Media
'Space Jam: A New Legacy' trailer pays tribute to sci-fi
Warner Bros. made a point of releasing all its 2021 movies on HBO Max, and the service's next big movie is an appropriate nod to the digital world. The studio has released the first trailer for Space Jam: A New Legacy, and it's more of an ode to sci-fi than you might think. The movie has LeBron James whisked into a "Matrix hell" where he has to play basketball against a supervillain-like Goon Squad to rescue his son. That involves enlisting Bugs Bunny and friends for his squad, of course, but the references go further than that. James can count on help from The Iron Giant's namesake robot, for starters.
Hitting the Books: The bias behind AI assistants' failure to understand accents
The age of being able to speak to our computers just as we do with other humans is finally upon us but voice-activated assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Home haven't proven quite as revolutionary -- or inclusive -- as we'd hoped they'd be. While these systems make a commendable effort to accurately interpret commands regardless of whether you picked up your accent in Houston or Hamburg, for users with heavier or less common accents such as Caribbean or Cockney, requests to their digital assistants are roundly ignored. In her essay "Siri Disciplines" for Your Computer Is on Fire from the MIT Press, Towson University professor Dr. Halcyon M. Lawrence, examens some of the more glaring shortcomings of this nascent technology, how those preventable failures have effectively excluded a sizeable number of potential users and the western biases underpinning the issue. Used with permission of the publisher, MIT Press. Voice technologies are routinely described as revolutionary.
These are the AI risks we should be focusing on
Since the dawn of the computer age, humans have viewed the approach of artificial intelligence (AI) with some degree of apprehension. Popular AI depictions often involve killer robots or all-knowing, all-seeing systems bent on destroying the human race. These sentiments have similarly pervaded the news media, which tends to greet breakthroughs in AI with more alarm or hype than measured analysis. In reality, the true concern should be whether these overly-dramatized, dystopian visions pull our attention away from the more nuanced -- yet equally dangerous -- risks posed by the misuse of AI applications that are already available or being developed today. AI permeates our everyday lives, influencing which media we consume, what we buy, where and how we work, and more. AI technologies are sure to continue disrupting our world, from automating routine office tasks to solving urgent challenges like climate change and hunger.
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Disney's Space Race Series'The Right Stuff,' Based on Tom Wolfe Book, Cancelled After One Season Freddie Gibbs Takes a Victory Lap in Boisterous New Song "Big Boss Rabbit" Kurt Ballou of Converge Posts April Fool's Prank Saying a Lost Version of Cave In's Jupiter with No Clean Vocals was Discovered AI Computer Software Creates New Nirvana Song "Drowned in the Sun" Nicole Atkins and Marissa Nadler Pull At The Heartstrings With New Single "Mr. 'Music' Can't Even be Saved by Feminism Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough, and Sindhu Vee Join the Cast of Netflix/Tristar's Musical Adaptation of'Matilda'
Artificial Intelligence Explained in Simple Terms
There are many great articles about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its benefits for business and society. However, many of these articles are too technical for the average reader. I love reading about AI, but I sometimes think to myself, 'Gee, I wish the author had explained this in simple English.' I will try and explain AI and its related technologies in simple terms, using real-life examples, as though I were talking to someone at a party. Your colleagues or your (close) friends may tolerate your endless and complex ramblings, but I guarantee you that people at parties are far less forgiving.
"Godzilla vs. Kong," Reviewed: A Monster Mush of Two Venerable Franchises
The enduring appeal of both Kong and Godzilla has to do with their simplicity. "King Kong," made in Hollywood, débuted in 1933; "Godzilla," produced in Japan, came out in 1954. Both films relied on a stark and clarified premise: fantastic monsters let loose in ordinary human reality, which, in the light of their presence, is revealed to be even more hideous than the monsters themselves. That symbolic power, rather than their physical power, is the source of their enduring appeal, and it's the fundamental element that "Godzilla vs. Kong," the new mashup, directed by Adam Wingard, stomps into oblivion. The film is garishly overloaded with splices and grafts from other movies, other genres, and other premises, including a mythical setting and an evil corporation.