Nvidia unveiled a new AI engine that renders virtual world’s in real time
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Arguably the most complex part of creating VR content is coding and building the environments, Nvidia just bought those barriers crashing down. Nvidia have announced that they’ve introduced a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) Deep Learning model that “aims to catapult the graphics industry into the AI...
Scientists have created the blackest material ever, and it’s great for gaming
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are certain situations, such as calibrating satellite systems, or in cinemas where nearly dark doesn’t cut it, Vantablack is the darkest material ever produced. Have you ever gotten up to use the restroom during a movie screening, then struggled to find your seat...
World first as scientists use tractor beams to make objects dance
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Increasingly the things we think of as science fact are becoming reality, but tractor beams also have more practical applications, such as transforming healthcare and manufacturing. In addition to creating tractor beams like the ones straight out of Star Trek researchers have also been making more...
Nitanic’s revolutionary AI’s evolve and battle for gamers loyalty
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Traditional marketing, where marketers create and distribute content, is being automated by AI. This is the future of marketing – automated, viral, and intelligent. Niantic, the company behind Pokemon Go, have announced that they’re going to be using a “thought provoking campaign” that “uses AI to...
Stuntmen face the last act as technology comes to replace them
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are increasingly few areas of work and society that technology isn’t influencing, and even stuntmen aren’t immune. A new Artificial Intelligence (AI) system has been used to create computer animated stuntmen that could make action movies cooler than before. Researchers at University of...
Step into the holodeck, Theoriz unveil their mixed room reality concept
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Holodecks are still the stuff of science fiction, but even though the journey is long we’re edging closer to realising them. If you had to list the most mind blowing tech demos in recent memory, Microsoft’s Hololens Augmented Reality headset would need to be included, as...
Confidence that American’s can spot fake bots plummets to all time low
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF If people can longer tell fake content or “people” from what’s real then there’s the threat that trust in each other, and in society and government, could break down. How times have changed. Just a few years ago, before the arrival of fake Chinese...
Emirates boss says future aircraft will be windowless
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Windows on airplanes add upto 50 percent to the weight of the aircraft, and reduce their structural integrity, so people want to get rid of them. Would you want to fly eight hours or more on an airplane with no windows? Absolutely you would I...
Lexus turns to IBM to create the world’s first AI scripted advert
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In time all adverts, and the majority of content, will be created by AI, and people won’t be able to tell it from the “real” thing. Over the past eighteen months or so I’ve been discussing how Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been becoming increasingly...
Snowdens smartphone app turns security on its head to protect “people at risk”
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF When it comes to security and surveillance governments hold all the cards, Edward Snowden wants to change that. In today’s world digital security is just as important as physical security to those who find themselves constantly online in hostile countries or environments, and while...
China debuts the world’s first AI news anchor
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As it gets easier to create high quality, natural sounding “human-like” avatars we’ll see more emerge and take on new and varied roles. Over the past couple of years there’s been a huge increase in the amount of press columns devoted to the topic...
DeepFake busting app spots even a single pixel out of place
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Increasingly most people don’t believe the news they’re seeing is real, this new technology helps news organisations and outlets regain that trust. Falsifying photos and videos used to take a lot of work – either you used CGI to generate photorealistic images from scratch,...
MIT trained an AI to spot fake and biased news stories
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to detect and weed out fake news is quickly rising up the political agenda, and companies are in an arms race to try to find solutions fast. Any fact-checker who works in the media has a straightforward but challenging job – make...
A portrait created by an AI just sold at Christies for $432,000
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF We’re told that machines can’t be creative, at least in the human sense, but nevertheless they can still “create” art – and sell it. A few months ago I wrote an article about a Google backed Artificial Intelligence (AI) based out of Germany that...
Three people played Tetris telepathically together in world first
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As we unlock more secrets of the human brain we are slowly but surely getting better at communicating with each other telepathically. Telepathic communication is nothing new but it’s still in its early years as a technology. The first major telepathic breakthrough came in 2012...
This nano-membrane turns your skin into a loudspeaker
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Displays can increasingly be placed anywhere, and now the same can be said of loudspeakers. We all are familiar with loudspeakers; the critical element found in almost every household in one form or the other – whether they’re in smartphones, TV’s or stashed in...
This creative AI paints like the old masters
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF We’re always told ai cannot be imaginative or creative, but human creativity can be cloned. Recently art made by Artificial Intelligence (AI) software has become a field in its own right and it’s become quite a niche market in certain circles. As a result...
Windows are the perfect lens-less cameras for AI and VR headsets
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Researchers have re-thought cameras from the point of view of today’s AI’s, and what they’ve created is as innovative as it is revolutionary. Cameras used to be their own devices with lenses and film and trips to the drug store to get the pictures...
OpenAI’s bot crushes the world’s top Dota 2 players
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Dota is a game of prediction, strategy and collaboration, and it’s been long thought that an AI couldn’t master it – until now. A lot of humans think they’re so good at video games that they make the point of describing themselves as “gamers.”...
Virtual reality without the headset, US startup debuts the “Looking Glass”
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF VR headsets create an isolating experience, so a US startup has found a way to create VR worlds without them. Many people have dreamt about being able to use free form holograms, like the ones in Star Wars, to communicate with their friends and...
