Media & Entertainment

The next generation of the World Wide Web (web3) is being built on blockchains using tools and technologies similar to the ones that empower cryptocurrency, NFTs, smart contracts, and the world of DeFi. While there is no agreed-upon technical definition for web3, my favorite philosophical definition is: "A decentralized platform that empowers both users and creators to share in the value they create." It's a nice idea, but how would it actually work? Continue Reading →

Yesterday, NVIDIA released new AI upscaling technology called RTX Video Super Resolution that can improve the quality of old web videos using consumer-grade gaming PCs that have an RTX 30- or 40-series card. Continue Reading →

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) will begin their contract negotiations on March 20. According to the WGA's Pattern of Demands (unveiled yesterday), the Guild is looking to "regulate use of material produced using artificial intelligence or similar technologies." Continue Reading →

Unlike existing, but newly popular, artificial intelligence (AI) systems which are designed to perform specific tasks such as image recognition, speech recognition, and natural language processing, artificial general intelligence (AGI) systems will be super-AI systems that will be able to learn anything and perform intellectual tasks at a level of expertise comparable to or exceeding that of human beings. Continue Reading →

My Sunday essay explored the possibility that conversational AI might kill web traffic. My first example was asking ChatGPT to suggest some, "...great movies that would be appropriate for kids 12-14, parents 32-46, and grandparents." Continue Reading →

As I think about the issues that artists and creators of every kind are having with the way their works are being used to train AI, I'm wondering if a version of "ASCAP for AI" or "ASCAP for the web" is something we should be thinking about. Continue Reading →

After dinner last night, three generations of my family were sitting in the living room discussing the possibility of finding a movie we could all watch together. While this passionate debate about which movies won an Oscar and which were just fan favorites was heating up and heading nowhere, I asked ChatGPT to, "list some great movies that would be appropriate for kids 12-14, parents 32-46, and grandparents." In just under 30 seconds, it helped us find our movie. Amazing! Except… we didn't visit any websites to accomplish our search. As someone who writes and publishes 5,000-7,500 original words each week, the ramifications of this new workflow are profound. Continue Reading →

I was at a cocktail party last night and the conversations kept gravitating toward – wait for it – AI. One of the guests was a voice over artist who insisted that he was now being pressured to sign contracts that included digital rights (AI synthesis rights) to his voice. He said, in a deep voice over voice, "I absolutely refused to sign." Continue Reading →

Microsoft is going to incorporate OpenAI tools into everything they make, leaving Google no choice but to respond. Calling AI "the most profound technology we're working with today," Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, introduced Bard, which seeks to combine the breadth of the world’s knowledge with the power, intelligence, and creativity of Google's large language models. Bard is Google's answer to ChatGPT. As Yoda would say, "Begun, the AI wars have." Continue Reading →

Yes. This is another article about ChatGPT. But it is also career advice for those of you who love ChatGPT, hate it, fear it, think it's a fad, and wish everyone would stop writing about it and those who are simply not paying attention. No matter where you fall on this spectrum, I want you to think about the following. Continue Reading →