The Download: the future of AI moviemaking, and what to know about plug-in hybrids
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. What’s next for generative video When OpenAI revealed its new generative video model, Sora, last month, it invited a handful of filmmakers to try it out. This week the company published the results: seven surreal short films that leave no doubt that the future of generative video is coming fast. The first batch of models that could turn text into video appeared in late 2022, from companies including Meta, Google, and video-tech startup Runway. It was a neat […]
What’s next for generative video
MIT Technology Review’s What’s Next series looks across industries, trends, and technologies to give you a first look at the future. You can read the rest of them here. When OpenAI revealed its new generative video model, Sora, last month, it invited a handful of filmmakers to try it out. This week the company published the results: seven surreal short films that leave no doubt that the future of generative video is coming fast. The first batch of models that could turn text into video appeared in late 2022, from companies including Meta, Google, and video-tech startup Runway. It was […]
How three filmmakers created Sora’s latest stunning videos
In the last month, a handful of filmmakers have taken Sora for a test drive. The results, which OpenAI published this week, are amazing. The short films are a big jump up even from the cherrypicked demo videos that OpenAI used to tease its new generative model just six weeks ago. Here’s how three of the filmmakers did it. “Air Head” by Sky Kids Sky Kids is a pop-band and filmmaking collective based in Toronto that describes its style as “punk-rock pixar.” The group has experimented with generative video tech before. Last year it made a music video for one […]
What to expect if you’re expecting a plug-in hybrid
This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. If you’ve ever eaten at a fusion restaurant or seen an episode of Glee, you know a mashup can be a wonderful thing. Plug-in hybrid vehicles should be the mashup that the auto industry needs right now. They can run a short distance on a small battery in electric mode or take on longer drives with a secondary fuel, cutting emissions without asking people to commit to a fully electric vehicle. But all that freedom can come […]
The Download: the problem with plug-in hybrids, and China’s AI talent
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. The problem with plug-in hybrids? Their drivers. Plug-in hybrids are supposed to be the best of both worlds—the convenience of a gas-powered car with the climate benefits of a battery electric vehicle. But new data suggests that some official figures severely underestimate the emissions they produce. According to new real-world driving data from Europe, plug-in hybrids produce roughly 3.5 times the emissions official estimates suggest. The difference is largely linked to driver habits: people tend to charge plug-in […]
The problem with plug-in hybrids? Their drivers.
Plug-in hybrids are supposed to be the best of both worlds—the convenience of a gas-powered car with the climate benefits of a battery electric vehicle. But new data suggests that some official figures severely underestimate the emissions they produce. According to new real-world driving data from the European Commission, plug-in hybrids produce roughly 3.5 times the emissions official estimates suggest. The difference is largely linked to driver habits: people tend to charge plug-in hybrids and drive them in electric mode less than expected. “The environmental impact of these vehicles is much, much worse than what the official numbers would indicate,” […]
Four things you need to know about China’s AI talent pool
This story first appeared in China Report, MIT Technology Review’s newsletter about technology in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday. In 2019, MIT Technology Review covered a report that shined a light on how fast China’s AI talent pool was growing. Its main finding was pretty interesting: the number of elite AI scholars with Chinese origins had multiplied by 10 in the previous decade, but relatively few of them stayed in China for their work. The majority moved to the US. Now the think tank behind the report has published an updated analysis, showing how the makeup […]
AI could make better beer. Here’s how.
Crafting a good-tasting beer is a difficult task. Big breweries select hundreds of trained tasters from among their employees to test their new products. But running such sensory tasting panels is expensive, and perceptions of what tastes good can be highly subjective. What if artificial intelligence could help lighten the load? New AI models can accurately identify not only how highly consumers will rate a certain Belgian beer, but also what kinds of compounds brewers should be adding to make the beer taste better, according to research published in Nature Communications today. These kinds of models could help food and […]
The Download: Adobe’s AI ambitions, and how work is changing
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. How Adobe’s bet on non-exploitative AI is paying off Since the beginning of the generative AI boom, there has been a fight over how large AI models are trained. In one camp sit tech companies such as OpenAI that claim it is “impossible” to train AI without copyrighted data. And in the other camp are artists who argue that AI companies have taken their intellectual property without consent or compensation. Adobe is pretty unusual in siding with the […]
Meet the MIT Technology Review AI team in London
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. The UK is home to AI powerhouse Google DeepMind, a slew of exciting AI startups, and some of the world’s best universities. It’s also where I live, along with quite a few of my MIT Technology Review colleagues, including our senior AI editor Will Douglas Heaven. That’s why I’m super stoked to tell you that we’re gathering some of the brightest minds in AI in Europe for our flagship AI conference, EmTech Digital, in London on April 16 and 17. […]