Meta will release a new Quest educational product later this year. As with 2023’s workplace-specific Meta Quest for Business, the as yet unnamed learning tool will allow teachers, trainers and administrators to access education-specific apps and features, and make it possible for them to manage multiple Quest devices at once. The classroom convenience of not having to individually update and prepare each headset for the same lesson was one of Meta’s key findings in researching what teachers wanted from virtual reality, Meta says, positioning education and training as a growing tech product sector, with lots of app activity. Continue reading Meta Education Initiative Aims to Put Quest VR in Classrooms

OpenAI has debuted a new text-to-voice generation platform called Voice Engine, available in limited access. Voice Engine can generate a synthetic voice from a 15-second clip of someone’s voice. The synthetic voice can then read a provided text, even translating to other languages. For now, only a handful of companies are using the tech under a strict usage policy as OpenAI grapples with the potential for misuse. “These small scale deployments are helping to inform our approach, safeguards, and thinking about how Voice Engine could be used for good across various industries,” OpenAI explained. Continue reading OpenAI Voice Cloning Tool Needs Only a 15-Second Sample

A government study finds that while IP theft is commonplace in the world of NFTs, existing laws can be applied to protect U.S. copyright, trademark and patent rights. Those are the findings of a study released this month by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in conjunction with the U.S. Copyright Office. The 112-page report concludes “existing statutory enforcement mechanisms are currently sufficient to address infringement concerns related to NFT applications, and that changes to intellectual property laws,” or to registration and recordation practices, “are not necessary or advisable at this time.” Continue reading IP Theft Common in NFT Markets, But No New Laws Required

OpenAI has debuted a generative video model called Sora that could be a game changer. In OpenAI’s demonstration clips, Sora depicts both fantasy and natural scenes with photorealistic intensity that makes the images appear to be photographed. Although Sora is said to be currently limited to one-minute clips, it is only a matter of time until that expands, which suggests the technology could have a significant impact on all aspects of production — from entertainment to advertising to education. Concerned about Sora’s disinformation potential, OpenAI is proceeding cautiously, and initially making it available only to a select group to help it troubleshoot. Continue reading OpenAI’s Generative Video Tech Is Described as ‘Eye-Popping’

As parents and educators grapple with figuring out how AI will fit into education, OpenAI is preemptively acting to help answer that question, teaming with learning and child safety group Common Sense Media on informational material and recommended guidelines. The two will also work together to curate “family-friendly GPTs” for the GPT Store that are “based on Common Sense ratings and standards,” the organization said. The partnership aims “to help realize the full potential of AI for teens and families and minimize the risks,” according to Common Sense. Continue reading OpenAI Partners with Common Sense Media on AI Guidelines

Musician will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas — who is also a noted technologist, entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist — discussed his work with Mercedes-AMG, why he attends the CES conference each year in Las Vegas, and his vision of the future. In 2022 he was asked by Mercedes to reimagine a vehicle. He loves pattern-matching, he said, and seeing how things align. After developing ideas with his team and auctioning off the working prototype WILL.I.AMG to raise funds for his inner-city education philanthropy, he went back to Mercedes with a simple but powerful pitch with a focus on audio. Continue reading CES: Will.i.am Discusses the Intersection of Music and Tech

The Federal Trade Commission has proposed new rules to strengthen the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), further limiting the collection of children’s data, particularly those who seek to monetize the information through targeted advertising. FTC Chair Lina Khan says the proposed changes aim to prevent tech firms “from outsourcing their responsibilities to parents” when it comes to ensuring privacy for children’s data. The FTC says it has issued fines totaling hundreds of millions of dollars to Google’s YouTube, and to a lesser extent, ByteDance’s TikTok, for mishandling the data of children 13-years-old and younger. Continue reading FTC Seeks to Bolster COPPA So Firms Can’t Surveil Children

“Robots are great specialists, but poor generalists,” according to Google DeepMind, which says models are typically trained for individual tasks, and changing a single variable can mean starting again from scratch. Now the London-based Alphabet subsidiary thinks it’s come up with a way to combine knowledge across robotics for a general purpose machine helper. In conjunction with 33 academic labs, Google DeepMind has pooled data from 22 different robot types to create the Open X-Embodiment dataset. Simultaneously, the group releases the RT-1-X robotics transformer (RT) model derived from RT-1. Continue reading DeepMind and Academics Advance General Purpose Robots

U.S. consumers are consolidating their devices, eliminating outdated ones to make room for new ones that better serve their needs, according to the fourth annual Deloitte Connected Consumer survey. The study found that while 48 percent of consumers purchased a minimum of one new connected device this year, the average number of devices per household fell to 21 in 2023 from 25 in 2021, “when many loaded up on technology during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Although many consumers may be attempting to streamline their digital lives, they remain very interested in virtual experiences and tech innovation. Continue reading Deloitte: Consumer Views of Connected Devices Are Changing

After raising $30 million from investors and generating $5.4 million selling NFTs on marketplace OpenSea, Los Angeles-based entertainment firm Impact Theory LLC has agreed to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission a $6 million settlement in what has been reported as the SEC’s first NFT enforcement action. Impact Theory was accused of selling “unregistered asset securities in the form of purported non-fungible tokens.” Purported, because the SEC claims the NFTs “sold to investors were investment contracts and therefore securities” and as such, are required by law to be registered. Continue reading SEC Treats NFTs as Unregistered Securities, Fines Company

The Biden administration has issued an implementation framework for its National Cybersecurity Strategy, detailing how the federal government plans to regulate digital security issues. The highly anticipated document lists more than 65 initiatives for executing the “five pillars” of the March 2023 U.S. National Cybersecurity Strategy, described as a “bold, affirmative vision for cyberspace.” The implementation takes a two-pronged approach: empowering capable actors who can bear more of the security responsibility, and the need for incentives that facilitate investment in long-term resilience. Continue reading White House Releases Plan for Cybersecurity Implementation

IATSE, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, has adopted what it is calling “Core Principles for Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Technology” in the entertainment industry. Unveiled last week, the document follows the May creation of the group’s Commission on Artificial Intelligence. The activity is meant to convey a proactive approach to the challenges and opportunities ahead. “With AI, the stakes for IATSE members in all crafts is high,” said IATSE International President Matthew Loeb. “There is much work to do, but I am pleased to report the union’s efforts are already well underway.” Continue reading IATSE Unveils Its Core Principles for AI and Machine Learning

While the tech conversation has most recently pivoted to artificial intelligence, Meta Platforms isn’t giving up on the metaverse, though it shifted the focus from fun and games to job training and education at the company’s Future of Work Summit. “When it comes to AR and VR, it’s very obvious to me that one of the most powerful applications is the ability to dramatically improve re-skilling,” Meta’s president of global affairs Nick Clegg said, citing opportunities in skilled trades, teaching and elder care, speaking Tuesday in Washington. Continue reading Meta Touts the Metaverse as Tool for Education, Job Training

For those worried about AI creep — the insidious influence of artificial intelligence over everything from school classwork to career aspirations — Princeton University undergrad Edward Tian has an app for that. Tian has received $3.5 million in funding for an invention called GPTZero, which analyzes text to identify the work of generative AI. The 10-person team claims the tool has a 99 percent accuracy rate for human text and can score at about 85 percent when it comes to text written by AI. The company is now talking to media leaders about partnerships for AI detection and analysis. Continue reading GPTZero Fights Online AI Disinformation, School Plagiarism

A new Goldman Sachs report suggests artificial intelligence could trigger “significant disruption” in the global labor market. In the U.S. and Europe, as many as two-thirds of jobs could become automated at least in part, and generative AI could substitute up to one-fourth of current work. Extrapolating the estimates globally indicates generative AI “could expose the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs to automation,” the report says. Among U.S. workers, of those occupations that present a natural opportunity for AI assistance, somewhere between 25-50 percent of existing duties can be replaced, the Goldman Sachs research team says. Continue reading Report: 300M Global Workers May See Jobs Impacted by AI