🥵 Feeling the Heat with ANDI

AND: Artificial Inspiration

June 12, 2023

In today’s Tracker:

Sip & scroll: Coffee & 5 mins

  • 🧪 Research highlights: Hear No Evil: The Terrifying Rise of AI Voice Scammers

  • 🚨 Industry news: AI and the Masters: Sculpting an Impossible Collaboration

  • ⚖️ Policy and regulation: Steinmeier's Stand: AI, Democracy, and the Fight for Digital Literacy

  • 🌐 AI and society: Sweat It Out: ANDI, the Robot Breaking a Sweat for Science

  • 🧰 Tool of the day: Assembo AI: Fast, Furious, and Photogenic

🗣️ Hear No Evil: The Terrifying Rise of AI Voice Scammers

The employment of sophisticated AI voice replication technology by scammers in the United States has prompted apprehension regarding the increasingly indistinct boundary between actuality and fantasy enabled by artificial intelligence.

These fraudulent activities entail perpetrators assuming the identity of kin through highly realistic replicated vocal patterns. The proliferation of user-friendly online applications has enabled fraudulent actors to generate artificial intelligence (AI) vocalizations with minimal authentic vocal input, frequently sourced from publicly accessible materials.

The AI-generated vocal replicas have multifarious applications, including but not limited to leaving voice messages, transmitting voice-based texts, and even real-time voice modulation during telephonic conversations. Technology enables fraudulent individuals to utilize diverse accents, genders, and speech patterns, thereby rendering their deep fakes exceedingly persuasive.

According to a recent worldwide survey, 25% of individuals reported personal experience or knowledge of someone who an AI voice cloning scam had victimized.

Based on the survey results, a significant proportion of the participants, precisely 70%, exhibited a deficiency in their ability to accurately differentiate between artificially generated voices and authentic ones.

The proliferation of the "grandparent scam" has been cautioned by law enforcement agencies, wherein fraudsters impersonate distressed grandchildren who require immediate financial assistance.

Generating highly realistic voice clones has rendered individuals with an online presence susceptible to such attacks with relative ease. The necessity of novel technological solutions to authenticate the identity of individuals in virtual interactions has been underscored by specialists as a means of addressing the escalating danger of AI-fueled deceit.

🗿 AI and the Masters: Sculpting an Impossible Collaboration

The Swedish museum is currently showcasing an AI-designed sculpture named "The Impossible Statue," which results from a pioneering collaboration between five distinguished sculptors from diverse historical periods, such as Michelangelo and Rodin.

Using three artificial intelligence software applications resulted in the creation of a stainless steel sculpture that challenges traditional perspectives on creativity and art. The statue portrays an ambiguous figure holding a bronze globe, with the lower portion concealed by draped fabric.

The sculpture is characterized by a height of 150 centimeters and a weight of 500 kilograms, and it integrates various elements that draw inspiration from the unique styles of the five sculptors. Artificial intelligence (AI) was trained to utilize an extensive assemblage of images depicting sculptures created by the artists.

This facilitated the AI to suggest two-dimensional (2D) images that accurately captured the quintessence of each master. Subsequently, the aforementioned two-dimensional representations were converted to attain a three-dimensional model.

The artwork has incited discourse regarding the demarcation between art and technological innovation, with divergent viewpoints on its classification as authentic art.

The museum's representative is responsible for concept development and conveys a positive outlook, advocating for the acceptance rather than apprehension of artificial intelligence's contribution to creativity, concepts, and art. The representative emphasized the necessity of adjusting to a future in which technology assumes a role in generating art and design.

⚠️ Steinmeier's Stand: AI, Democracy, and the Fight for Digital Literacy

The President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, has expressed apprehension regarding the potential risks that artificial intelligence (AI) could pose to democratic societies.

He has emphasized the importance of improving the digital literacy of the general public.

Steinmeier emphasized the imperative for individuals to possess enhanced abilities in critically evaluating the outcomes of artificial intelligence, particularly in cases where AI has altered or generated textual and visual content.

The speaker emphasized the pressing need for societies to develop ethical frameworks that can effectively govern the adoption and utilization of AI. This underscores the ethical considerations fundamental to the interaction between AI and society.

🤖 Sweat It Out ANDI, the Robot Breaking a Sweat for Science

Thermetrics has developed a heat-sensitive "thermal manikin" named ANDI, which possesses distinctive functionalities such as ambulation, respiration, tremors, and perspiration.

This is made possible by the 35 surface areas that are individually controlled to simulate human skin pores.

The aforementioned cutting-edge robot presents a valuable instrument for researchers to investigate the effects of extreme temperatures on human beings while circumventing the need to subject individuals to such conditions.

As an illustration, researchers at Arizona State University are employing the Advanced Neutron Diffractometer Instrument (ANDI) to examine the impact of high temperatures.

In addition, the utilization of the Aggregate Nutrient Density Index (ANDI) can be applied to assess the efficacy of novel innovations, such as particular textile materials, in ameliorating the deleterious consequences of elevated temperatures, a pressing issue that is escalating due to alterations in global climate patterns.

Metafabric, a synthetic material with reflective properties for both light and heat, has been tested by scientists to reduce body temperature by up to 5 degrees Celsius.

One notable characteristic of the ANDI system is its versatility, enabling it to be customized to reflect diverse age ranges, physical builds, and health conditions, thereby enhancing its applicability in research contexts.

🏎️ Assembo AI: Fast, Furious, and Photogenic

Assembo AI is a groundbreaking AI tool designed to help businesses generate viral product marketing photos in less than a minute. This tool leverages advanced AI technologies to create stunning and captivating product images, providing a fast and cost-effective alternative to professional photoshoots.

Learn more about the tool here.

Did you miss our last newsletter? Check it out here!

–Steven Pinker

Why give a robot an order to obey orders—why aren’t the original orders enough? Why command a robot not to do harm—wouldn’t it be easier never to command it to do harm in the first place?

—Maria Edgeworth

If we take care of the moments, the years will take care of themselves.

Join the AI Collaborationists

Credit: amerikiwi

  • 📱 Wrytr AI - is an AI-powered writing assistant that speeds up the process of creating blog posts, social media posts, and even product descriptions.

  • ✍️ Smodin - is an AI-powered writing assistant that offers consumers a complete solution for improving their writing.

  • 🧹 Luminal - is an AI-powered solution that simplifies and automates cleaning massive, cluttered spreadsheets.

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