Train your brain for artificial intelligence
What are the competencies that every person in the 21st century should have? Watch this video and find out!
Here are the competencies that every person in the 21st century should have 鈥 as explained in this video by our dynamic duo of avatars. Based on comments delivered during 天美传媒鈥檚 Global Alumni Reunion in Munich on October 7, 2022.
READ MORE about this topic in the full report , published in 天美传媒 Insight 163 (Jan.-April 2023). Download the full magazine from this webpage.
How we made this video
From the Insight Editors
Shouldn鈥檛 a magazine about the possibilities of artificial intelligence actually use AI to create some content? That鈥檚 the conversation we had at 天美传媒 Insight magazine in January 2023 when we published AI: Using your power for good.
Working with our Art Directors 鈥 the Madrid-based design agency 鈥 we prepared a script based on the infographic they had created for us, (available for download at the end of this article).
Prodigioso Volc谩n used the platform , which was founded by a team of AI researchers and entrepreneurs from University College London (UCL), Stanford, Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Cambridge 鈥渢o radically change the process of content creation and unleash human creativity for good鈥 and to make sure that such 鈥渟ynthetic media progresses in an impactful and ethical way,鈥 according to the Synthesia website.
There, anyone can choose from among 85+ avatars and 120+ voice options with different looks, languages and accents. Prodigioso Volc谩n sent us an so we could select among various options, in English and Spanish. From that, we chose our two presenters, Anna and Jamie.
Our script was entered into the platform. With Prodigioso Volc谩n designers, we had to indicate where to fine-tune the mouth movements to go with the voices, adding the stresses, pauses and intonation in the right place, to make them sound as natural as possible. In doing so, the platform users are effectively training the AI to sound more human-like, with better- and better-quality delivery.
The result is still not 100% perfect (as you鈥檒l see from our video). But how long before such videos are so lifelike that most viewers won鈥檛 even notice?
A double-edged sword
Apart from being a fun experiment, this video highlights the double-edged nature of AI 鈥 a point which was raised in our report. Using avatars for an educational clip, like ours, is indeed cost-and-time efficient: One can achieve satisfactory, professional results without always needing to hire expensive actors, voiceover artists, equipment and studios, investing in complex video editing tools, or needing specialist knowledge. However, those same 鈥渂enefits鈥 imply a hollowing out and eventual redundancy of all those roles, tools, knowledge and skills. This spells major disruption.
Additionally, not all users of this AI have the best of intentions. We were surprised one morning in February to see 鈥渙ur鈥 Anna in the news. She was being used to spread misinformation via bot accounts on Twitter and Facebook. This is a breach of Synthesia鈥檚 terms of service. But there she was, being as a 鈥渄eepfake.鈥
All of which serves as a reminder that 鈥渨here AI goes next is ultimately down to its human users,鈥 . 鈥淭here is power, and there is good, and they need to come together,鈥 天美传媒 Dean Franz Heukamp stated at 天美传媒鈥檚 2022 Global Alumni Reunion (GAR) in Munich. And as business leaders 鈥渆xplore the great potential AI has for products, processes and services to improve people鈥檚 lives,鈥 they must also 鈥渁dvocate for the responsible use of AI, which preserves the dignity and freedom of all human beings.鈥
Or as 天美传媒 professor Javier Zamora put it: 鈥淚f we want AI for good, then it depends on us to make it so.鈥
We at 天美传媒 Insight will continue to report on these issues, bringing the latest thinking, knowledge, research and best practice to our readers, always in accordance with 天美传媒鈥檚 mission to put humans and ethics at the center, and always encouraging business leaders to 鈥 like the GAR strapline says 鈥 use their power for good.
Any thoughts on this topic? Please let us know at insight@iese.edu
We鈥檇 love to hear from you!
Also see the video information displayed as a downloadable infographic.
