new york magazine
Soon You'll Be Able to Make Your Own Feature-Length Movie With AI
There's a new Knives Out movie on Netflix, and I still haven't seen a few of this season's awards contenders. But the film I most wish I could watch right now is Squid Invasion From the Deep. It's a sci-fi thriller directed by John Carpenter about a team of scientists led by Sigourney Weaver who discover an extraterrestrial cephalopod and then die one by one at its tentacles. The production design was inspired by Alien and The Thing; there are handmade creature FX and lots of gore; Wilford Brimley has a cameo. Unfortunately, though, I can't see this movie, and neither can you, because it doesn't exist.
How Retailers Are Using Biometrics to Identify Consumers and Shoplifters
Though most are loath to admit it, retailers already make extensive, behind-the-scenes use of biometrics to track employees, nab shoplifters and improve store security. An October 2018 New York Magazine article titled, "Smile! Peter Trepp, CEO of facial recognition software company FaceFirst, told McClatchy in May 2018 that his company can "match a face against the database of 25 million people in just under a second," and the firm's website counts hundreds of big-box stores, superstores, department stores, grocery stores, pharmacies and Fortune 500s among its clients. A similar article, published by BuzzFeed News in August 2018, titled, "Thousands of Stores Will Soon Use Facial Recognition, and They Won't Need Your Consent," similarly revealed the technology's pervasiveness and delved deeper into its privacy implications. In our latest report, "Biometric Marketing 2019," we found that despite these concerns, retailers are exploring biometric technology, including behavioral tracking and facial and voice recognition, for advertising and promotional targeting.
The DoubleX Gabfest "Urine Trouble America" Edition
On this week's DoubleX Gabfest, Invisibilia co-host Hanna Rosin and New York magazine's Noreen Malone are joined by New York magazine's David Wallace-Wells to explore Donald Trump's recent golden shower scandal. Then David Plotz calls in to discuss the Rockettes performing at the inauguration. Last, the gabbers talk about the issues with assigning gender to our virtual assistants.
Facebook's secret picture tags revealed
Facebook's deep learning algorithms are designed to make your life easier, and when you upload a photo, it instantly suggests who you might want to tag. However, many users are unaware that the technology is also adding its own tags to your images, analysing the number of people, the setting and even whether or not people are smiling. Now, a developer has released a new Chrome extension that shows users exactly what Facebook thinks it'sees' in pictures uploaded to the social media site. Many users are unaware that Facebook's AI adds detailed tags to pictures. This includes number of people (it lists three in Kim Kardashian West's picture) the setting and whether or not the person is smiling Facebook uses artificial intelligence and image recognition to reveal what is shown in these photos.