Kozminski Techblog

Face-mapping, or face hacking technology is a not-so-new revolutionary invention that lets the person using it replace anyone’s face on the video with their own, or vise-versa.  It was created a few years ago and was not really used in a while, but last year its history was continued, as scandalous deepfake Chinese app was released.

Zao is an app for iOS, that is currently available only for users that have Chinese phone number, and whose phone is in a list of the UK or US App Store or Play Store. It quickly became the most-downloaded app on Chinese App Store, as people used to “put” their face on on faces of actors in, foe expamle, scenes in movies.

In case you haven't heard, #ZAO is a Chinese app which completely blew up since Friday. Best application of 'Deepfake'-style AI facial replacement I've ever seen.

Here's an example of me as DiCaprio (generated in under 8 secs from that one photo in the thumbnail) ? pic.twitter.com/1RpnJJ3wgT

— Allan Xia #ArtistsForFireRelief (@AllanXia) September 1, 2019

According to a transcript of a press, the ap and face-mapping technology at all can “endanger national security, disrupt social stability, disrupt social order and infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of others”

Indeed, not only can this technology be used in an innocent way, like users of Zao did, but as an instrument of sabotaging, for example, news reports, as it is shown in this article and video from BBC:

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/entertainment-arts-46200018/the-face-mapping-technology-raising-fears-about-fake-news

Situation got to the point where Chinese government considered an option of making face-mapping technology illegal.

The real question is if in the future we will have access to tools that can detect and eliminate face-mapping, because if not, it can endanger global areas of our world, such as advertisement, political debates and big businesses. For now, development of such tools has only started, we will see what it will result into in the future.

Sources:

https://www.sciencealert.com/disturbing-deepfake-app-lets-you-convincingly-superimpose-your-face-onto-celebrities

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/how-deepfake-app-zao-became-most-downloaded-free-app-in-china-and-whats-next/articleshow/71096391.cms

https://m.economictimes.com/magazines/panache/how-deepfake-app-zao-became-most-downloaded-free-app-in-china-and-whats-next/articleshow/71096391.cms

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/entertainment-arts-46200018/the-face-mapping-technology-raising-fears-about-fake-news

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-technology/china-seeks-to-root-out-fake-news-and-deepfakes-with-new-online-content-rules-idUSKBN1Y30VU

As we all probably know there is a lot of content on the internet that could be marked as inappropriate. This includes various mental health-related images.

Some social media platforms started banning content that refers to self-harm or suicide. Instagram, one of the most popular social media apps, is one of them. As stated on Cnet, “the photo-sharing app will no longer allow fictional depictions of such actions, including drawings, memes and graphic images from films or comics. It’s also pulling down other images that may not depict self-harm or suicide but includes “associated materials or methods””. The app took it a step further and as said on Cnet “accounts sharing this type of content won’t be recommended in search or other parts of the app”.

However, Instagram is not the only social media platform that decided to impose a ban on potentially harmful content. According to AI News, Pinterest, a popular social media page, “announced on World Mental Health Day that it’s reduced self-harm content by 88 percent over the past year using AI”. So how did they manage to do it? As stated on The Next Web “Pinterest announced in a blog post that for the past year, it’s been using machine learning techniques to identify and automatically hide content that displays, rationalizes, or encourages self-injury”. Moreover, it is continued with the fact that they are “now able to remove harmful content three times faster than ever before”.

In my opinion, it is crucial that we fight with harmful content on the internet as nowadays people spend more and more of their free time on social media. It is important to remember that self-harm content can not only be triggering for those who struggle with mental health issues but it can also encourage people to engage in self-destructive behaviors. Therefore, I find it very pleasing to see that artificial intelligence can help with detecting unhealthy content.

References:

https://www.cnet.com/news/instagram-bans-drawings-memes-that-depict-self-harm-or-suicide/

https://artificialintelligence-news.com/2019/10/11/pinterest-ai-reduce-self-harm-content-past-year/

https://newsroom.pinterest.com/en/post/getting-better-at-helping-people-feel-better

https://thenextweb.com/tech/2019/10/11/pinterest-says-ai-reduced-self-harm-content-on-its-platform-by-88/

Have you seen “The Matrix” by Wachowski brothers (now sisters)? Probably yes, this movie revolutionized the industry of sci-fi. In their film, The Wachowskis put a lot of futuristic concepts, some of which has already come true. In one of the scenes, when the main protagonist Neo has already escaped from The Matrix, he learns kung-fu within seconds by simply uploading skills to his brain. Well, it seems like pure science fiction. However, recently scientists from California developed technology which does the same thing but on a much smaller scale.

Researchers from HRL Laboratories claims that they have discovered the way to upload knowledge into a brain. Their method is based on neuroscience. According to the research, during learning, physical changes take place inside the brain. Those changes happen in a small region of a brain which is responsible for such functions like speech and memory. Thanks to special electrode-embedded head caps, this part of the brain is stimulated, which enables to acquire knowledge much faster.

It is a little bit shocking because it is even difficult to imagine that you don’t know something and then after a short time you suddenly have the knowledge in your brain. Well, it doesn’t work exactly as shown in The Matrix, but maybe one day it will…

The study conducted by HRL contained examining experienced aeroplane pilot brane and than stimulate the brain of rookies. As an outcome, those who received brain stimulation improved their piloting abilities and learnt the task 33% faster than the placebo group.

Will it be ever possible to upload things into brains? Probably new technologies will one day enable us to do it. There is no doubt that such possibilities are great, but what if someone would use such a brain stimulation tech for an evil purpose? What if such tech would become a tool for massive brainwash and political objectives? How would schools look like if we could learn everything instantly, would children go to schools and take part in sessions of uploading knowledge to their brain? Such a scenario looks pretty frightening for me… Should we take the red pill and make sci-fi come true?

References:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/03/01/scientists-discover-how-to-download-knowledge-to-your-brain/?fbclid=IwAR3upixA1kq-h-GaBjG8uwnQ_xVFDVMvbzO9ccjJ-Fk1NJ4YS3zY9H2a1IE

Scientists Discover Matrix-Like Way to ‘Upload Knowledge to Your Brain’

It’s winter and we all know how badly our phone reacts to cold temperatures. In this post, I will share with you some tricks that will help you to get the most out of your phone battery.

Keeping your phone charged around 50 percent 

It’s useful to have a piece of basic knowledge of how the charging process works. Two layers are inside the battery – graphite and lithium cobalt oxide. Energy occurs when lithium ions move from the graphite layer to the cobalt oxide. Charing phone moves ions back to graphite to start the whole process again. It’s good to keep a battery charged at 50% when half of the ions are in the lithium cobalt oxide and the other 50% is in the graphite layer. This method puts the least amount of pressure on the lithium ions and therefore – extends the number of cycles and improves the condition of our battery. 

Not leaving your phone charged overnight

Once your phone has reached 100% it gets “trickle charges”. This method stops the charge when the battery is at 100% and after some moment starts charing again, therefore it doesn’t let it drop lower than the maximum. This is bad for the battery because of the continuous strain it puts on lithium ions.

Keeping an eye on your apps

Apps and notifications can quickly take the energy out from your smartphone. Applications running in the background may be a real threat to your phone’s energy. It’s important to remember about closing them frequently. Facebook App is also a big battery drainer – switching off its notifications will extend your battery’s life 

Keeping your phone away from the heat 

Hight temperature makes battery lose capacity.“A cell kept between 25 – 30 degrees Celsius (77 – 86 degrees Fahrenheit) should retain around 80 percent of its capacity after the first year even when cycling from empty to full charge.” – Android Authority reports.

Sources: 

• https://www.wired.co.uk/article/improve-battery-life-phone?fbclid=IwAR1ix0FBRb5pzXWiaP-fC2zwAeBfVBljHFfu9AnTx5RV-tqBPr1Rwo0r1EE
• https://www.sciencealert.com/how-to-charge-phone-battery-to-last-longer-advice-science

In modern Spain, meat, according to bioengineer Giuseppe Schionti, will fall on a plate from under a 3D printer. The Iberian kingdom is famous not only for meat gastronomy, but also for the level of consumption of animal protein, one of the highest in Europe – 94 kg per year per person. Red meat is harmless – but not in any quantities.But the founder of Novameat, Giuseppe Schionti, does not bother: “This is the first product that looks like a real beef steak, its consistency also resembles a piece of meat, and at the same time it is a vegetable alternative to pet meat. The numbers speak for themselves: meat production, The UN Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO estimates that it’s about 14.5% of emissions, and all modes of transport on the planet are 13% of emissions. ”

Senor Schionti uses raw materials for the production of meat that do not need to be imported, that is, it does not have a negative impact on the environment. Artificial steak also has other advantages.

Dietitian Maria José Martínez Obiols tells about them: “The meat” printed “on a 3D printer is, in my opinion, a completely balanced food product, because it is made from peas, rice, and also the proteins contained in seaweed, so there are amino acids that are important for health. And if I recommend a protein shake as a protein supplement, why can’t I recommend a protein steak for the same purpose? Especially since its texture is very similar to real meat.”

To improve the taste of the steak, Schionti turned to consult the chefs working in well-known restaurants. Recently, the growth in the consumption of a variety of meat substitutes in the EU has increased by 451%.

Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/10/3d-printed-meat-european-restaurant-menus-environment
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0309174018308799
https://www.businessinsider.com/meat-grown-in-space-with-3d-printer-2019-10?IR=T

We often hear that educational system around the globe is non-progressive and has not changed in decades, even in most advanced countries. While I can agree that this is true, the real question is – what is the future of educational environment, how it can be modified, and the most important – should it be changed?

• More practice

While reading books and articles on subject’s topic helps students get the theoretical knowledge, it does not prepare them for real-life troubles. For example, only knowing the structure of how memorandum should be written, student will not be able to produce decent memorandum right away. Only dozens and dozens of written memos will give a student an experience. That’s what teaching of the future will focus on – giving mostly skills and experience, not theory, that may never even be used.

• Technologies are not a replacement for teachers

While technologies may help students gain skills, teachers help students gain motivation, social skills, and give them feedback. AI may be used as an instrument to perfect student’s practical knowledge, but as well as skills are essential, proper guidance from a teacher is a key factor in learning. For example, online courses rarely are valued as much as real-life ones because of human factor in us.

• Technologies will make a teacher’s job easier

Using technologies in education, such as automatic grading system will let teachers concentrate on students, helping them individually, instead of checking and grading dozens of tests all night not. The perfect perspective is that in the future the checking-grading will be automatized to the point where the teacher’s only job will be working with students face-to-face, individually.

Sources:
https://www.christenseninstitute.org/blog/future-of-teaching/

https://www.edsys.in/trends-defining-future-education/

https://www.rmit.edu.au/study-with-us/education/discover-education/the-future-of-learning-and-teaching-big-changes-ahead-for-education

Why use Photoshop when you can create artificial models?

If you’re planning on opening a new fashion brand and are worried about costs of advertising and fashion campaigns, don’t panic! There is a solution.

Artificial Talent is the first model agency creating print models using deep artificial intelligence and 3D art. The CGI body and an AI face can be chosen from the catalog or designed especially for the clients needs. The agency offers also face swapping, which is useful for international brands with customers from different regions. Artificial Talent can create an artificial environment and place a model in various exotic locations. 

How does it work?

First the company receives clothing samples from their client. Then they put the samples on a mannequin and isolate them from the body. They insert the clothes on a CGI body chosen before by the client and merge it with an AI face and artificial environment.

Premium campaign with unlimited pose, face, body type and background choice costs $799 (3 085,06 PLN). The basic one with 10 poses and 5 faces is a cost of $199 (768,37 PLN).

I think that artificial models are a great technological improvement. They help brands save time and money, are photorealistic, can ‚wear’ an unlimited amount of clothes, can be easily modified, can’t ruin your brand’s reputation and can be created exclusively for you. 

Are you willing to buy clothes promoted by artificial models? Or maybe they will appear in your future brand’s campaign?

References:

https://www.artificialtalent.co/#what

https://www.artificialtalent.co/whitepaper/

To me, it’s a very interesting topic, which surely is unnoticed and underestimated by everyone who is daily driving a car.

You may think, that your VW golf is just about the same as the one, that is sold in Russia, USA, China and so on. Ok, from a visual point of view, they do look nearly the same. Nearly, because for example in the USA a specific size of a blinker is mandated, as well as side contour lights or back up camera. But for someone who is not fitted into cars, these differences are unnoticeable and that is why I used the phrase “nearly”.

But “under the hood” cars from different markets have a lot of different or redesigned parts and in some cases, the cars are totally different. Let’s take the Abarth 500 for an example. The European version of this car is based on a fiat panda, has a 1.4 “t-jet” engine, while the US version is based on an all-new platform, with a different version of the 1.4 engine, called “multiair”. Not only the chassis is different, but also parts like wishbones, sway bars, wheel hubs, interior parts, bumper, exhaust system, blinkers, headlights etc. basically, the only parts these two cars share are: brakes, windows, fenders, trunk lid and hood.

US version

EU version

But back to the VW golf.
Let’s set the polish version of the Golf as a default which I’m going to compare to Golf’s from other markets.
As we all know, the temperature in Africa is usually slightly higher than in Poland. Obviously, engineers are aware of that as well. And since car components are strictly designed to work under specific conditions, changes had to be made. The radiator in African golf is bigger, to prevent the engine from overheating. On to another example – Russia. A lot of potholes in roads. Conclusion? tougher and more durable suspension. China – problems with pollution. Solution? More emission – strict exhaust system. The USA? The air condition unit is more efficient. There is even a joke in the automotive environment, that when a car in the USA is developed, engineers first build the AC and then build the rest of the car around it.
Audi dealt with this problem very easily. Simply, the car’s computer is programmed to blow cooler air into the car. (fun fact, in Audi’s a6 official specification data there is a sentence (it’s a real quote, actually) “US domestic cars air condition works somewhat cooler”. Nice one, Audi

I know, that not everybody is interested in cars, but I think that sometimes it’s worth it to admire all the effort put into making cars more comfortable, even if we won’t notice it. It’s amazing, and thrilling that there’s so much about cars that we’re not even aware of. All the effort being made just to make the car feel better. And yet, nearly nobody notices it

According to a definition, data analyst is the type of data scientist, who is hired temporarily to collect various data about certain organization, analyze it and present their conclusions to a manager of said organization, offering ways to improve business.

The most interesting part is – not only tech companies are interested in services of data analyst – companies in various areas of business – from traveling agencies to perfumery and wine selling businesses are hiring data analysts constantly.

Kwame Awuku, self-employed data analyst, gives a great example on what typical order for a data analyst is in a recent video about whole structure of his job:

*******

What qualifications are essential for an entry-level data analyst?

First, and basic one – Barchelor’s degree in spheres such as Mathematics, Computer Science, Finance or Statistics.

Second  one – to complete courses for data analysts, where they basically teach you how to use the most common data mining tools and write reports with recommendations.

Tools you may need to use as a Data analyst:

Microsoft Excel®

SQL

Google Analytics ™

RapidMiner™

Google AdWords™

Kwame Awuku has his own blog, dedicated to providing courses to data analysts, I recommend you to check it out if your goal is to raise your qualifications as a data analyst:

https://courses.coglitics.com/?ref=341360/*

Sources:

https://www.careerexplorer.com/careers/data-analyst/

https://www.roberthalf.com.au/our-services/it-technology/data-analyst-jobs

https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/technology/blog/what-does-a-data-analyst-do/

Cryptocurrencies have been around us for a really long time-even though society really got to hear about them only a few years ago – when all the business world was discussing sudden growth of Bitcoin in 2015.

After the year 2017, after the peak of Bitcoin, experts and investors all around the world stated, that blockchain technology has no more potential to grow, yet, as it turns out – in the year 2020 new era of cryptocurrency may start.

In the 2019, blockchain technology got plenty of big sponsors, (such as IBM, Microsoft etc) and in the year 2020 and further in the future dozens of new cryptocurrencies are expected to be created. The biggest and most ambitious currencies are:

• Facebook – Libra (2021)
• Digital yuan in China
• Bitcoin ETF (exchange-traded fund)

Not only Facebook will create Libra, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and many others social medias are looking forward to create their own cryptocurrency. We will see if their initiative will be successful in the future.

Sources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2019/09/30/the-7-biggest-technology-trends-in-2020-everyone-must-get-ready-for-now/#47219e582261

https://qz.com/1778527/2020-predictions-for-bitcoin-libra-and-the-digital-yuan/

https://www.bitdegree.org/tutorials/best-cryptocurrency-to-invest/

http://theconversation.com/more-than-1-000-cryptocurrencies-have-already-failed-heres-what-will-affect-successes-in-future-127463