Chaos & Amazement #2340 Celebrity Deepfakes, Canva Magic, and Patreon’s New Logo
In this week's tech newsletter, we cover global surveillance concerns, social media commerce bans, celebrity deepfakes, AI wearables, and more. Enjoy!
Tech News
I genuinely thought 2023 was the year that Asian e-commerce and social commerce platforms went global. But:
Belgian intelligence is keeping a close eye on Alibaba's European logistics hub at Liège's cargo airport due to concerns of "possible espionage" involving Chinese entities.
To protect small businesses, e-commerce sales on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram have been banned in Indonesia. TikTok Shop, a major player, has already shut down its shopping feature. Indonesia is a key market for TikTok Shop globally. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/28/indonesia-bans-ecommerce-sales-purchases-tiktok-instagram-social-media-platforms
Celebrity deepfakes are having a moment!
AI-generated impersonations spawn scams and disruptions in showbiz, politics, and beyond. It's a tech challenge that's making waves in Hollywood and beyond. #Deepfakes #AI #Celebrities https://morningbrew.com/daily/stories/2023/10/03/celebrity-deepfakes-are-having-a-moment via @MorningBrew
TikTok wants creators to label their content if it was AI generated. Generative AI tools can also add a watermark to the material that is invisible to the human ai. Researchers now showcase the ability to erase watermarks from AI-generated images and add them to human-made ones, creating challenges for online content flagging systems. “Watermarking is not effective. Entire industries, such as ours, have sprang up to make sure that it’s not effective.” https://wired.trib.al/2UiKASp
Fresh AI
Microsoft introduces DALL-E 3 to all Bing Chat and Bing Image Creator users. OpenAI is also gearing up to bring DALL-E 3 to our paying ChatGPT subscribers later this month. https://theverge.com/2023/10/3/23901963/bing-chat-dall-e-3-openai-image-generator via @Verge
The @canva Magic event made some new AI features available, including text-to-video based on @runwayML . I think these are game-changing features, now made available for a very wide audience. Learn more at https://canva.com/magic/.
This was clearly the week of cutting-edge AI wearables:
Tech meets fashion at Paris Fashion Week! @HumaneAI unveils the Ai Pin, a groundbreaking AI wearable designed by former Apple innovators.
No phone needed, just seamless AI integration. Exciting glimpse into the future! https://hu.ma.ne/media/humanexcoperni
AI startup Rewind debuts the Pendant – a wearable capturing and transcribing conversations. Claims to enhance recall and productivity. Time will tell.
From my blog
The latest developments on Patreon, from its logo update to the empowering Content-Community-Commerce model. These changes impact creators and their communities. https://bnox.be/2023/10/patreons-logo-revamp-and-triumph-of.html
Weird and Wonderful
Just discovered @OpenFoodFacts – a global, volunteer-driven food database. Contribute and access valuable insights for informed choices. https://world.openfoodfacts.org
Explore the 'British Seaside Simulator' for a dose of virtual British coastlines!
Don't be surprised if it's raining everywhere you go, but hey, that's the UK for you! If you're tired of sunny days, this is your spot! https://vole.wtf/british-seaside/
I’m obsessed with the TikTok account @ilgallinaio_special. It currently has 1.2M Followers 48.4M likes. The account features videos of a person (outside of the frame) dancing with chickens to various songs. Here’s my favorite:
Tiktok failed to load.
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