📰 The Mahazine issue #2 is out!

Dive deeper into the world of The Mahazine with the full edition. Enriched with visual diaries, creative experiments, and discoveries on a beautifully designed format.

Currently, it is available exclusively in digital format. With your support and increasing demand, we aspire to bring it to life on paper.

📣 In the news

👉 Tiktok is auto-labelling AI content

📰 The news: TikTok has started automatically labeling videos and images on its app that are made with artificial intelligence. The company is using a digital watermarking technology called "Content Credentials" from the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity to identify AI-generated content.

🔍 Why it's important: This move comes as lawmakers and experts warn of the threat AI could pose in the upcoming 2024 election, fearing a rise in deepfakes and misinformation. By clearly labeling AI-generated content, TikTok aims to improve transparency and combat the spread of potentially misleading information on its platform.

👉 Sora has a new Chinese challenger

📰 The news: China's Vidu, an advanced AI model developed by ShengShu-AI and Tsinghua University, can generate 16-second 1080p video clips with a simple prompt, challenging OpenAI's Sora and showcasing China's generative AI capabilities.

🔍 Why it's important: Vidu's ability to produce dynamic, realistic, and culturally-relevant video content through its unique U-ViT architecture, which integrates Transformer and Diffusion models, represents a significant technological milestone. This advancement positions China as a strong contender in the global AI race and reflects the country's strategic goals to lead in emerging technologies while balancing national interests and cultural identity.

👉 Ukraine Pioneers Digital Diplomacy with AI-Generated Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman

📰 The news: Ukraine has unveiled an AI-generated spokeswoman named Victoria Shi who will officially represent the country's foreign ministry. This makes Ukraine the first diplomatic service in the world to employ an AI-powered digital representative to deliver statements.

🔍 Why it's important: Ukraine's move to use an AI-generated spokeswoman is a significant technological leap in diplomacy, aimed at saving time and resources for its diplomats. The ministry stressed that the statements made by Victoria Shi will be written and verified by real people, with only the visual and delivery aspects generated by AI. This approach aims to leverage AI capabilities while maintaining human oversight and authenticity, potentially setting a precedent for how governments can integrate emerging technologies into their communications strategies.

👉 Widespread Use of AI in Steam Games Revealed

📰 The news: A recent analysis by Totally Human Media has uncovered a surprisingly large number of Steam games that utilize generative AI technology. The investigation found over 1,000 games on the platform that have disclosed the use of AI-generated content, spanning a wide range of applications, from character/NPC artwork and background environments to UI graphics, voiceovers, and even narrative content.

🔍 Why it's important: This trend highlights the growing integration of advanced AI tools into the game development process, driven by factors like cost-efficiency, time-savings, and the desire to push creative boundaries. The breadth of use cases, ranging from smaller indie titles to big-budget releases like "The Finals," suggests that the game industry is actively exploring the potential of GenAI across the board.

🔑 Key Takeaways:

• Over 1,000 Steam games have disclosed the use of GenAI, indicating a significant and widespread adoption of the technology in game development.

• Developers are leveraging GenAI for a diverse set of applications, including character/environment art, UI elements, audio, and even narrative content generation.

• Both indie and established studios are incorporating GenAI into their workflows, signaling a broader industry-wide exploration of the technology.

• As the tools continue to advance and become more accessible, the prevalence of GenAI in games is likely to increase, raising questions about the implications for creative processes, quality control, and player perceptions.

👉 Estée Lauder and Microsoft Amplify Prestige Beauty with Generative AI

📰 The news: The Estée Lauder Companies and Microsoft have announced an expanded collaboration to leverage generative AI technologies to enhance the prestige beauty brand's operations and customer experiences.

🔍 Why it's important: This partnership represents a significant step forward in the beauty industry's embrace of cutting-edge AI tools. By integrating generative AI across areas like content creation, customer service, and product development, Estée Lauder aims to drive greater personalization, efficiency, and innovation - ultimately elevating its position as a leader in the prestige beauty market.

👀 Creative ads & marketing campaigns

Absolut Tackles AI Bias in Fashion

👉 What: Pernod Ricard's Absolut Vodka has launched an initiative called "Absolut Intelligence" to combat the lack of diverse representation in fashion imagery generated by AI. The brand partnered with Copy Lab to create 10,000 diverse image prompts that were fed into AI datasets, resulting in a collection of inclusive, royalty-free images made available on Unsplash and in Copy Magazine.

 🔑 Key Message: The effort aims to train AI algorithms to generate less biased and more representative fashion content, addressing a key concern around the technology's tendency to amplify stereotypes. It also aligns with Absolut's long-standing commitment to inclusivity and represents a broader industry push to proactively address AI's shortcomings.

_{Credits: Copy lab/ Absolut Vodka}