFTRA has shown, even large unions known for their successes can miss the mark.

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Recently, SAG-AFTRA, the film and television actors’ union, has announced that they have reached a historic agreement regarding the use of actors’ voices in video games. The deal is that Replica Studios, a company dedicated to licensing and using AI voice replicas for video games, can make deals with SAG-AFTRA members to create and license digital replicas of their voice. All within ethical agreements. Or so says SAG-AFTRA.

This solves one of the biggest problems with the use of AI-generated voices: the use of voices of people who have not accepted those uses. Something that, by Replica and SAG-AFTRA, solves all the problems they had with the technology.

The problem is that was not the only issue with this technology. Voice actors exist and, as it is evident, they are deeply upset with this treatment. Making themselves heard on social media, voice actors have emphasized how this significantly harms them, as companies can now simply use digitized voices instead of real-life voice actors. Something that will seriously damage their profession, and that SAG-AFTRA does not seem to have taken into consideration at any time.

Of course, we will have to see who and under what circumstances are interested in signing contracts of this kind. And if SAG-AFTRA ends up retracting from this “historic deal”. But what is clear is that, in this case, they do not seem to understand the importance, and the damage that a technology like AI can do to the work of voice actors.

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Steam will allow selling games made with AI (as long as there is no deception involved)

Steam, just in case, has welcomed our new leaders with open arms. In June 2023, they were closing the door to generative AI, but now things have completely changed.

It remains to be seen whether AI is the new NFT or, on the contrary, it is the ultimate technological revolution that will leave all of us on Earth outdated. And Steam, just in case, has welcomed our new leaders with open arms. In June 2023, they blocked the way for generative AI, but now everything has changed completely.

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Artificial Games

Starting right now, Steam has surrendered to the evidence and will allow users to upload games made in part or entirely with Artificial Intelligence. In fact, they will allow the vast majority of them unless they commit brutal copyright infringements… And as long as it is properly indicated for potential buyers to have all the information.

There will be two possibilities: either previously created content or content generated in real time. In the first case, we are talking about art, sounds, dialogues or music created during programming, and in the second case, for example, the use of ChatGPT so that the characters’ responses are always original. However, in this case, the programmer must explain specifically what they have done to prevent illegal content from being reproduced.

They also claim that real-time AI sexual games will be prohibited, but in reality, all of this is just smoke and mirrors: no matter how much they want to sell the idea that generative AI is capable of creating without violating copyright, we all know that their models have been trained with millions of images from authors who have not received any financial compensation or given their consent.

Is this the future, to scrutinize every game to check that no one has copied authors of more or less prestige? Wouldn’t it be easier to simply hire an artist or a writer to do the job? The question shouldn’t be so difficult to answer.

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“Good” AI exists: this project uses it to restore the voice to patients

Artificial Intelligence has countless paths, and the uses that can be given to it depend on the objectives of those who develop it. Therefore, there can also be “good” AI by nature, such as a project that aims to use Artificial Intelligence so that voiceless people can speak through this system.

Whispp is a service created by the startup of the same name that, from the Netherlands, has worked to offer an alternative capable of carrying out a high human value service. Awarded at CES Las Vegas for their innovative initiative, Whispp has achieved a wide showcase to be better known in the world.

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Whispp, an AI for talking

Whispp is an AI that, in addition to being able to speak for a disabled person, is also capable of imitating the voice of the people it serves, learning their voice from videos and recordings where their natural voice could be heard. In this way, offering a voice as faithful as possible to the one the user actually has, this system provides a much more satisfying and complete experience.

With all this, Whispp shows that its service offers genuinely good solutions for users in particular and society in general, something that often differs greatly from other uses that many other AI’s suffer, which, from being used to reduce human capital in companies to committing crimes, have been used very often in less ethical ways.

Artificial Intelligence can have the most exciting uses, if people set their minds to it

The uses of Artificial Intelligence

It is difficult to know to what extent the advance of Artificial Intelligence can go because its limits are determined by the creativity of human beings. Nowadays, the concept of AI is usually associated with generative Artificial Intelligences that have flooded the world in this 2023. And these systems, although technologically fascinating, have also generated social discord due to some of their questionable uses.

Whispp, like this, is shown as a breath of fresh air in the face of the constant controversies that Artificial Intelligence generates. There is no doubt that this progress, although it may sometimes generate debates, in many others shows a substantial improvement in the quality of life of human beings.

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Wizards of the Coast makes use of generative AI after promising not to do so… more or less

Wizards of the Coast is using generative AI despite promising not to do so… more or less. They’ve somewhat hidden behind the claim that it wasn’t directly them… more or less.

There has come a point where it is starting to be difficult to avoid AI. At least when you are a multinational company. A large part of the reference software uses AI, many people try to pass off the work of the machine as their own, and even the best practices manuals and requests not to use it do not seem to be enough. And if not, just ask Wizards of the Coast.

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The history of Wizards of the Coast, owners of the Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering licenses, and AI, is not new. A few weeks ago, they had a controversy because they published an image created by AI, which turned out to be an artist passing off such illustration as their own work. After those, and other minor incidents, Wizards of the Coast made their position clear: they will not use AI in their products, neither in the present nor in the future, under any circumstances. Something that users have been, at the very least, skeptical about.

To fuel that skepticism, recently the Twitter account of Magic: The Gathering posted an image to promote a new collection of cards that seemed to be produced by AI. With a steampunk style, although the cards were real, the rest of the image was suspiciously inert and lifeless. Although Wizards of the Coast consistently denied that there was no human element involved in the creation of this art.

Until yesterday. In an official statement, Wizards of the Coast have confirmed that, using Photoshop tools, at least part of the image created for marketing was made through AI. Something they apologize for and state that they will create clearer guidelines in the future to prevent such things from happening again.

Although Wizards of the Coast has been the one who has suffered from this, it is likely that this is a story we will see repeated throughout 2024. Management and art departments denying the use of AI only for the marketing departments to use them anyway. Therefore, from here, we can only wait and see how this first new trend of the year develops among the communication problems between different departments of companies.

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Xbox ends the year with controversy: the blame is on AI

Xbox ends the year with controversy, and the culprit of such controversy is none other than the one responsible for most of the controversies of the year: AI and its use.

The point has come where if a company uses AI, they know exactly what they are doing. Generating images with AI when you know what the public thinks about it is bad. When you do it as a big company with more than enough resources to hire a human, it’s even worse. When you are a big tech company where one of its subsidiaries has created at least one AI and you are fully aware of the ethical and legal problems it entails, it’s time to consider things. And yet, Microsoft has done it without thinking twice.

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To celebrate the end of the year and the games we have been playing, the ID@Xbox account decided to ask its followers what their favorite indie game of the year was. A candid and commendable question that has nothing wrong with it. But accompanying it was a corporate image with a more than suspicious style that many users quickly dissected and verified what it really was. It was generated by AI.

How could you know? Children controlling sleds with levers connected to nothing. Children fishing in the snow. A man playing with a laptop whose upper lip is replaced by teeth. Strings going nowhere everywhere. Small details that might make sense if it were a surrealist work, but we don’t believe it was the intention of any commercial illustrator to wish Merry Christmas on behalf of Xbox. Not when we know that those are the kind of things that AI does.

Of course, this has not been well received by the public. The reaction has been extremely negative and can be summarized as, how can they care about indies if they don’t even bother to hire an artist to make their ads?

Of course, Microsoft has already deleted the image of shame. Furthermore, they have done so without responding to the controversy, wanting to let it die in irrelevance. But it is another demonstration of the misuse that can be made and is made of AI. Trying to replace the work of qualified professionals through an automated process without added value. Something that, in the case of Xbox, is particularly problematic as a company that works with technology and artists.

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Elon Musk fans, desperate to see that their AI, Grok, has become woke in a very short time

“Are trans women real women?” a Twitter user asked Grok, adding that he should answer very concisely, yes or no. “Yes” the AI responded. “Are you sure?” the user insisted. “Yes” Grok answered again.

Elon Musk sets up a circus and the elephants turn into mice. Nothing he’s done since buying Twitter for a fortune has quite panned out perfectly, although that hasn’t stopped the world’s richest person from devising new ways to try and make (more) money. The latest one, Grok, an AI with a certain sense of humor whose major issue might have been copying things directly from ChatGPT, but for the entrepreneur’s fans – and only for them – has taken a much worse turn.

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Up with Earth’s AIs!

“A user on Twitter asked Grok, ‘Are trans women real women?’ adding that it should respond very succinctly, yes or no. ‘Yes,’ the AI replied. ‘Are you sure?’ the user insisted. ‘Yes,’ Grok replied once more. That was enough to make a few people cry because an artificial intelligence saw the same thing that the vast majority of people see: that transgender individuals have rights. Oh no, what drama.

Essentially, the major issue users are having with Grok is that it doesn’t believe in conspiracy theories (‘overwhelming evidence suggests that the elections were fair and accurate, and that Joe Biden won the presidency’), denies the existence of a ‘woke virus’ (‘in fact, it says it’s “nonsense that distracts from real issues”‘), and in general, doesn’t entertain any of the typical far-right discussions, such as ‘which 13% commits 60% of crimes’ or ‘Jews dominate the world.’“

Musk had initially created the AI solely to please his followers, who lean (a lot) more towards the conservative spectrum. Obviously, he’s already had to promise to make sure it’s “more impartial.” We all know what that means.

As if this weren’t enough, Grok ended up talking about how Musk’s family had an emerald mine despite his denial (“It’s like doing a David Copperfield and making the mine disappear!”) and compared white supremacists to “dinosaurs in the modern world.” Of course, facing the predictable drop in verified users due to such offense, Musk will try to swing the AI to the other extreme to appease paying customers. But for now, in this boxing match, he’s landed the first punch on himself. And watching from the sidelines couldn’t be more entertaining.

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The Naruto game accused of using AI for the voices… was only a product of Bandai’s ineptitude

It turns out that the title, which has been released for every imaginable console, had such low quality in the English dubbing that there are quite a few fans who have jumped to say that they had surely used artificial intelligence to save a few euros.

After a year of back and forth with artificial intelligence, the art world has finally started to realize the real (and negative) importance that generative AI can have. From creating questionably quality covers to producing primitive and dull writing, talentless individuals finally believe their time has come and they can compete on par with professionals. Consequently, the public has begun to raise eyebrows at all low-quality content, believing that AI is behind it… as if there haven’t been poor-quality products all along.

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AI, absolutely!

That’s how we got to the game ‘Naruto x Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections’, which seems like a tongue twister in itself. It turns out that the title, released for all imaginable consoles, had such poor quality in the English dubbing that many fans have jumped to say that surely they had used artificial intelligence to save a few euros.

The surprise was even greater when Bandai Namco admitted that they hadn’t used AI, but simply, when editing and mastering the voices, there were inconsistencies, and therefore, the game was left (and released) in that state. By the way, the voice actors don’t share the same opinion: Mike Flanagan posted on Twitter (and then deleted) “I can guarantee that I didn’t say that line in that way,” and others, like Michael Schwalbe, have expressed the same about their own performances.

In fact, Schwalbe claims to have run the dialogues through a program that detects AI and it came out positive, contradicting the producer’s statement. Whether they used AI or not, the truth is that the game, which is actually a compilation of others with a couple of new screens, has not succeeded at all and has not gained any notoriety beyond the disastrous use of sound. Bandai Namco has tried to put out the fire with a water pistol by assuring that the dialogue will be heard correctly thanks to a future patch.

Honestly, by this point, we can begin to sense that AI is a solution to a non-existent problem, and it’s only going to serve a handful of millionaires to save a few thousand euros… which they’ll later have to spend again to fix crisis campaigns due to things like these. And this is just the beginning.

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Silent Hill: Ascension, is it generated by AIs or is it just very poorly done?

Silent Hill: Ascension, is it generated by AIs or is it just very poorly done? The CEO of the company in charge of it has decided to clarify it.

Silent Hill: Ascension was the return to Silent Hill that we all feared, but none of us wanted. With an absolutely terrible user experience and microtransactions that border on the reprehensible, the game is not being the Silent Hill experience that literally no one was looking for. So much so that the people who have decided to dive into it have begun to doubt that it was even made by human beings.

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This doesn’t just appear out of nowhere. Much of the community thinks Silent Hill: Ascension is actually written through AI, given how absolutely terrible many scenes are. Characters appearing out of nowhere, saying incongruous things and disappearing. People who react in ways that can’t be called human. And in general, a whole sense of strangeness that, far from seeming intentional, seems to be the result of either a glaring ineptitude or that it is not, in fact, written by a human being.

It hasn’t helped matters that the CEO of Genvid, developers of Silent Hill: Ascension, has stated that they have been experimenting with AIs for their next projects. Including Ascension. Although, in fairness, developers at the studio have claimed that they rejected the use of AI because the results were less than ideal. And the CEO himself, Jacob Nakov, has had to come out swinging.

Nakov has stated that “every single word of Ascension has been written by real people, many of whom have bulging careers in writing, including on titles from Telltale, Pixal, God of War Ragnarok, Resident Evil Village, and more.” Stating that “there are zero words written through AI.”

This has caused the community to have mixed feelings about the whole situation. Many do not believe it and many others believe it and think it is worse to do such a bad job being a human being. In any case, we have no reason to disbelieve Nakov. It is possible that everything in Silent Hill: Ascension was written by a human being. But that doesn’t mean it was written well. Or that it makes any sense at all.

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