Author: Advanced AI Editor

Billionaire collector and music mogul David Geffen has unequivocally refused calls from Justin Sun for the return of an Alberto Giacometti sculpture that Sun claims was stolen from his collection by an employee and sold as part of an elaborate fraud. Sun, who is based in Hong Kong, filed his suit in February in New York, where the sculpture is located. On Wednesday, the 82-year-old Geffen hit the millennial crypto magnate with a 100-page countersuit. Sun purchased the bronze, steel, and iron Giacometti, titled Le Nez (1949–65), at a Sotheby’s auction of works from the Macklowe collection in November 2021 for…

[Submitted on 10 Mar 2025 (v1), last revised 16 Apr 2025 (this version, v3)] View a PDF of the paper titled Versatile Multimodal Controls for Expressive Talking Human Animation, by Zheng Qin and 7 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:In filmmaking, directors typically allow actors to perform freely based on the script before providing specific guidance on how to present key actions. AI-generated content faces similar requirements, where users not only need automatic generation of lip synchronization and basic gestures from audio input but also desire semantically accurate and expressive body movement that can be “directly guided” through text…

Researchers from Stanford University early today published the latest edition of their annual AI Index Report, detailing the growing influence of artificial intelligence technologies on our society and the global economy. The Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, known as Stanford HAI, has been publishing its annual reports on the state of the AI industry since 2017. This year’s edition, the eighth, is the “most comprehensive” report to date, spanning more than 430 pages. The authors say it’s arriving at a critical juncture as the influence of AI across society rapidly accelerates with the emergence of increasingly capable and sophisticated…

Gemini 2.5 Flash will allow developers to set a token limit for thinking or simply disable thinking altogether. Google has provided pricing per 1 million tokens at $0.15 for input, and output comes in two flavors. Without thinking, outputs are $0.60, but enabling thinking boosts it to $3.50. The thinking budget option will allow developers to fine-tune the model to do what they want for an amount of money they’re willing to pay. According to Doshi, you can actually see the reasoning improvements in benchmarks as you add more token budget. 2.5 Flash outputs get better as you add more…

How are women artists faring these days? According to a new survey commissioned by Anonymous Was A Woman, the arts nonprofit known for its grant-making, and compiled by reporter-researchers Julia Halperin and Charlotte Burns in conjunction with SMU Data Arts (and exclusively released online by ARTnews), the answer is complex—and in many ways disheartening. But one thing is sure: The art world is all ears. Last Wednesday, more than 300 people filled an auditorium at New York University to hear about the survey and listen to a series of panel discussions devoted to the findings. Afterward, a group of 40…

Unpacking Q4 Earnings: IBM (NYSE:IBM) In The Context Of Other IT Services & Consulting Stocks The end of an earnings season can be a great time to discover new stocks and assess how companies are handling the current business environment. Let’s take a look at how IBM (NYSE:IBM) and the rest of the it services & consulting stocks fared in Q4. IT Services & Consulting companies stand to benefit from increasing enterprise demand for digital transformation, AI-driven automation, and cybersecurity resilience. Many enterprises can’t attack these topics alone and need IT services and consulting on everything from technical advice to…

An MIT student has sued the federal government over its abrupt termination of her international student record in a federal database managed by the Department of Homeland Security.The student, an MIT senior set to graduate in May, learned her record in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS, was abruptly deleted in early April, putting her at risk of detainment by immigration enforcement agents.Several dozen international students in Massachusetts, and over a thousand nationwide, had their visas revoked and SEVIS records expunged by the federal government in recent days. The reason behind the moves remain unclear, and federal…

Image: Guillaume Périgois/Unsplash The EU is banning the use of AI-powered virtual assistants during online meetings. Such assistants are often used to transcribe, take notes, or even record visuals and audio during a video conference. In a presentation from the European Commission delivered to European Digital Innovation Hubs earlier this month, there is a note on the “Online Meeting Etiquette” slide that states “No AI Agents are allowed.” AI agents are tools that can perform complex, multi-step tasks autonomously often by interacting with applications, such as video conferencing software. For example, Salesforce uses AI agents to call sales leads. The…

AsianFin — The global venture capital (VC) transaction volumes plunged in the first quarter of 2025, according to global research institutions Crunchbase and PitchBook-NVCA.Despite a decline in overall deal volume, artificial intelligence (AI) investments have experienced the most robust quarter in the first quarter of 2025 since mid-2022.Global VC transactions in Q1 2025 reached 7,551 deals, a 32% year-over-year decline, as per PitchBook. However, the total transaction value surged to $126.3 billion, representing a 53.46% increase compared to the same period in 2024.AI and machine learning led the charge, with 2,101 transactions worth $73.1 billion, making up 57.87% of the…

Funding to venture-backed cybersecurity startups has trended up so far this year, and Thursday saw another sign of that. Exaforce locked up a $75 million Series A funding led by Khosla Ventures, Mayfield Fund 1 and Thomvest Ventures. The San Jose, California-based startup is helping bring artificial intelligence agents to security operations centers, or SOC. The idea is, with the help of data, to significantly reduce human-led SOC work while improving security outcomes. “Our vision is to empower SOC teams with an intelligent platform that allows humans to collaborate seamlessly with AI agents—integrating precise human oversight with advanced automation,” said co-founder…