WednesdAI // Week 44

AI's Innovations, Shadows, and Boundless Horizons

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AI’s Impact Unfolds, Progress, Precautions, and Emerging Boundaries!

Let’s get into it!
 
Welcome to WednesdAI – Pixel Dreams’ weekly update with top stories from the rapidly evolving world of Artificial Intelligence.

 

This Week’s Episode


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This Week’s News


 

New Runway Act One

 
Runway’s Gen-3 Alpha introduces “Act-One,” a tool that animates character images with uploaded videos, focusing on realistic expressions and lip-syncing. It outputs at 1280×768 resolution, costing 10 credits per second with a 50-credit minimum. Users can fine-tune animations for smooth results by following specific input guidelines. The tool aims to streamline character animation for creators by combining video-driven motion capture with customizable settings.

 

 

 
For more details, visit Runway.

 
 


 
 


 

Midjourney’s Web Editor Puts AI Edits Within Reach

 
Midjourney has launched a new web editor that allows users to modify, expand, and retexture images uploaded from their devices. The standout feature, “Image Retexturing Mode,” enables users to alter the contents of an image while maintaining its original structure. This new tool enhances the creative possibilities for users looking to personalize their images.
 

 

 

For more detailed information, you can check out the full articles here and here.

 
 


 
 


 

OpenAI’s Ambitious Week

 
OpenAI has axed their “AGI Readiness” team, which was supposed to help the world handle AI that could rival human intelligence, raising questions about the company’s confidence—or lack thereof—in AGI prep. Meanwhile, ex-researcher Suchir Balaji alleges OpenAI violated copyright by copying vast amounts of training data, potentially setting up a legal clash over the company’s data practices. And in true OpenAI fashion, they’re teasing a new model, Orion, due by December and rumored to be up to 100 times more powerful than GPT-4, with early access for business partners. Insight: OpenAI’s relentless push for dominance is impressive, but it’s walking a thin line between innovation and unchecked risk.

 
Details from CNBC, Miles’s Substack, Effective Altruism Forum, and The Verge.

 
 


 
 


 

Penguin Random House Bans AI Training on Its Books

 
Penguin Random House is putting up copyright fences around its books to prevent AI developers from using them in training datasets. The publisher’s new guidelines will require developers to obtain explicit permission before scraping or using its content to train generative AI models. This move comes as a response to the broader debate on copyright infringement in AI training practices, especially as more publishers look to protect their intellectual property. For the AI industry, it’s another sign that copyright holders are increasingly willing to draw legal lines around valuable content.

 
For more details, you can check out the full articles here and here.
 
 


 
 


 

Micro Robots and AI Hands Lead Tech Revolution

 
In a major leap for medical technology, scientists at Nanyang Technological University have unveiled grain-sized soft robots capable of delivering multiple drugs directly to specific areas within the human body. Guided by magnetic fields, these tiny machines offer groundbreaking potential for treating complex conditions, like cancer, by navigating through the body’s narrowest spaces. Meanwhile, Duke University researchers introduced SonicSense, a robotic hand system that mimics human touch by “listening” to the vibrations of objects. This innovation brings robots closer to perceiving their environment with human-like sensitivity, revolutionizing automation and human-robot interaction.

 
Read details here from Science Daily and Space Daily.

 
 


 
 


 

Videos of the Week

What’s exciting, a short statement about what’s exciting. Just a short sentence or two about what’s most exciting.
 


Retro Halloween World – A Spooky 1950s AI Short Film by Retro Movie Rewind


Dredd: Pumpkin Protocol by Kabooki AI


Harry Potter Anime | Opening Credits by GregoryMandarano

 

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The images accompanying the news items in this article were generated in Midjourney using the following prompts:

A vintage film-like, retro carnival tent filled with whimsical gadgets where screens display characters animated through Runway’s new feature. Characters morph and lip-sync with delight as their expressions mirror uploaded videos in perfect harmony. Vintagecolors and dynamic patterns cover the walls, while lively, surreal lighting highlights a setting reminiscent of a playful AI-driven carnival for digital storytellers.

A futuristic yet nostalgic dreamscape of a retro computer lab where floating screens display images in Midjourney’s web editor. Each image morphs into something new with every brushstroke, animated by a whimsical mix of pixel art and high-resolution detail. The scene is drenched in warm, vintage CRT monitor glow mixed with holographic prisms, casting soft rainbow reflections on glossy floors and old, paper-strewn desks, symbolizing the merging of past and future in digital art.

A dramatic, mythical forge set atop a volcanic mountain at dusk, where artisans craft “Orion” within giant, enchanted machinery adorned with swirling constellations. Shadows of robed, judge-like figures loom over the scene, raising hammers and scrolls symbolizing copyright and ethics. Fiery lava provides intense ambient lighting, reflecting on the metallic surfaces and illuminating the intricate circuitry and runes on the model with a surreal glow of ambition and constraint.

A whimsical yet stern library island floating in a cosmic ocean, where each book transforms into a towering copyright symbol when approached by a futuristic AI entity. Golden beams from the book spines create a protective aura around the island, casting shimmering reflections onto the dark water below. The atmosphere is enchanting yet defensive, evoking the magic of stories wrapped in unbreakable protection as the AI remains confined to the periphery.

A science-fantasy landscape where soft, amoeba-like microbots are deployed across a vibrant, stylized organ landscape, each robot leaving trails of iridescent particles as they deliver medicine to targeted cells. The lighting shifts in mesmerizing purples and cyans, creating an almost dreamlike environment within the body, with magnetic fields depicted as glowing threads guiding these bots to their healing destinations.


 
 

The Author

Sean Ward
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