Humans come up trumps as Facebook rolls out its solution for fake news
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Fake news is now regarded as one of the most politically destabilising developments in recent years, Facebook’s new solution hopes to turn the tide on the fakers Ironically, for all the amazing things that artificial intelligence (AI) can do, from running Wall Street hedge...
World first as Norway turns off FM radio and goes digital only
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Old FM analogue technologies have been with us for centuries but demanding infrastructure requirements, poor signal quality and low data rates mean that a switch to DAB is long overdue. All of you reading this article will have grown up listening to FM radio...
Bach lives again, in AI form
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Trying to emulate human skills and talents isn’t easy – even for humans – but increasingly AI is muscling in on what we once considered to be unique human traits. Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasing parking its caravan on humanity’s lawn. Traits that we...
Point. Click. Create your own 3D avatar and put yourself in the game
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Avatars will play an increasingly important role in the future – whether they’re being used to depict, or replace actors in movies, VR simulations or to compliment bots, Loom.ai’s new product makes the process of creating one simple. We’re entering a new world of,...
Manga legend scolds AI created zombie animation as an insult to life
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Artificial intelligence systems are getting increasingly good at constructing, designing and animating their own short movies, automating more of the tasks that, up until now, have been thought of as the preserve of humans and humans alone Born in 1964 it’s safe to say...
MIT’s new AI can create videos of the future by looking at a photo
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The human brain is good at looking at a scene and figuring out what happens next, now an AI can look at a photo and create a video of the future from it and that opens up some interesting applications. Love the Exponential Future?...
Get ready to experience millions of new, immersive worlds
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The way we interact with technology is changing. We are slowly moving away from using keyboards and mice to using a mix of new technologies that will immerse us in new worlds and imbue us with new, vibrant experiences. There is no doubt that...
MIT breakthrough lets virtual reality gamers cut the chord
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Consumers love convenience and by helping to cut the chords on VR headsets MIT’s new breakthrough could help speed up the technology’s adoption Researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have developed a new technology that lets data be transmitted at...
Robo journalists covered the US election for the Washington Post
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF AI is getting better at extracting context and meaning from data. Today they help report the news and write short stories and scripts but what happens when humans are out of the loop? What happens when an AI gains “creative bias” and what happens if...
Skydio’s autonomous drone takes to the skies
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Autonomous drones – revered by extreme sports enthusiasts and feared in the battlefield – are on the rise. We all know that the next evolution of drones will be fully autonomous rather than just semi-autonomous as some of them, such as delivery or defence drones,...
ILM takes us behind the scenes of The Force Awakens
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF CGI changed the film industry but this is just the beginning, the real revolution is still to come. Earlier this year I wrote an article on technology is, and will, transform the future of entertainment industry and some of those predictions are already coming true....
The future of jobs in a Machine World
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF We are all aware that technology is capable of replacing particular categories of jobs, but often those jobs “belong to someone else” and the impact on our own jobs is minimal. Today though new classes of emerging technologies, from artificial intelligence to machine vision are...
This CGI school girl has you fooled
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As CGI, and the tools used to create it, get better it will be harder to distinguish what is real, and what is not. Slowly these “digital humans” will be able to replace real humans anywhere there is a screen involved, such as acting, avatars...
Oculus’ virtual reality film Henry wins an Emmy
Henry the lonely hedgehog now has an Emmy to keep him company For a few years now virtual reality filmmakers have fought for recognition and acceptance among traditional directors and studios and last night, Oculus’ film making arm, Story Studio, got a taste of the kind of validation they’ve been looking...
Nanotech helps scientists create high definition colour holograms
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Scientists for the first time have created a technology that can display true, high resolution colour holograms but Hollywood holograms are still a way off. By carefully arranging nanoblocks to display pixels on a metasurface, researchers have demonstrated that they can manipulate incoming visible light...
New MIT tech lets Pokemon magically interact with the real world
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Pokémon Go changed our children’s lives – okay, we’ll admit it – all of our lives. Now it’s hard to imagine life without those plucky virtual creatures sneaking up on you when you’re trying to have some alone time. But get ready for it,...
3D, the sequel at a cinema near you sometime whenever
just got a shot in the arm, this must be the sequel Avatar first premiered in 2009 and at the time everyone raved about how in the future all movies would be shown in 3D. Just a few years later everyone realized that watching 3D movies through a pair of Clark...
Nvidia’s new VR HQ is a peak into the workplace of 2025
The future of mobile working has arrived. Step into my virtual office. In the heart of Silicon Valley, you can slip on a virtual reality headset and fly through a photo realistic 3D representation of what will soon become chip maker Nvidia’s new headquarters. The $380 million building will eventually...
Eclipse, the world’s first AI produced short film hits the screens at Cannes
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The worlds first AI produced short film is a portent of things to come. Earlier this year I wrote a thought article showcasing how emerging technology will change how entertainment is produced, distributed and consumed and here I am, just months later, writing another...
Google’s Project Magenta wants to be a musician
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Project Magenta will do for music what Google Deep dream does for images. It’s a long way to Carnegie Hall, but we bet that Google researchers are already thinking of the day when their Artificial Intelligence protege “Magenta” can cut an album that beats...
