🧑‍🤝‍🧑AI Voice Clones Celebrities

Hey TEDchats Fam!

Happy Thursday! Imagine receiving a call from your favorite celebrity—or so you think. The voice is spot on, the tone unmistakable, but here’s the catch: it’s not them. It’s AI.

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Cloning Voices, Cloning Controversy

PlayAI, a rising star in AI voice cloning, lets users replicate voices—including those of public figures—from just a simple recording with remarkable ease. While praised for its lifelike voice simulations, the platform has faced backlash over weak ethical safeguards, moderation, and risks of misuse for scams and deepfakes. Despite these concerns, PlayAI just landed $21 million in new funding, doubling down on its mission to make conversations "fluid, emotive, and human-like – how they should be" (try PlayAI here).

Text-to-Video Generator Sora Leaked, OpenAI Slammed!

OpenAI's experimental video generator, Sora, was leaked online, allowing public access to the tool's API via a rogue Hugging Face project. Users briefly generated 10-second 1080p clips, flaunting Sora's capabilities before access was revoked (see clips here and here). The protest group, “PR Puppets Sora”, claims OpenAI is exploiting artists for unpaid labor and spinning an overly polished narrative around Sora's development. OpenAI denies these allegations, highlighting voluntary participation and emphasizing ongoing safety measures ahead of the tool's public release (see protesters’ open letter).

Zoom’s Name Gets a Makeover: “Video” is Out, AI is In

Zoom has dropped the “Video” from its name, signaling a major pivot from video conferencing to an “AI-first work platform”. Now rebranded as Zoom Communications Inc., the company is tackling hybrid work challenges with AI-powered tools like Zoom Workplace, designed to automate repetitive tasks like emails and meeting summaries. With its AI Companion 2.0 and productivity solutions, Zoom envisions a streamlined future—one where a four-day workweek is possible (yes, you read that right)—leaving its pandemic-era boom as a distant memory (see Zoom’s announcement).

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🤯 MIND SPARK

Microsoft in the Antitrust Crosshairs: The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has reportedly launched a sweeping antitrust probe into Microsoft, targeting its cloud and AI businesses, marking the tech giant’s most significant regulatory scrutiny since the late ‘90s. As the investigation ramps up, questions linger over its future under the incoming Trump administration (read more).

Trump Eyes an ‘AI Czar’ for Top-Down Tech Governance: Donald Trump is reportedly considering an ‘AI czar’ role to oversee federal AI regulation and deployment. The position may not require Senate confirmation, potentially allowing faster action on AI initiatives and reshaping America’s decentralized governance model, though it could spark debates over tech policy (read more).

Alibaba’s Reasoning AI Rivals OpenAI: Alibaba’s Qwen team has unveiled QwQ-32B-Preview, a 32.5-billion-parameter reasoning model that challenges OpenAI’s o1. With the ability to handle prompts up to 32,000 words and outperforming o1 on key benchmarks like AIME and MATH, this model is making waves in the AI community (read more).

IMAX Goes Multilingual with AI Dubbing Magic: IMAX and Dubai-based CambAI have announced a partnership to broaden IMAX's global audience. Leveraging advanced AI, CambAI translates speech into over 140 languages while preserving emotional nuances and ambient audio (read more).

AI Powers Up the Grid: The US Department of Energy has unveiled its $30 million AI4IX program, aiming to slash the grid interconnection wait time of up to seven years. By leveraging AI to streamline project approvals, the initiative seeks to accelerate the transition to a clean energy future (read more).

Grok Goes Solo: Elon Musk’s xAI is reportedly set to shake up the AI world with a standalone Grok chatbot app launching in December. Positioned as a ChatGPT rival, this move could take Grok beyond X subscriptions, expanding its reach and influence (read more).

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