Sora, an artificial intelligence (AI) video generator program created by startup OpenAI in 2021, is making waves as it has now moved out of the research phase and has been officially released to the public under the new name of Sora Turbo. The launch has triggered an online frenzy among users, causing the company to temporarily halt new account creations after finding itself overwhelmed by an avalanche of traffic. Sora uses text prompts to create content, similar to other content creation programs such as ChatGPT. Unlike traditional AI programs which produce written responses, Sora creates high-quality videos based on a user's text input. Adding it to @everartai asap so you can bring your images to life pic.twitter.com/wMehxOc8cm

You may not be familiar with Kuaishou, but this Chinese company just hit a major milestone: It's released the first ever text-to-video generative AI model that's freely available for the public to test. The short-video platform, which has over 600 million active users, announced the new tool, called Kling, on June 6. Like OpenAI's Sora model, Kling is able to generate videos up to two minutes long from prompts. But unlike Sora, which still remains inaccessible to the public four months after OpenAI debuted it, Kling has already started letting people try the model themselves. Zeyi Yang, our China reporter, has been putting it through its paces.

The short-video platform, which has over 600 million active users, announced the new tool on June 6. Like OpenAI's Sora model, Kling is able to generate videos "up to two minutes long with a frame rate of 30fps and video resolution up to 1080p," the company says on its website. But unlike Sora, which still remains inaccessible to the public four months after OpenAI trialed it, Kling soon started letting people try the model themselves. I got access to it after downloading Kuaishou's video-editing tool, signing up with a Chinese number, getting on a waitlist, and filling out an additional form through Kuaishou's user feedback groups. The model can't process prompts written entirely in English, but you can get around that by either translating the phrase you want to use into Chinese or including one or two Chinese words.

I met the most rational person I know during my freshman year of college. Greg (not his real name) had a tech-support job in the same computer lab where I worked, and we became friends. I planned to be a creative-writing major; Greg told me that he was deciding between physics and economics. He'd choose physics if he was smart enough, and economics if he wasn't--he thought he'd know within a few months, based on his grades. We roomed together, and often had differences of opinion.

CHICAGO – Agribusiness is increasingly turning to natural and sustainable alternatives to chemicals as consumers rebuff genetically modified foods and concerns grow over Big Ag's role in climate change. At the heart of the trend are innovations that harness beneficial microorganizms in the soil, including seed-coatings of naturally occurring bacteria and fungi that can do the same work as traditional chemicals, from warding off pests to helping plants flourish, according to a global patent study by research firm GreyB Services. Much of the research in crop biotech is centered in the United States, China, Germany, Japan and South Korea, according to the U.N. agency WIPO. "Both entrepreneurs and investors are saying, 'Hey, the writing is on the wall, we're entering a post-chemical world,'" said Rob LeClerc, chief executive officer of AgFunder, an online venture-capital platform. "The seed companies who have billions in market cap are like'We need to do something,' and everyone recognizes the opportunity."

Not a day goes by when one is not bombarded by the latest innovations around artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and machine learning (ML). The inflationary use of these terms makes many people question if they are simply catchy buzzwords ― part of a short-lived market hype. On the other hand, expectations concerning the capabilities of AI and robotics are at an all-time high. From the ultimate AI-built utopia to Skynet apocalypse ― everything seems possible. Time for a grounded look at what AI, ML and robotics actually can and should do in the area of finance process automation.

Concerned that all discussion of computers focused on technology, Kling studied government, manufacturers and insurance companies to determine how computers affect society and require choices that consider human values as well as technological values. In his prolific writings and speeches, Kling often used analogies to the automobile to make his esoteric topic more easily understood. Technological debates could be likened to discussing the latest sports car model, he told The Times in 1992, while informatics addresses how the automobile has affected society, including construction of highways and development of suburbs. Kling's studies convinced him that "there is an underside to computer technology," he said. For example, he said that organizations often fail to train employees properly in computer use, making the task a "hassle and a cause of stress" and that dependency on computers for communication eliminates creative, stimulating social interaction.