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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   20481 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 14, 2024

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Willy Wonka Has Done It Again

Introducing Sora, our text-to-video model. Sora can create videos of up to 60 seconds featuring highly detailed scenes, complex camera motion, and multiple characters with vibrant emotions.

Well, we all knew this was coming. We had AI that could describe the progress of a scene. We had AI that could generate photorealistic images. Of course creating a sequence of images that form a logically coherent scene would be possible. Perhaps most surprising thing is how not surprising it is, and yet, it still feels like magic.

Looking back to my television after watching so many Sora videos is uncanny. Somehow, my brain has already updated subconsciously to, "these figures onscreen might be fake." Will I eventually have the same impression for those I meet in real life? Those complaining about "misinformation" in relation to the 2024 election aren't necessarily wrong, but they are failing at the task of extending these logical conclusions beyond their own personal preoccupations. How can one be concerned about Joe Biden deepfakes in a world where the Experience Machine is being built in plain sight?

I'm a little suspicious, the videos seem too good, so I wonder if there was any human 'tidying-up' involved? Or how many prompts did Sora go through to get the finished article? Maybe it really is as amazing as it seems, but I do wonder.

Almost certainly cherrypicked, but sam a. has been sharing videos of people's prompts on X.

https://x.com/sama/status/1758220311735181384?s=20

https://x.com/sama/status/1758218820542763012?s=20

https://x.com/sama/status/1758218059716939853?s=20

https://x.com/sama/status/1758206987094147252?s=20

https://x.com/sama/status/1758200420344955288?s=20

Some of 'em are bad, some are decent. Still an improvement over what came before.

Some of those are definitely better than others, the ocean bicycle race one doesn't get the prompt quite right (why is there a dolphin flying in the sky?) but it's not bad if these are indeed immediate responses to prompts.

Not as good and flawless as the claims, but not bad. Still visibly computer-generated (the hamster's legs are all wrong) but give them time and they may indeed produce "indistinguishable from created by humans".

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