The new Genie 2 model only needs one concept art to generate a game world. The neural network itself decodes the image into components, animates the character and simulates lighting sources.
The game engine works in the manner of GameNGen: the neural network does not write code and does not model three-dimensional space, but only generates a short video sequence in real time, taking into account the player’s clicks on the keyboard.
Google DeepMind trained Genie 2 on real games, including No Man’s Sky, Valheim and Teardown, which is why video generation algorithms completely repeat lighting artifacts and shadow rendering problems typical of games of the last generation.
There are concerned about the implications for intellectual property. DeepMind, a subsidiary of Google, has unrestricted access to YouTube. Google has previously suggested that its Terms of Service permit using YouTube videos to train models. The question is whether Genie 2 actually creates unauthorized copies of the video games it has watched
The neural network often hallucinates on the move: sometimes the walls of a house turn into a cave, and a character descending from a mountain throws a snowboard and starts running down the slope on his own two feet. In first-person games, in static scenes, ghostly silhouettes appear in the frame in the manner of NPCs from Skyrim.
Google does not specify the resolution and frame rate of working prototypes, and the maximum duration of the game demo does not exceed 60 seconds
It seems to me that such a model will simply help provide people with an idea for the implementation of any locations or heroes
In the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence, a new player has emerged with the potential to revolutionise how we interact with digital content. World Labs, founded by AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li, has recently raised $230 million to develop spatially intelligent AI. This technology aims to transform 2D images into fully interactive 3D environments, opening up new possibilities for various industries1.
What is Spatial AI?
Spatial AI refers to artificial intelligence systems that can understand and interact with the three-dimensional world. Unlike traditional AI, which primarily deals with 2D images and videos, spatial AI can generate and manipulate 3D content. This allows for more immersive experiences, such as virtual reality (VR) environments, interactive architectural visualizations, and realistic game design.
More information:
From input image to 3D world
World Labs’ Innovative Approach
World Labs’ AI system can generate video game-like, 3D scenes from a single image. By analyzing spatial relationships within a 2D image, the AI creates detailed depth maps and realistic geometry, ensuring that objects maintain their proportions and spatial relationships from any perspective. This technology offers immense creative freedom, allowing game designers to create immersive worlds without the painstaking effort of manual modeling.
Applications, Impact, and Technological Advancements
The potential applications of World Labs’ spatial AI are vast and span various industries:
Gaming: It can streamline the creation of game levels and environments, allowing for more immersive and detailed game worlds.
Architecture: The technology provides virtual walk-throughs of designs before construction begins, offering architects a powerful tool for visualizing projects.
Education: Interactive 3D simulations could transform learning by enabling students to engage with material in ways that traditional methods cannot, such as experiencing historical events in virtual spaces or conducting experiments in safe, controlled environments.
Creative Arts: Hobbyists and artists can easily bring their creative visions to life, reducing the barriers to creating high-quality 3D content.
Moreover, as spatial AI continues to evolve, it has the potential to integrate with other emerging technologies like augmented reality (AR), machine learning, and robotics:
Integration with AR: Spatial AI could work with AR to enhance real-world experiences, like virtual try-ons in retail or interactive property tours in real estate.
Machine Learning: The combination of spatial AI with machine learning could enable more responsive and accurate 3D environments, adapting in real-time to user input.
Robotics: In industries such as manufacturing and healthcare, robotics powered by spatial AI could perform tasks with a higher level of spatial awareness and precision.
These advancements could lead to entirely new industries, pushing the boundaries of creativity and functionality in ways we can only begin to imagine.
What’s Most Relevant to Us
The impact of spatial AI goes beyond the entertainment industry. In education, the technology could transform the way we learn by creating interactive 3D simulations that allow students to engage with the material rather than just study it. For example, historical events could be experienced in a virtual space, and students could conduct scientific experiments in safe and controlled 3D environments. In the future, this technology could also help create new forms of interaction between people, enabling virtual meetings and collaborative work in digital worlds where physical distance no longer matters.
Conclusion
World Labs’ spatial AI represents a significant step forward in the field of artificial intelligence. By transforming 2D images into interactive 3D environments, it opens up new possibilities for creativity and innovation across various industries. While there are challenges to address, the potential impact of this technology is immense, making it an exciting development to watch in the coming years.
Criticism
While I’m excited about the potential of World Labs’ spatial AI, I can’t overlook some of the current challenges. The technology is still in its early stages, which means there are occasional rendering errors and limited exploration areas. Critics point out that there’s a need for refinement to fully realize its potential. Despite these issues, I’m encouraged by World Labs’ dedication to improving the size and fidelity of their generated worlds. This commitment to overcoming obstacles is a promising sign for the future.
Moreover, we should take into consideration, that there’s a risk of it being misused to create fake or misleading virtual realities. It’s essential for developers to ensure that such technologies are used responsibly to prevent unethical practices, particularly in areas like media, where reality can easily be distorted. Balancing innovation with caution will be key to its success.
3D printing, or additive manufacturing, has quickly transitioned from a niche technology to a game-changing force in multiple industries. By constructing objects layer by layer from digital designs, 3D printing enables exceptional customization, complexity, and efficiency. This groundbreaking technology is transforming sectors like manufacturing, healthcare, and design, opening up new opportunities that were previously considered unfeasible or impractical.
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Revolutionizing Manufacturing:
Tool-less Production: Unlike traditional manufacturing methods that require specific tooling for each product, 3D printing eliminates this need. This allows manufacturers to produce a wide range of products using a single system, significantly increasing flexibility and reducing costs associated with changing tools for new designs.
Lower Production Costs: 3D printing reduces material waste by using only the necessary amount of material during production. This efficiency leads to lower overall manufacturing costs compared to traditional methods, which often generate significant waste.
Faster Time-to-Market: By simplifying both the design and production processes, companies can bring products to market more quickly. The ability to create prototypes enables immediate evaluation and improvements, speeding up the entire development cycle.
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Innovating Healthcare:
Rapid development: 3D printing enables swift prototyping of medical devices and tools, allowing healthcare professionals to refine designs efficiently and affordably. During emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, 3D printing provided quick production of essential equipment like ventilator parts, face shields and masks, demonstrating its potential to address urgent healthcare needs.
Personalized Surgical Models for Patients: Surgeons can now utilize 3D printing technology to construct precise anatomical models tailored to each patient. These models provide a detailed visual representation of a patient’s unique anatomy, enabling surgeons to plan procedures more effectively and execute them with greater accuracy and speed.
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Reshaping the Design Industry:
Customization: This technology facilitates mass customization, enabling designers to create products tailored to individual tastes and requirements. This personalized approach elevates the user experience and satisfaction, making products more appealing to consumers.
Intricate structures: 3D printing enables designers to create detailed and complex shapes that would be challenging or even impossible to achieve using conventional manufacturing techniques, expanding the creativity possibilities.
On-Demand Manufacturing: 3D printing enables on-demand manufacturing, allowing products to be created precisely when required. This approach reduces the reliance on extensive inventories and helps minimize material waste. By producing items only as needed, designers can lower expenses and promote sustainability through more utilization of resources.
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Conclusion:
3D printing has fundamentally transformed the operations of the manufacturing, healthcare and design industries. This innovative technology, often referred to as additive manufacturing, allows for the production of complex and customized products that were previously difficult to achieve with traditional manufacturing methods.
A baby dragon, a cat with wings, and a pixie with a puck – the characters from different mythologies were created on 3D print as sculptures in the greenhouse of the Siberian Botanical Garden of Tomsk State University.
Stories about winged cars can be found in different cultures of the past. For example, in Ancient Egypt, a goddess named Pasht had a body of a winged cat. In countries of Turkic origin like Tatarstan and Kazakhstan, there are still symbols of winged cars, more precisely of snow leopards. However, there are scientific explanations for the origin of stories about winged cats. A winged cat may appear to have wings because of poor grooming or birth defects.
Pixies are very small and magical creatures who throw funny parties and give blessings across the countryside in England. They wear pointed hats while having pointed ears. Although they can be mischievous, most time they are cheerful and helpful to people. It was said that if you show an iron cross to them they would turn away and go.
Puck is quite similar to a pixie though it has horns and in Norse folklores is a nature spirit, who does everything to save trees and plants from people. Puck supposedly appears in all sorts of guises to confuse people and play little tricks on them. And according to old tales, these spirits would be happy to have new clothes because they walked naked.
Baby dragons are playful and hunting animals with sharp teeth and visible claws. While living in a nest with a mother for some time, after growing up they become big and independent as well as being able to breathe flames. Since these creatures are visibly and culturally connected with dinosaurs, the sculpture of a dragonling is in the Evolution of Plants exhibition, with the group of plants that have been existing during the age of dinosaurs. These are cycads, clubmosses, horsetails, ferns, and ginkgo.
The whole idea was to create photographic, moisture-resistant sculptures that would complement the greenhouse exhibition and draw visitors’ attention to mythical creatures. The models of the sculptures were designed and printed on a 3D printer, then polished and painted to look like a stone.
Reading Time: 2minutesApple acquired a startup Faceshift, who developed a widely used motion capture technology. Rumors about buying the company from Cupertino Faceshift were before, but now Apple has officially confirmed the purchase, according to TechCrunch.
The publication writes that Apple has not confirmed the deal direct text, but the company voiced its standard response to the case of the purchase: “From time to time Apple buys smaller technology companies. And we generally do not discuss our goals and plans”.
Company Faceshift, founded in 2012, is located in Zurich. It motion capture technology is actively used in scientific research, computer games and film industry in particular, for the filming of the latest Star Wars.
Faceshift is the author of the method of animation characters and objects without the use of markers. This technology requires no special costume or sensors, that is the actor was for the camera in any clothes. Markerless motion capture is especially convenient when shooting the fights, falls, jumps and other complex movements, during which markers may be damaged.
Faceshift has consumer software solutions, including Faceshift Freelance and Faceshift Studio. Sales last stop after the company was bought by Apple. With this program you can create characters and export them to the software for 3D-animation.
It is unknown what the purpose of the acquisition of Apple. In addition, company from Cupertino have patents on the technology of motion capture, face recognition and augmented reality, which Apple acquired earlier along with three other European companies working in this field – PrimeSense, Polar Rose and Metaio. The media speculated that the company uses the acquired technologies in the new generation Apple TV.
The world full of robots seems to be really tempting. To be honest when I was a child I loved animated sitcom The Jetsons about the family which lived in futuristic utopia where everything was robotized – even their maid! Next example – Fururama – series about shameless, cigarette-smoker and alcohol drinker robot – Bender – that becomes a best friend of a pizza delivery boy in 31st century. But it’s all about cartoons so far. Let’s get to the more subtle examples. Remember the movie Artificial Intelligence: AI in which Haley Joel Osment was playing a robo-child that was replacing seriously ill real one? THAT WAS SCARY. At least for me the thought that we can freeze our sick children and then replace it by the robot-one was unbeliveble – even if its the most realistic one. But then I started to think that I might be an exception.
Anatomy of a sex-bot
Nowadays we are surrounded by high-tech equipment. Our smartphones are so smart that they can predict where are we going, what we would like to do on Sunday’s evening and when we should stand after a proper amount of time spent on sitting by the desk. Also producers are not sleeping. They want technology to be as closer to the user as it’s possible. Robots are humanized, software becomes more and more intelligent so why wouldn’t they combine it together to create something next level? There are robotic soccer matches and in a few years there would be a robo olympic games. We are heading into the times of developing very advanced technology and getting so familiar with it that actually sex with robots won’t sound so wierd at all.
Guess which industry contributes most significantly to the developing of technology? Yup, you’re right – the porn industry. It started with popularizing Blue-ray standard and automatic subtittle generation (e.g.: like on youtube). Now boobs are in 3D, VR-sex is avalible where you can change partners, places or even your gender and last but not least – robots. Porn industry gave us more than we think and robo-sex is the future.
Vision of future prostitures in “AI: Artificial Intelligence”
Coming back to AI movie – remember the character played by Jude Law? – that sexy-robo-man-prostitute which was just like human? Of course it was a Hollywood fiction but we are now closer to this vision than you think. The most human-look alike robots were created for being a.. sex toys. They’re called fembots and their creator is called modern-Gepetto (by the name of Pinocchio creator). It is said that by the 2020 sexbots will be common and by the 2050 they will be using AI and be able to make humans loving them (doesn’t it remind you the movie Her? – I don’t like the whole vision and Scarlet Johansson in general, but if intelligent computer systems had her voice…).
You think that’s crazy? People already confuse reality with its virtual substitute so it’s getting more and more real. But think about the moral aspects of this. Well first of all would it be still cheating? I guess new definition must be set. Human relations or relationships? Would anyone be still interested into looking for their „other half”? What for when you can marry your intelligent sex-bot that satisfies all your desires?
Is that how future romance/relationship will look like?
The thing is that sex-bot to be fully functional must have AI to work – to analyze what its user wants, how to please him, when to start/stop or raise the tempo. This sphere of humans is really delicate and must be „serviced” very gently – this is why they need AI. But (also basing on the movie fiction) it may have a pretty bad consequences. I don’t want to bring Terminatorsaga or Matrix one example of human extermination attempt cause they are slightly too drastic but think about movie Chappie. Some guy created a robot with mentality of a child which started to learn/grow among humans and in a very short period of time it became a criminal (of course by a series of unfortunate accidents but still..). It might be too hard to control. But should we control them? I mean we, as human beings, know that there are social rules and laws that we need to obey but as concious creatures we can ignore that and do what we want. Of course it results in possibility to be improsined but we have a choice. Should robots with AI have the same option? Also in Chappie there was another problem – should we treat once launched intelligent machines as a human beings or as a technical equipment like a vacuum cleaner for example? I think THIS is a real problem of a research about AI. We need to think about the problem of responsability of creating such beings because soonly cutting off the power may be treated as murder and in my opinion this is something that humans are not ready yet to handle.
