Who you going to believe, that fresh face or your lyin’ eyes?
“ThisPersonDoesNotExist.com uses AI to generate endless fake faces,” By James Vincent over at The Verge shows how that question is only going to get more complicated.
The ability of AI to generate fake visuals is not yet mainstream knowledge, but a new website — ThisPersonDoesNotExist.com — offers a quick and persuasive education.
The site is the creation of Philip Wang, a software engineer at Uber, and uses research released last year by chip designer Nvidia to create an endless stream of fake portraits. The algorithm behind it is trained on a huge dataset of real images, then uses a type of neural network known as a generative adversarial network (or GAN) to fabricate new examples.
“Each time you refresh the site, the network will generate a new facial image from scratch,” wrote Wang in a Facebook post. He added in a statement to Motherboard: “Most people do not understand how good AIs will be at synthesizing images in the future.”
The underlying AI framework powering the site was originally invented by a researcher named Ian Goodfellow. Nvidia’s take on the algorithm, named StyleGAN, was made open source recently and has proven to be incredibly flexible. Although this version of the model is trained to generate human faces, it can, in theory, mimic any source. Researchers are already experimenting with other targets. including anime characters, fonts, and graffiti.
The key is all in the algorithms, and opens up almost endless creative possibilities. It also opens Pandora’s Box for folks with nefarious intentions:
Comment → -Then there are the downsides. As we’ve seen in discussions about deepfakes (which use GANs to paste people’s faces onto target videos, often in order to create non-consensual pornography), the ability to manipulate and generate realistic imagery at scale is going to have a huge effect on how modern societies think about evidence and trust. Such software could also be extremely useful for creating political propaganda and influence campaigns.
In other words, ThisPersonDoesNotExist.com is just the polite introduction to this new technology. The rude awakening comes later.
As expected, President Trump took to the podium in the Rose Garden to declare a National Emergency for “virtual invasion purposes” at the southern border.
President Trump said he’ll sign the final paper work to declare a national emergency to fund his wall as soon as he gets back to his office — and he’s already anticipating a legal challenge.
“So the order is signed. And I’ll sign the final papers as soon as I get into the Oval Office. And we will have a national emergency,” Trump said.
After he signs national emergency and executive action paperwork, Trump said, “We will then be sued,” rattling off a possible chain of events, which included bad ruling in the 9th Circuit Court, which he has previously lamented.“We will possibly get another bad ruling, and then we’ll get another bad ruling, and then we’ll end up in the Supreme Court,” Trump said, comparing the process to challenges to his administration’s travel ban.
“And then, hopefully, we’ll get a fair shake.”
The move is certain to draw both congressional and legal scrutiny.
Comment → -There were some wondering if President Trump would sign the newly passed spending bill designed to avert government shutdown, or declare a national emergency for border funding. Apparently he will do both.
Speaking on the Senate floor Thursday, McConnell sought to reassure lawmakers unsure of the President’s position before taking a vote on the plan, which falls short of providing the $5 billion in border wall funding the President had demanded.
“He has indicated he is prepared to sign the bill. He will also be issuing a national emergency declaration at the same time,” McConnell said. “I’ve indicated to him that I’m going to support the national emergency declaration. So for all of my colleagues, the President will sign the bill, we will be voting on it shortly.”
It provided reassurance amid questions about the President’s support for the deal, which was struck by a bipartisan panel of negotiators. Aides had said earlier Thursday they were concerned Trump would reject the spending compromise — a major shift from earlier this week when officials indicated privately that he would.
Advisers said Trump had grown increasingly concerned about what is contained in the 1,100-page legislation that was released late Wednesday evening.
The National Emergency declaration will almost certainly bring both Congressional and legal action against it. Stay tuned.
Comment → -The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest protestant denomination in the United States, and is second only to the Catholic Church in American membership in the Christian faith. And they have some soul searching to do:
The Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News teamed up on the reporting:
Journalists in the two newsrooms spent more than six months reviewing thousands of pages of court, prison and police records and conducting hundreds of interviews. They built a database of former leaders in Southern Baptist churches who have been convicted of sex crimes.
The investigation reveals that:• At least 35 church pastors, employees and volunteers who exhibited predatory behavior were still able to find jobs at churches during the past two decades. In some cases, church leaders apparently failed to alert law enforcement about complaints or to warn other congregations about allegations of misconduct.
• Several past presidents and prominent leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention are among those criticized by victims for concealing or mishandling abuse complaints within their own churches or seminaries.
• Some registered sex offenders returned to the pulpit. Others remain there, including a Houston preacher who sexually assaulted a teenager and now is the principal officer of a Houston nonprofit that works with student organizations, federal records show. Its name: Touching the Future Today Inc.
• Many of the victims were adolescents who were molested, sent explicit photos or texts, exposed to pornography, photographed nude, or repeatedly raped by youth pastors. Some victims as young as 3 were molested or raped inside pastors’ studies and Sunday school classrooms.
A few were adults — women and men who sought pastoral guidance and instead say they were seduced or sexually assaulted.
The reporting is extensive. Many will draw comparisons to the on-going scandals in the Catholic Church, but there are a few difference that should be noted. Local SBC churches, while under the umbrella of the national convention are fully autonomous and self-governed. Money and giving goes up but there is little of the authority the Catholic Church holds over their congregations coming back down. The piece goes into detail on how that model is ripe for predators, and how that makes any internal changes unlikely to be of much benefit.
“Change has to begin at the ground level with churches and organizations,” SBC President JD Greear is quoted in the report, “Our churches must start standing together with a commitment to take this issue much more seriously than ever before.”
We will see what happens now going forward.
Comment → -Granted, most elderly people are not still living, let alone driving, at 97. Or coming off a crash that involved injuries to another party. Or happen to be the husband of the Queen of England.
Prince Philip has decided to stop driving at the age of 97, less than a month after he was involved in a collision that left two women injured, Buckingham Palace said Saturday.
The palace said in a statement that “after careful consideration,” Queen Elizabeth II’s husband “has taken the decision to voluntarily surrender his driving license.”
Philip was behind the wheel of a Land Rover near the royal family’s Sandringham estate in eastern England when he smashed into another car on Jan. 17. Philip had to be helped out of his overturned vehicle but wasn’t injured. Two women in the other car were injured, though not seriously, and a 9-month-old baby boy was unhurt.
Philip was photographed driving again two days later, without a seatbelt. Police said they offered him “suitable words of advice” after that.
The prince was not charged in the crash. Police said he and the other driver were both given breath tests for alcohol and passed.
In a letter of apology to one of the injured women, Philip said he was dazzled by the sun when he pulled onto a main road near the royal retreat, 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of London.He told Emma Fairweather, who suffered a broken wrist in the crash, that “I can only imagine that I failed to see the car coming, and I am very contrite about the consequences.” The letter was published by a newspaper.
There is no upper age limit for licensing drivers in Britain, although drivers over 70 are required to renew their licenses every three years and tell authorities about any medical conditions that might raise safety issues.
While it is an extreme example, plenty of elderly people who are not the Duke of Edinburgh are faced with life-altering decisions when it comes to their transportation. For people who have been independent for many decades of life, the decision of when they are no longer able to drive can be very difficult. It is not just the practical side of being able to come and go, but also the mental hurdle of losing a piece of freedom and ability to control your own life. Transportation is a debate that is often swallowed up in theory, analytics, and charts, but like many things in our lives it very much affects real life, everyday people in almost immeasurable ways.
Elderly drivers is a debate with many questions, and no easy answers, but with one certainty: It is not going away. Time waits for no one, royal or not, and is undefeated.
Comment → -Not sure who is advising AMI and David Pecker, but blackmailing the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, may prove to be a bad idea. Very bad.
Several days ago, an AMI leader advised us that Mr. Pecker is “apoplectic” about our investigation. For reasons still to be better understood, the Saudi angle seems to hit a particularly sensitive nerve.
A few days after hearing about Mr. Pecker’s apoplexy, we were approached, verbally at first, with an offer. They said they had more of my text messages and photos that they would publish if we didn’t stop our investigation.
My lawyers argued that AMI has no right to publish photos since any person holds the copyright to their own photos, and since the photos in themselves don’t add anything newsworthy.
AMI’s claim of newsworthiness is that the photos are necessary to show Amazon shareholders that my business judgment is terrible. I founded Amazon in my garage 24 years ago, and drove all the packages to the post office myself. Today, Amazon employs more than 600,000 people, just finished its most profitable year ever, even while investing heavily in new initiatives, and it’s usually somewhere between the #1 and #5 most valuable company in the world. I will let those results speak for themselves.
OK, back to their threat to publish intimate photos of me. I guess we (me, my lawyers, and Gavin de Becker) didn’t react to the generalized threat with enough fear, so they sent this:
What follows is specific details, apparently from AMI, of the photos they have. The gist of it is the Enquirer wants the Washington Post, which Bezos owns, to pull a story about them they don’t like. In the background, of course, is the long simmering feud of the Post, Bezos, Pecker, and Pecker’s long-time friend Donald J. Trump. Bezos concludes his piece, along with the emails from AMI, with this:
These communications cement AMI’s long-earned reputation for weaponizing journalistic privileges, hiding behind important protections, and ignoring the tenets and purpose of true journalism. Of course I don’t want personal photos published, but I also won’t participate in their well-known practice of blackmail, political favors, political attacks, and corruption. I prefer to stand up, roll this log over, and see what crawls out.
Sincerely,
Jeff Bezos
Here’s to seeing what crawls out.
Comment → -If you had a reaction to that Michelob Ultra commercial where Zoe Kravitz goes soundlab with tapping, whispers, and pouring a beer, there is a reason for that: it was designed that way.
ASMR, or “autonomous sensory meridian response,” has been around for close to a decade, but finally made its way into the mainstream with a Michelob Ultra commercial during the Super Bowl Sunday night. The ad featured actress Zoe Kravitz whispering softly into a microphone, tapping her nails against the bottle, all to get us to buy some beer.
It’s a big trend right now, and there are countless videos on YouTube of people whispering directly into microphones and tapping their fingers on things to try and stimulate an ASMR response for viewers.
ASMR was first coined in 2010 and has since gathered thousands of faithful followers online. Content creators on YouTube, for example, upload hours-long videos of them stroking the camera’s lens with makeup brushes, drawing with crayons, drumming their fingers against leather and creating other similar tingly sounds that users claim help them sleep and calm down.
Everyone’s triggers are different: some may ooze with satisfaction at the sound of a page turning, others from a laugh — and others may not experience ASMR at all.
But some academics say it’s not just the satisfaction of this brain massage that makes the experience so special. It may actually be good for something. A UK study says participants reported ASMR provided temporary relief for those suffering from depression and chronic pain, while others said it helped them deal with stress.
So yes, a lot of people find ASMR relaxing. Others find it horrifying. Or at the very least it freaks them out, like the Michelob Ultra ad featuring Kravitz did
In my household, it was found to be annoying, mockable, and just plain bizarre. But science says it works differently for different folks, so YMMV. So, what say you?
Comment → -
Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia, facing intense pressure to resign from fellow Democrats after admitting that he posed for a photo in a racist costume as a medical student more than 30 years ago, was calling state Democrats on Saturday to say he did not think it was him in the picture and that he would not resign.
Mr. Northam, who apologized on Friday night, was increasingly isolated, but in phone calls on Saturday morning he said he had no recollection of the yearbook image of two men, one in blackface and the other in Ku Klux Klan robes. Late Saturday morning, his office announced that he would provide a statement to the news media at 2:30 p.m.
In addition to calling state Democratic officials, Mr. Northam has been calling former classmates at Eastern Virginia Medical School in an effort to determine more information about the picture — and to survive a crisis that is threatening his year-old governorship.
Gov. Northam Presser:
Gov. Northam pushes back on calls to resign and says he will face the consequences of staying in office. " I cannot in good conscience choose the path that would be easier for me in an effort to duck my responsibility to reconcile" https://t.co/i0gLG8p9xa pic.twitter.com/btBtpURoXB
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 2, 2019
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam denies being in racist yearbook photo but says it has reminded him of "other mistakes" from that time in his life, such as darkening his face for a Michael Jackson costume. "I did not understand the harmful legacy of an action like that" pic.twitter.com/C9dxmryblJ
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 2, 2019
Comment → -Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam says he is not in the racist photo from his medical school yearbook, despite saying yesterday that he is. "I recognize that many people will find this difficult to believe" https://t.co/i0gLG8p9xa pic.twitter.com/HzUrlPGxuQ
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 2, 2019
Linky Friday, Ordinary Times’ end-of-week tradition of bringing you links from across the web and around the world. This week, A Bit of History with stories, photos, videos, music, and more for you to read, share, and discuss.
Linky Friday: categories this week are sports and culture, art and nature, economics and politics, and war and peace.
It’s Linky Friday and now you have a way to malinger productivity while reading random links embedded in wry comments that are only funny after you read the articles!
Burt Likko fills in for Will Truman for this week’s aggregation of dozens of links to themed web randomness!
In Linky Friday #29, Will highlights a recent column in The Atlantic by Hugo Scwhyzer that asked, “What If Men Stopped Chasing Much-Younger Women?” His argument, that the Old Man/Young Woman relationship dynamic intrinsically harms society, was not received well by commenters, either here or at The Atlantic. His concerns about this type of relationship, valid…
I agree 99% with this take except the toxic masculinity part. I don't really see that here. It seems like dumb statements by dudes doesn't immediately = toxicity, does it?
[View in thread] -
