Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis says we may have AGI ‘in the next few years’The CEO of Google DeepMind says human-level AI could emerge before 2033 — an event that could radically alter how crypto trading bots and GPT-based tech functions.

AI can’t replace human writersIn the must-watch final season of “Succession,” Kendall Roy enters a conference room with his siblings. As the scene opens, he takes a seat and declares: “Who will be the successor? Me.”
Of course, that scene didn’t appear on HBO’s hit show, but it’s a good illustration of generative AI’s level of sophistication compared to the real thing. Yet as the Writers Guild of America goes on strike in pursuit of livable working conditions and better streaming residuals, the networks won’t budge on writers’ demands to regulate the use of AI in writers’ rooms.
“Our proposal is that we not be required to adapt something that’s output by AI, and that the output of an AI not be considered writers’ work,” comedy writer Adam Conover told TechCrunch. “That doesn’t entirely exclude that technology from the production process, but it does mean that our working conditions wouldn’t be undermined by AI.”
But the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) refused to engage with that proposal, instead offering a yearly meeting to discuss “advances in technology.”
“When we first put [the proposal] in, we thought we were covering our bases — you know, some of our members are worried about this, the area is moving quickly, we should get ahead of it,” Conover said. “We didn’t think it’d be a contentious issue because the fact of the matter is, the current state of the text-generation technology is completely incapable of writing any work that could be used in a production.”
The text-generating algorithms behind tools like ChatGPT are not built to entertain us. Instead, they analyze patterns in massive datasets to respond to requests by determining what is most likely the desired output. So, ChatGPT knows that “Succession” is about an aging media magnate’s children fighting for control of his company, but it is unlikely to come up with any dialogue more nuanced than, “Who will be the successor? Me.”
According to Ben Zhao, a University of Chicago professor and faculty lead of art anti-mimicry tool Glaze, AI advancements can be used as an excuse for corporations to devalue human labor.
“It’s to the advantage of the studios and bigger corporations to basically over-claim ChatGPT’s abilities, so they can, in negotiations at least, undermine and minimize the role of human creatives,” Zhao told TechCrunch. “I’m not sure how many people at these larger companies actually believe what they’re saying.”
Conover emphasized that some parts of a writer’s job are less obvious than literal scriptwriting but equally difficult to replicate with AI.
“It’s going and meeting with the set decoration department that says, ‘Hey, we can’t actually build this prop that you’re envisioning, could you do this instead?’ and then you talk to them and go back and rewrite,” he said. “This is a human enterprise that involves working with other people, and that simply cannot be done by an AI.”
Comedian Yedoye Travis sees how AI could be useful in a writers’ room.
“What we do in writers’ rooms is ultimately bouncing ideas around,” he told TechCrunch. “Even if it’s not good per se, an AI can throw together a script in however many minutes, compared to a week for human writers, and then it’s easier to edit than to write.”
But even if there may be some promise for how humans can leverage this technology, he worries that studios see it merely as a way to demand more from writers over a shorter period of time.
“It says to me that they’re only concerned with things being made,” Travis said. “They’re not concerned with people being paid for things being made.”
Writers are also advocating to regulate the use of AI in entertainment because it remains a legal grey area.
“It’s not clear that the work that it outputs is copyrightable, and a movie studio is not going to spend $50 to $100 million shooting a script that they don’t know that they own the copyright to,” Conover said. “So we figured this would be an easy give for [the AMPTP], but they completely stonewalled on it.”
As the Writers Guild of America strikes for the first time since its historic 100-day action in 2007, Conover said he thinks the debate over AI technology is a “red herring.” With generative AI in such a rudimentary stage, writers are more immediately concerned with dismal streaming residuals and understaffed writing teams. Yet studios’ pushback on the union’s AI-related requests only further reinforces the core issue: The people who power Hollywood aren’t being paid their fair share.
“I’m not worried about the technology,” Conover said. “I’m worried about the companies using technology, that is not in fact very good, to undermine our working conditions.”

Glaze protects art from prying AIs

Science fiction publishers are being flooded with AI-generated stories

AI can’t replace human writers by Amanda Silberling originally published on TechCrunch

AudioKit Pro King of FM King Of FM is a completely free app for iPhone, iPad and Silicon Mac that's based on sounds of classic '80s FM synths, inspired by the Yamaha DX7, DX7II, TX81z, and SY77. "POSSIBLY... Read More

Larry Jackson’s $1bn-backed gamma expands into Africa and the Middle East, led by Naomi Campbell and Sipho DlaminiSub-Saharan Africa was, in percentage terms, the fastest-growing recorded music region in the world in 2022
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Trials of Cato @ Hotel Cafe in HollywoodMaterial: The Trials of Cato is a trio belting out, what sounds like, traditional folk music but with a modern twist. Every track is a journey into your mind as the tunes take you to lands far and near in traditional Welsh fashion. Banjo, mandolin and acoustic guitar are the main fare this evening, where Williams picks up bass and bass drum duties with his guitar and creates a splendid backdrop on which the tunes sit. That left Jones and Bolton to wander around, giving you superb melodies of banjo, mandolin and vocals.

Musicianship: Extremely good musicianship all around. Bolton and Jones really play well off each other and together, and they use Williams as a springboard to launch their beautiful melodies and vocals. Williams is a solid musician and keeps the beats steady and stable as the songs progress ever so smoothly. Each is well written and you can tell that great care goes into each song to bring out the most out of the lyrics.

Performance: Great. The music spoke for itself as the instruments brought everything to life with each and every stroke of the strings and beat of the drum. All three––Jones, Bolton and Williams––are great storytellers, each telling tales of their homeland, how the songs came to be and the direction the band is headed.

Summary: This is a band that hit with their debut album, Hide and Hair, and won Best Folk Album of 2019 at the BBC Radio Folk Awards. Now they’re at it again with another exceptional album, Gog Magog, which likely will not disappoint, either. Currently on a tour that includes various U.S. dates, including SXSW (South By South West) and a quick stop at The Hotel Café, the Trials Of Cato are bringing you some of the best in contemporary folk and Welsh tunes the music community has heard in a while. If you like bluegrass-y, Welsh, Irish-y folk music, look no further, The Trials of Cato have arrived. – Pierce Brochetti

Web: thetrialsofcato.com

Contact: thetrialsofcato@gmail.com

Players: Robin Jones, vocals, banjo, mandolin, bouzouki, percussion; Polly Bolton, vocals, bouzouki,

                       mandolin, synthesizer; Tomos Williams, backup vocals, guitar, keyboard, percussion.

Key Songs In The Life Of… Justin TranterThe hit songwriter selects the tracks that have had the biggest influence on their life and career to date
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LAST CHANCE! Get Emergent Drums AI Drum Generator OLD PRICE + 20% OFF!
There are only five days left to get Emergent Drums before the price increases on May 9th, 2023. BPB readers also get an exclusive 20% OFF discount (use coupon code BPBMAY20 at checkout). Audialab will soon release Emergent Drums 2.0, a new version of its groundbreaking AI drum generator plugin. It will introduce new features, but [...]
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PolyChrome DSP McRocklin Suite The McRocklin Suite is a selection of amplifiers and effect pedals, tailored together to provide Production Ready Guitar Tones. The suite features four uniquely voiced amplifiers, four... Read More

Cory Wong Compressor pedal from Wampler Wampler's latest pedal has been developed with Grammy-nominated artist Cory Wong, who wanted to combine the company's EGO effect with a boost pedal and add a built-in direct output.

5 tips to get more engagement on social media for musicians.
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Overloud Releases FREE Hybrid Reverb Library For REMatrix Player
Overloud released Hybrid Free, a collection of hybrid reverb impulse responses for the freeware REmatrix Player plugin. The freeware REmatrix Player convolution plugin already has a substatial set of content available for it. The latest Hybrid Free reverb collection expands it even further with an exciting mashup of real-life and digital reverbs. Hybrid Free is [...]
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Tom DeGeorge and DTOUR want to change how indie artists tourTom DeGeorge, the owner of legendary Tampa venue Crowbar, discusses DTOUR, his game-changing touring model for indie artists and venues. by Randi Zimmerman from Symphonic Music Industry 360 is Symphoni’s. Continue reading
The post Tom DeGeorge and DTOUR want to change how indie artists tour appeared first on Hypebot.

Music Investing Goes Mainstream: Why opportunities for Artists and Investors are set to explodeFounder and CEO of Marination Music, Justin Longo, shines light on a new way to add stability to musician incomes as well as build a closer bond between artists and. Continue reading
The post Music Investing Goes Mainstream: Why opportunities for Artists and Investors are set to explode appeared first on Hypebot.

QUICK HITS: Duetti • Gibson • PIXELYNX • Blackbird StudioDuetti, the new music financing platform founded by ex-TIDAL and Apple Music execs Lior Tibon and Chris Nolte has launched with $32M in funding. The Fin-tech platform gives artists at. Continue reading
The post QUICK HITS: Duetti • Gibson • PIXELYNX • Blackbird Studio appeared first on Hypebot.

Carl Tatz Design unveil PFM HD & UHD-1000 Mk II monitors The latest versions of Carl Tatz Design's PhantomFocus monitors promise improved imaging and articulation thanks to some cabinet changes and a new crossover design.