Production

IMAGE: Vintage American anti-capitalist poster, circa 1938. Source: r/antiwork A few years ago, I received an invitation to walk in the Labor Day Parade. It got me thinking about labor law as an alternative path to meaningful data privacy regulation. Today, as we begin to think hard about how to approach AI regulation, I started Continue Reading →

Meta AI has introduced AudioCraft, a text-to-music AI model that does an impressive job of composing, arranging, orchestrating, and playing in a wide range of musical styles. Not only can it create or mimic a melody, but it also engineers and produces fully finished work, some of which is already suitable for commercial use – and this is only V1. Imagine where the state-of-the-art will be a year from now. Continue Reading →

In a stunning display of AI prowess, Meta AI has introduced AudioCraft, a single-stop code base that does an impressive job of composing, arranging, orchestrating, producing and playing music. AudioCraft is not just an AI that can mimic a melody. It's a sophisticated system that can create music, sound effects, and even handle audio compression. Continue Reading →

Can you name the three most famous Impressionist artists? Or describe the color palette and techniques that define Color Field Painting or Naive Art? Your ability to answer these questions will have a big impact on your experience with text-to-image generators like Midjourney. But what if you haven’t been to art school or spent years studying art history? Continue Reading →

Large Language Models (LLMs) are transforming the way we interact with technology. These models, developed by leading tech companies such as OpenAI, Replicate, Cohere, Hugging Face, and Anthropic, to name a few, are pushing the boundaries of what's possible in natural language processing. Here's a short overview of the most popular LLMs from these companies, exploring their unique capabilities and best use cases. Continue Reading →

For the past several years I've been publishing various versions of the "11 Hottest Tech Trends of 1776." This year, I thought it would be fun to ask ChatGPT for some help. So I asked it to read the previous versions of the article and if it could "think of any other technological advancements between 1750 and 1800 that would be a good addition to this story." It could and it did. So here, for your Independence Day reading pleasure, are the 18 hottest tech trends circa 1776. Continue Reading →

Welcome to the brave new world of generative AI, where the machines are no longer just number crunchers, they’re word crunchers, image crunchers, audio and video crunchers. But here’s the catch: If we’re to ride the wave of this technological revolution, we need to rethink not just the tools we use, but also how we use them. Continue Reading →

This week marks the 25th anniversary of the premiere of “Anthem,” a modern dance I composed for the Parsons Dance Company. It opened at City Center in New York City on May 5, 1998. I conducted the London Symphony Orchestra for the performance. Continue Reading →

The verdict is in. Ed Sheeran's 2014 hit, "Thinking Out Loud," did not infringe on Marvin Gaye's and Ed Townsend's 1973 hit, "Let's Get It On." As I will explain in a moment, from a musical standpoint, this was the only possible outcome. The copyright laws were applied as expected, and human composers in the United States are free to compose as they have been doing for centuries. But what about AI? Is it free to compose? Let's explore. Continue Reading →

Chat interfaces for GPT-4 may soon take a backseat to a new approach: autonomous agents. Emerging versions such as AutoGPT, BabyAGI, and the no-code GodMode promise a simplified user experience by focusing on achieving user goals with minimal input. Although it's still early days, autonomous agents are poised to revolutionize how we interact with technology and each other. Continue Reading →