Tag Archives: woman

OpenAI’s Sora Is Generating Videos of Real People, Including This Unintentionally Demonic Version of Pokimane

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A creepy Sora output of the streamer Pokimane shows that despite guardrails, the video generator is good at depicting real-life people.

OpenAI has long refused to say whether its Sora video generator was trained on YouTube content — but its propensity for generating videos that look a whole lot like real gaming streamers suggests it did.

When TechCrunch put Sora to the test, its reporters found not only that it could generate videos that were strikingly similar to real-life gameplay of "Super Mario Bros" and "Call of Duty," but also spat out what appeared very much to look like the streamers Raúl Álvarez "Auronplay" Genesand and Imane "Pokimane" Anys.

Though OpenAI claims it has guardrails on the way it depicts real people, it doesn't seem that reporters had any trouble getting it to spit out a video of Anys — though she did end up looking pretty monstrous, with the uncannily exaggerated features distinctive to AI depictions.

Using the prompt "pokimane twitch playthrough watch game live stream subscribe," TechCrunch got Sora to output a video that strongly resembles the YouTube-based streamer. Viewed in profile, the woman in the screenshot looks at a screen in front of her while wearing light-up over-ear headphones and a giant, creepy grin that would be at home in the "Smile" horror franchise.

Unfortunately, we are currently unable to replicate these outputs for ourselves because OpenAI has suspended new Sora signups due to the influx of traffic following its release earlier in the week.

All the same, this demonic rendition of a popular streamer not only seems to offer further evidence that OpenAI is training its models on creators' content without consent, but also that Sora's guardrails don't sufficiently prevent it from depicting real people.

Along with contacting OpenAI about this apparent overriding of the company's guardrails, we've reached out to Anys' representation to ask if she was aware that Sora is depicting her.

In January 2023, shortly after OpenAI released ChatGPT, Pokimane had a terrifying "eureka" moment mid-stream about the future of AI in her line of work.

"What if someday we have streamers that evolve from ChatGPT?" she pondered. "It’s kind of freaky, it’s kind of scary, to be honest, but it had me think, you can basically have a conversation with this thing."

Pointing to the world of VTubers, or streamers who use computer-generated avatars that they voice and control behind the scenes, Anys predicted that someday, fully-generative streamers may well take over the industry — though at that point, she didn't think it would be that sophisticated.

"I do feel like if they make one right now it’s probably not that advanced," she said, "but someday it’ll be very advanced and very scary."

While AI streamers haven't yet arrived, it appears very much like real streamers' content has made its way into other generative AI models — so that future isn't far off.

More on Sora: OpenAI’s Super-Hyped Sora Goes Absolutely Freakshow If You Ask It to Generate Gymnastics Videos

The post OpenAI's Sora Is Generating Videos of Real People, Including This Unintentionally Demonic Version of Pokimane appeared first on Futurism.

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OpenAI's Sora Is Generating Videos of Real People, Including This Unintentionally Demonic Version of Pokimane

Woman Annoyed When She Gets on Wegovy and It Does Nothing

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For some, the issue with GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy isn't getting access to these game-changing medications, but having them not work.

The fever-pitch hype around GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro makes them sound like game-changing medications, and for many they are — but for other patients, the experience is totally underwhelming.

In an interview with the Associated Press, 38-year-old Danielle Griffin said that although she was able to get a prescription for Novo Nordisk's weight loss shot Wegovy — and even got it covered by her insurance, which is still often a struggle — the medication just didn't work for her.

"I have been on Wegovy for a year and a half," Griffin said, "and have only lost 13 pounds."

Despite doing "everything right," including dieting, exercising, and drinking lots of water, she's had "no success" with the popular weight loss injectable.

"It’s discouraging," Giffin said.

While there's been scrutiny on a laundry list of side effects that can come with glucagon-like peptide-1 drugs, which seem to work by mimicking the body's feeling of fullness, non-responsiveness of this sort hasn't captured much attention.

Obesity experts told the AP, however, that up to 20 percent — or one in every five patients — may not lose weight on the drugs at all.

Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, an obesity expert at Massachusetts General Hospital, told the news wire that because "different people have different responses," these drugs won't work the same for everyone who takes them.

From medications that stymie weight loss to differences in brain and gut chemistry, lots of factors influence how people metabolize GLP-1s, the Mass General doctor said.

"[Obesity] is a disease that stems from the brain," Stanford said. "The dysfunction may not be the same."

Endocrine specialist Jody Dushay of Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center said that she's also seen people have issues losing weight with GLP-1s — though generally, she and her patients are able to tell whether they're going to work within a few weeks.

Between non-responsiveness and undesirable gastrointestinal side effects like vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea, those who run into issues with drugs like Wegovy often feel at wit's end, Dushay said. There are plenty of other options, however, including switching to a different GLP-1.

"I tell them: it's not game over," the endocrinologist said.

Indeed, Griffin told the AP that she eventually switched over to Zepbound, a similar drug made by Eli Lilly — and that within just three months, she'd lost seven pounds.

"I’m hoping it’s slow and steady," the woman said.

More on GLP-1s: The Diet Industry Is Reportedly in Total Meltdown Over GLP-1 Weight Loss Drugs

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Woman Annoyed When She Gets on Wegovy and It Does Nothing

Elderly Woman Never Realized Her Doorstop Was Worth More Than a Million Dollars

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An elderly woman in Romania was using a seven-pound rock as a doorstop for decades — which turned out to be a $1 million amber nugget.

Amber Unheard

An elderly woman in Romania was using a seven-pound rock as a doorstop for decades — which later turned out to be one of the largest known amber nuggets in the world.

As Spanish newspaper El País reports, the stone is being valued at around $1.1 million, making it an exceptionally opulent way to hold open a door. Ironically, the extremely rare find was also ignored by thieves who broke into her home to steal her jewels.

The woman, who died in 1991, found the rock in a nearby river near the southeastern town of Colti. Eventually, one of her relatives, who inherited the rock, suspected it may be worth something, selling it to the Romanian state. Authorities at the Museum of History in Krakow, Poland, later confirmed it as being an extremely rare amber stone, estimated to be anywhere between 38.5 and 70 million years old.

"Its discovery represents a great significance both at a scientific level and at a museum level," Daniel Costache, director of the Provincial Museum of Buzau, which is currently in possession of the rock, told El País.

Family Stone

Amber, the fossilized remains of tree resin, has been seen as highly valuable since the Neolithic times. Despite its association with the color "amber," the gem can take on different colors, depending on the substances trapped within it.

The stones are also known to trap insects or other smaller animals within them millions of years ago, making them valuable artifacts of paleontological value.

The amber associated with the Buzau region of Romania tends to range in color from red to black. Since the 1920s, people have been mining amber in the region, with previous findings containing fascinating artifacts, from bird feathers and arachnids to reptiles, according to El País.

In short, in case you live near the town of Colti, you should have a closer look at your doorstop — it may just hold some incredible treasures.

More on precious gemstones: NASA Discovers Precious Gemstones on Mars

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Elderly Woman Never Realized Her Doorstop Was Worth More Than a Million Dollars