Till now, AI-generated movies of individuals have tended to have some stiffness, glitchiness, or different unnatural parts that make them fairly straightforward to distinguish from actuality.

For the previous a number of years, AI video startup Synthesia has produced these sorts of AI-generated avatars. However right now it launches a brand new era, its first to reap the benefits of the newest developments in generative AI, and they’re extra practical and expressive than something we have seen earlier than.

Whereas right now’s launch means virtually anybody will now be capable of make a digital double, earlier than the expertise went public, Synthesia agreed to make one in every of Melissa Heikkilä, our senior AI reporter.

This technological progress indicators a a lot bigger shift. More and more, a lot of what we see on our screens is generated (or at the least tinkered with) by AI, and it’s turning into increasingly tough to tell apart what’s actual from what isn’t. And this threatens our belief in every little thing we see, which may have very harmful penalties. Learn the complete story and take a look at the artificial model of Melissa.

Need much less mining? Change to wash vitality.

Political fights over mining and minerals are heating up, and there are rising considerations about how you can supply the supplies the world must construct new vitality applied sciences. 

However low-emissions vitality sources, together with wind, photo voltaic, and nuclear energy, have a smaller mining footprint than coal and pure gasoline, in keeping with a brand new report from the Breakthrough Institute launched right now.

The report’s findings add to a rising physique of proof that applied sciences used to handle local weather change will possible result in a future with much less mining than a world powered by fossil fuels. Learn the complete story.

—Casey Crownhart

Within the local weather world, hydrogen is probably the final word multi-tool. It may be utilized in gas cells or combustion engines and is typically referred to as the Swiss Military knife for cleansing up emissions. However the actuality right now is that hydrogen is rather more of a local weather drawback than an answer. To search out out why, try the newest version of The Spark, our weekly local weather and vitality publication. Enroll to obtain it in your inbox each Wednesday.