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A Reddit cofounder posted an AI video of his late mom, and its dividing the internet

A Reddit cofounder posted an AI video of his late mom, and its dividing the internet

On Sunday, Alexis Ohanian posted a picture and short video on X, and less than 36 hours later, the post amassed 20.4 million views.

The picture was wholesome — one of Ohanian’s favorite pictures of his late mother. In the photo, his mom embraces a young Ohanian in a warm hug as they sit in a sunny mountain meadow. That smiling boy would grow up to be one of the co-founders of Reddit, the husband to Serena Williams, and a parent himself. The picture is innocent enough on its own.

However, it’s the video that caught the internet’s attention.

Using the new Midjourney AI video generator, Ohanian created a short video clip that animates the photo, bringing his mother to life in a new way. The pair beams as the woman hugs the young Ohanian and rocks him back and forth.

Many of the responses were positive, with users sharing how touched they were by the video and Ohanian’s message. In his post, the tech entrepreneur wrote, “Damn, I wasn’t ready for how this would feel. We didn’t have a camcorder, so there’s no video of me with my mom… This is how she hugged me. I’ve rewatched it 50 times.”

Mashable Light Speed

And in a follow-up post, he clarified, “I lost my mom almost 20 years ago. Trolls can rest assured I’ve grieved sufficiently. My family couldn’t afford a camcorder and using tech to generate few seconds of animation from a still is the equivalent of using AI to stabilize a poorly recorded video — or fill in the gaps of a deteriorated video — of her (if we’d had it). It’s not a replacement for a loved one nor should it be.”

While many people found the video to be a beautiful expression of a son’s love for his mother, others couldn’t see past the AI. Some users reacted with revulsion and horror, likening AI videos like this to “black tar heroin” and a “false memory.”

Personally, I feel quite ambivalent about this application of AI. I can see how it would be immensely comforting, therapeutic, even. And I’m wary of injecting negativity where it’s not needed. If Ohanian found the video moving on a spiritual or emotional level, then what right do I have to criticize or question him? (I reached out to Ohanian to ask if he has anything further to share, and I’ll update this story if I receive a response.) Unlike controversies like the Studio Ghibli images from ChatGPT, I don’t see how this post harms anyone.

Even so, something about this gives me pause. It’s the same feeling I get when standing on the edge of a cliff.

Generative artificial intelligence can now quickly make lifelike images, video, and speech, and I don’t think the world is ready for the consequences. I don’t think we even know what the consequences will be.

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Artificial Intelligence
Reddit



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The Mandalorian and Grogu comes out this month, and new toys for it will keep on coming for a while.

From Lego, the new tie-in hotness is the “Hutt Palace Sentry Droid Showdown” set. With 415 pieces, owners can pit Din and Grogu against the Hutt Cartel’s three-armed sentry and its stud shooter. Once the beat the sentry and open the palace doors, they’ve got one other obstacle in Embo, everyone’s favorite Clone Wars-era bounty hunter. Along with his bowcaster, Embo’s got his own backup in his anooba Keibu.

In his earliest appearances, Embo had another named Marrok, but we know from the Aftermath: Empire’s End novel that one had died before the New Republic era. Canonically, it makes sense that Embo would get a new pet, but this probably also comes from other Star Wars projects like Ahsoka and Maul: Shadow Lord—which, like this movie, count Dave Filoni as a key creative—having an Inquisitor with the same name among their casts.

Newly named space dog aside, the set takes inspirartion from a fight we’ve seen in the final trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu wherein Din fights two sentry droids and Grogu tries to shut one of them down. Fans of the movie could recreate that fight beat for beat, or do their own version—maybe one where Din and Embo are buds, or Grogu solos everyone else. The choice is yours, but you’ll be waiting for a while to make it happen: the movie’s out on May 22, but the set’s available beginning August 1 for £44.99 (or roughly $53).

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

#Legos #Mandalorian #Grogu #Set #Confirms #Silly #ChangeLego,Star Wars,The Mandalorian and Grogu">Lego’s New ‘Mandalorian & Grogu’ Set Confirms a Very Silly Name Change
                The Mandalorian and Grogu comes out this month, and new toys for it will keep on coming for a while. From Lego, the new tie-in hotness is the “Hutt Palace Sentry Droid Showdown” set. With 415 pieces, owners can pit Din and Grogu against the Hutt Cartel’s three-armed sentry and its stud shooter. Once the beat the sentry and open the palace doors, they’ve got one other obstacle in Embo, everyone’s favorite Clone Wars-era bounty hunter. Along with his bowcaster, Embo’s got his own backup in his anooba Keibu. In his earliest appearances, Embo had another named Marrok, but we know from the Aftermath: Empire’s End novel that one had died before the New Republic era. Canonically, it makes sense that Embo would get a new pet, but this probably also comes from other Star Wars projects like Ahsoka and Maul: Shadow Lord—which, like this movie, count Dave Filoni as a key creative—having an Inquisitor with the same name among their casts.   Newly named space dog aside, the set takes inspirartion from a fight we’ve seen in the final trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu wherein Din fights two sentry droids and Grogu tries to shut one of them down. Fans of the movie could recreate that fight beat for beat, or do their own version—maybe one where Din and Embo are buds, or Grogu solos everyone else. The choice is yours, but you’ll be waiting for a while to make it happen: the movie’s out on May 22, but the set’s available beginning August 1 for £44.99 (or roughly ).  Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.      #Legos #Mandalorian #Grogu #Set #Confirms #Silly #ChangeLego,Star Wars,The Mandalorian and Grogu

The Mandalorian and Grogu comes out this month, and new toys for it will keep on coming for a while.

From Lego, the new tie-in hotness is the “Hutt Palace Sentry Droid Showdown” set. With 415 pieces, owners can pit Din and Grogu against the Hutt Cartel’s three-armed sentry and its stud shooter. Once the beat the sentry and open the palace doors, they’ve got one other obstacle in Embo, everyone’s favorite Clone Wars-era bounty hunter. Along with his bowcaster, Embo’s got his own backup in his anooba Keibu.

In his earliest appearances, Embo had another named Marrok, but we know from the Aftermath: Empire’s End novel that one had died before the New Republic era. Canonically, it makes sense that Embo would get a new pet, but this probably also comes from other Star Wars projects like Ahsoka and Maul: Shadow Lord—which, like this movie, count Dave Filoni as a key creative—having an Inquisitor with the same name among their casts.

Newly named space dog aside, the set takes inspirartion from a fight we’ve seen in the final trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu wherein Din fights two sentry droids and Grogu tries to shut one of them down. Fans of the movie could recreate that fight beat for beat, or do their own version—maybe one where Din and Embo are buds, or Grogu solos everyone else. The choice is yours, but you’ll be waiting for a while to make it happen: the movie’s out on May 22, but the set’s available beginning August 1 for £44.99 (or roughly $53).

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

#Legos #Mandalorian #Grogu #Set #Confirms #Silly #ChangeLego,Star Wars,The Mandalorian and Grogu">Lego’s New ‘Mandalorian & Grogu’ Set Confirms a Very Silly Name ChangeLego’s New ‘Mandalorian & Grogu’ Set Confirms a Very Silly Name Change
                The Mandalorian and Grogu comes out this month, and new toys for it will keep on coming for a while. From Lego, the new tie-in hotness is the “Hutt Palace Sentry Droid Showdown” set. With 415 pieces, owners can pit Din and Grogu against the Hutt Cartel’s three-armed sentry and its stud shooter. Once the beat the sentry and open the palace doors, they’ve got one other obstacle in Embo, everyone’s favorite Clone Wars-era bounty hunter. Along with his bowcaster, Embo’s got his own backup in his anooba Keibu. In his earliest appearances, Embo had another named Marrok, but we know from the Aftermath: Empire’s End novel that one had died before the New Republic era. Canonically, it makes sense that Embo would get a new pet, but this probably also comes from other Star Wars projects like Ahsoka and Maul: Shadow Lord—which, like this movie, count Dave Filoni as a key creative—having an Inquisitor with the same name among their casts.   Newly named space dog aside, the set takes inspirartion from a fight we’ve seen in the final trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu wherein Din fights two sentry droids and Grogu tries to shut one of them down. Fans of the movie could recreate that fight beat for beat, or do their own version—maybe one where Din and Embo are buds, or Grogu solos everyone else. The choice is yours, but you’ll be waiting for a while to make it happen: the movie’s out on May 22, but the set’s available beginning August 1 for £44.99 (or roughly $53).  Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.      #Legos #Mandalorian #Grogu #Set #Confirms #Silly #ChangeLego,Star Wars,The Mandalorian and Grogu

The Mandalorian and Grogu comes out this month, and new toys for it will keep on coming for a while.

From Lego, the new tie-in hotness is the “Hutt Palace Sentry Droid Showdown” set. With 415 pieces, owners can pit Din and Grogu against the Hutt Cartel’s three-armed sentry and its stud shooter. Once the beat the sentry and open the palace doors, they’ve got one other obstacle in Embo, everyone’s favorite Clone Wars-era bounty hunter. Along with his bowcaster, Embo’s got his own backup in his anooba Keibu.

In his earliest appearances, Embo had another named Marrok, but we know from the Aftermath: Empire’s End novel that one had died before the New Republic era. Canonically, it makes sense that Embo would get a new pet, but this probably also comes from other Star Wars projects like Ahsoka and Maul: Shadow Lord—which, like this movie, count Dave Filoni as a key creative—having an Inquisitor with the same name among their casts.

Newly named space dog aside, the set takes inspirartion from a fight we’ve seen in the final trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu wherein Din fights two sentry droids and Grogu tries to shut one of them down. Fans of the movie could recreate that fight beat for beat, or do their own version—maybe one where Din and Embo are buds, or Grogu solos everyone else. The choice is yours, but you’ll be waiting for a while to make it happen: the movie’s out on May 22, but the set’s available beginning August 1 for £44.99 (or roughly $53).

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

#Legos #Mandalorian #Grogu #Set #Confirms #Silly #ChangeLego,Star Wars,The Mandalorian and Grogu

The performance boost on Geekbench is particularly striking, with the A16 scoring 50 to 100 percent faster than competing systems from AMD and Intel. It’s even faster than the Apple MacBook M4 Pro, the last Mac for which I have comparable benchmark scores. However, that Mac did beat the Asus on the Cinebench benchmark, but not by much, and the Asus now stands solidly in second place in my testing archive.

Graphics performance is much better than in previous generations of Snapdragon X chips, with frame rates quadrupling on average, depending on the test. That’s a dramatic and much-needed improvement for the CPU, and while no one will accuse the A16 of being a gaming rig, it does at least make for a workable experience with less taxing games and graphics-heavy workloads.

Beige Belies Performance

Image may contain Computer Electronics Laptop Pc Computer Hardware Computer Keyboard Hardware and Floor

Photograph: Chris Null

I’m happy enough with how the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme performs to sign off on its performance claims, but there’s a lot more to the Zenbook A16 than its CPU.

Under the hood, the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme X2E94100 CPU is complemented by 48 GB of RAM and a 1-TB SSD. The 16-inch touchscreen offers a solid resolution of 2880 x 1800 pixels, and it’s incredibly bright. A weight of 2.9 pounds is impressive (if not unheard of) for the 16-inch category, and at 0.65 inches (at its thickest), it has a svelte, quite portable carrying experience. Asus’s Ceraluminum technology (now with added magnesium) is used in the machine’s lid, base, and keyboard frame. That helps keep it thin and light, though when adjusted or touched, the screen shimmied more than I expected.

#Asus #Zenbook #Delivers #Great #Performance #Mediocre #Laptopasus,laptops,shopping,reviews,review,computers,qualcomm,windows">The Asus Zenbook 16 Delivers Great Performance in an Otherwise Mediocre LaptopSo, what’s not to like? Well, early compatibility problems slowed the initial uptake of Snapdragon X, and the CPU’s integrated graphics performance turned out to be pretty terrible. And to date, powerful onboard AI features just haven’t proven important, as most AI workloads are still being done in the cloud. With the second-generation X2, Qualcomm set out to deliver on the original promise of faster performance.But what exactly does “faster” mean? As with most claims in the PC computing space, it’s all about the benchmarks. On the Zenbook A16, the tests I ran indeed showcased exemplary performance from the X2 Elite Extreme, in some of the most widely used benchmarking tools, namely Geekbench 6 and Cinebench 2024. (I don’t have enough competitive Cinebench 2026 results to make wide comparisons yet on that benchmark.)The performance boost on Geekbench is particularly striking, with the A16 scoring 50 to 100 percent faster than competing systems from AMD and Intel. It’s even faster than the Apple MacBook M4 Pro, the last Mac for which I have comparable benchmark scores. However, that Mac did beat the Asus on the Cinebench benchmark, but not by much, and the Asus now stands solidly in second place in my testing archive.Graphics performance is much better than in previous generations of Snapdragon X chips, with frame rates quadrupling on average, depending on the test. That’s a dramatic and much-needed improvement for the CPU, and while no one will accuse the A16 of being a gaming rig, it does at least make for a workable experience with less taxing games and graphics-heavy workloads.Beige Belies PerformancePhotograph: Chris NullI’m happy enough with how the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme performs to sign off on its performance claims, but there’s a lot more to the Zenbook A16 than its CPU.Under the hood, the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme X2E94100 CPU is complemented by 48 GB of RAM and a 1-TB SSD. The 16-inch touchscreen offers a solid resolution of 2880 x 1800 pixels, and it’s incredibly bright. A weight of 2.9 pounds is impressive (if not unheard of) for the 16-inch category, and at 0.65 inches (at its thickest), it has a svelte, quite portable carrying experience. Asus’s Ceraluminum technology (now with added magnesium) is used in the machine’s lid, base, and keyboard frame. That helps keep it thin and light, though when adjusted or touched, the screen shimmied more than I expected.#Asus #Zenbook #Delivers #Great #Performance #Mediocre #Laptopasus,laptops,shopping,reviews,review,computers,qualcomm,windows

Ceraluminum technology (now with added magnesium) is used in the machine’s lid, base, and keyboard frame. That helps keep it thin and light, though when adjusted or touched, the screen shimmied more than I expected.

#Asus #Zenbook #Delivers #Great #Performance #Mediocre #Laptopasus,laptops,shopping,reviews,review,computers,qualcomm,windows">The Asus Zenbook 16 Delivers Great Performance in an Otherwise Mediocre Laptop

So, what’s not to like? Well, early compatibility problems slowed the initial uptake of Snapdragon X, and the CPU’s integrated graphics performance turned out to be pretty terrible. And to date, powerful onboard AI features just haven’t proven important, as most AI workloads are still being done in the cloud. With the second-generation X2, Qualcomm set out to deliver on the original promise of faster performance.

But what exactly does “faster” mean? As with most claims in the PC computing space, it’s all about the benchmarks. On the Zenbook A16, the tests I ran indeed showcased exemplary performance from the X2 Elite Extreme, in some of the most widely used benchmarking tools, namely Geekbench 6 and Cinebench 2024. (I don’t have enough competitive Cinebench 2026 results to make wide comparisons yet on that benchmark.)

The performance boost on Geekbench is particularly striking, with the A16 scoring 50 to 100 percent faster than competing systems from AMD and Intel. It’s even faster than the Apple MacBook M4 Pro, the last Mac for which I have comparable benchmark scores. However, that Mac did beat the Asus on the Cinebench benchmark, but not by much, and the Asus now stands solidly in second place in my testing archive.

Graphics performance is much better than in previous generations of Snapdragon X chips, with frame rates quadrupling on average, depending on the test. That’s a dramatic and much-needed improvement for the CPU, and while no one will accuse the A16 of being a gaming rig, it does at least make for a workable experience with less taxing games and graphics-heavy workloads.

Beige Belies Performance

Image may contain Computer Electronics Laptop Pc Computer Hardware Computer Keyboard Hardware and Floor

Photograph: Chris Null

I’m happy enough with how the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme performs to sign off on its performance claims, but there’s a lot more to the Zenbook A16 than its CPU.

Under the hood, the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme X2E94100 CPU is complemented by 48 GB of RAM and a 1-TB SSD. The 16-inch touchscreen offers a solid resolution of 2880 x 1800 pixels, and it’s incredibly bright. A weight of 2.9 pounds is impressive (if not unheard of) for the 16-inch category, and at 0.65 inches (at its thickest), it has a svelte, quite portable carrying experience. Asus’s Ceraluminum technology (now with added magnesium) is used in the machine’s lid, base, and keyboard frame. That helps keep it thin and light, though when adjusted or touched, the screen shimmied more than I expected.

#Asus #Zenbook #Delivers #Great #Performance #Mediocre #Laptopasus,laptops,shopping,reviews,review,computers,qualcomm,windows

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