It has begun. Pop Drop According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the world’s most populous country’s population declined in 2022 — for the first time in 60 years, CNBC reports. The news could be the canary in the coal mine for an impending and massive demographic shift, as people there have fewer children. Experts have… Continue reading China’s Population Just Dropped for the First Time in 60 Years
Author: Futurism_Magazine Online News
Sam Bankman-Fried Was a Horrible Boss, Former Exec Says
According to a former ranking FTX exec, the exchange’s founder and disgraced CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was — shall we say — quite unpleasant to work with. In a marathon 49-tweet thread, former FTX US president Brett Harrison said that his tenure at the now-failed crypto exchange was only 17 months long, but during that time, he… Continue reading Sam Bankman-Fried Was a Horrible Boss, Former Exec Says
Arizona City Cuts Off Water Supply for Entire Suburb
“We’re really hoping we don’t go dry by summer.” Tap Dance Unchecked development and unmitigated climate change are coming to a head in Southern Arizona, where an entire neighborhood has reportedly been cut off from the city of Scottsdale’s water supply — a direct result of the American Southwest’s years-long drought, and the related crisis… Continue reading Arizona City Cuts Off Water Supply for Entire Suburb
Artists Sue Stabile Diffusion and Midjourney for Using Their Work to Train AI That Steals Their Jobs
A group of artists are suing the creators of image generators Stable Diffusion and Midjourney, The Verge reports, for using their art to train AI that steals their jobs. Stable Diffusion makes it trivially easy to knock off a particular artist’s style. With a simple prompt, users can generate any number of images that closely resembles… Continue reading Artists Sue Stabile Diffusion and Midjourney for Using Their Work to Train AI That Steals Their Jobs
Nick Cave Absolutely Furious Over AI That Wrote a Song in His Style
“This song sucks.” Caved In A fan used a popular new artificial intelligence tool to generate a song in the style of Nick Cave — but when he sent it to the venerated songwriter, the response he got was as eloquent as it was enraged. “I asked Chat GPT to write a song in the… Continue reading Nick Cave Absolutely Furious Over AI That Wrote a Song in His Style
CNET’s Article-Writing AI Is Already Publishing Very Dumb Errors
Last week, we reported that the prominent technology news site CNET had been quietly publishing articles generated by an unspecified “AI engine.” The news sparked outrage. Critics pointed out that the experiment felt like an attempt to eliminate work for entry-level writers, and that the accuracy of current-generation AI text generators is notoriously poor. The… Continue reading CNET’s Article-Writing AI Is Already Publishing Very Dumb Errors
The Best Recording Microphones of 2023
A good microphone is the cornerstone of any recording operation, whether it’s a pro-level million-dollar outfit or a podcaster’s mic’d computer desk. The variations of options are limitless. Yet certain of the best recording microphones seem to be eternal. Invented in the late 1800s, microphones inarguably changed the world. Today’s microphones have come a long… Continue reading The Best Recording Microphones of 2023
The Best Record Players of 2023
In an era where most people consume music that’s streamed in highly compressed digital files that transfer wirelessly over the airwaves, it’s not surprising that some people want to slow down and hold onto a more tangible reproduction of sound on a record player. The best record players set you up with the gateway you’ll… Continue reading The Best Record Players of 2023
New Microsoft AI Can Clone Your Voice From Three Seconds of Audio
Okay, that’s impressive. VALL-E Parking Microsoft says its new text-to-speech AI can clone your voice, tone and all, from a three-second snippet of audio. It’s called VALL-E, and we have mixed feelings. The underlying tech behind the system, which Microsoft refers to in a new paper as a “neural codec language model,” is complex —… Continue reading New Microsoft AI Can Clone Your Voice From Three Seconds of Audio
New Orbiter Can See Inside Moon Craters Hidden in Total Darkness
Here’s what the Moon’s backside where the Sun don’t shine looks like. Let There Be Light South Korea’s Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), dubbed Danuri, has taken a fascinating image of the wall and floor of the Shackleton Crater, an area of the far side of the Moon permanently plunged into total darkness. The image… Continue reading New Orbiter Can See Inside Moon Craters Hidden in Total Darkness