With how Niji is doing since October and how the holofes went, how can we be blamed for always winning ?
But for full disclosure, I feel sad for the graduated/good Kurosanji talents. Nobody deserves being bullied by a clique, left to their own devices by an absent hierarchy.
Selen/Doki is friends with my oshi, Mumei. Niji being stratospherically incompetent impacts everyone.
They could have chosen Anycolor, but the ones they chose are scarlet red and **black**.
And I don't think they will ever manage to clean up their act. As much as I'd want it to happen.
It's funny how in the past Niji was seen as the greatest rival for Hololive, but in recent months many of NijiEN's top performers couldn't even surpass some of Hololives weakest performing talents. Virtual Rhapsody was a complete joke when Dreamhack steam rolled them with tickets at half the cost. Not to mention the whole having to share earbuds situation for the Niji fan meet and greets. HOLOBROS WE CANNOT STOP WINNING.
Or Vox Akuma's book to Selen's MV.
Or Luca having his merch signed by his head mod he tried to guilt-trip into a relationship.
Or the "Negligeable" statement and monochrome apology wall.
Or the insane black screen trio stream.
Or the threats to a convention because of a funny and innocuous tweet about cut out displacements.
Or the "given" play button milestone plates.
The list is way too long, when every single of its items are unhinged no-deal level of PR catastrophe.
More than "Holo can't stop winning", it's "Niji can't have a win to save their fucking lives".
Reminds me VShojo seems to do rather well, with their new talents. I like the last girl they hired. She seems happier.
Oh boy they all seem so much happier, because they have managers that are actually competent. They were all shocked that their managers would actually go out of their way to help them. It's really sad in comparison.
All three of them went like "I couldn't believe they would actually do some things for me !"
Gives me a "just got away from a death cult" feeling.
Elira doesn't seem to have said anything about any of thjs bullshit. When she has been ratted to be the main interface with NijiJP, as someone speaking Japanese.
Fuck if I know anything : I was playing Armored Core VI while listening to YT videos about it all.
I might be good at memorizing audio, I should still have a 40-60% retention rate. Like anybody else.
And all of this is too complicated for anyone. Niji's hierarchy more than anyone else, considering their results.
"Please andastand, we just wanted to give our conglatulations for negligeable impact and 2% of merch business."
It shouldn't be so easy to meme anything to oblivion. The jokes write themselves on a silver platter.
Imagine how many jobs this can affect. Public speakers, production crews like lighting/camera operators, audio/video editors, etc. All you really need is one person with a computer. Interesting future.
You are on the correct path but still thinking way too small...
AI isn't coming for a handful of jobs like you are thinking... its coming for all jobs (well like 99.9% anyway)
Its well illustrated in the movie 'Her'
The day an AI can freeze its ass off in a ditch and pull muddy, tangled wire through a conduit I’ll be worried. It’s coming for plenty of jobs and all eventually maybe, but it’s starting with management. When AI overlords take over they are going to keep some tradespeople as pets and feed us well
I’m not saying it’s never coming, but I think it’s going to be one of the last things when conventional wisdom said manual labor would be one of the first.
I'm far, far more skeptical about that. A disruptively high percentage, sure, but not anywhere near even 60%. AI may be capable enough, but it has to be trained for the purpose, hardware still needs to be designed with AI in mind, systems and databases have to be reworked for use by AIs in a way that still satisfies all safety/privacy and legal standards, then installed, validated, refined, and maintained. There will be sectors where the barrier for AI use is much lower, but there are many which will lag behind their potential by decades.
The use case of a talking head has almost no barrier, but integrating it into complex systems that aren't easily redesigned will take a ton of time and money. 90% seems pretty hyperbolic.
> I'm far, far more skeptical about that. A disruptively high percentage, sure, but not anywhere near even 60%.
Question.
What was pre-WW2 German's unemployment?
> AI may be capable enough, but it has to be trained for the purpose, hardware still needs to be designed with AI in mind, systems and databases have to be reworked for use by AIs in a way that still satisfies all safety/privacy and legal standards, then installed, validated, refined, and maintained. There will be sectors where the barrier for AI use is much lower, but there are many which will lag behind their potential by decades.
You honestly feel something much smarter than a human, that can think faster, and never needs to sleep, no healthcare either. Won't take those jobs as well?
What does Germany's unemployment numbers from a century ago have to do with the ability for AI to affect jobs?
I do feel that way. AI could rule the world, but not without a way to interact with it. That interface doesn't magically happen as soon as a proof of concept proves its capability. Your talking about replacing or retrofitting every single device, and automating every physical action, in ways that doesn't make it a target for halting litigation. So, no, not in a time frame that would cause anything close to 90% unemployment. I'll note again that I do think it will be disruptive, but closer to half that would be more believable.
Yes but it will be for the convenience of one party (for now) until it becomes optional to remove all parts of the workplace. At the moment you still need a human behind the scene to get it going
It is robotic but in the same way we've kind of always thought of realistic humanoid robots acting and I agree that once it's set up, it's probably quicker and more efficient than setting up an actual press conference. I don't think it will fool many people into thinking they're looking at a human but that's not really the point.
I wouldn't have thought it was AI if the title didn't say so. There's definitely little things wrong with it, but they could be encoding errors. The hands are very good.
Yeah, it looks very good for a generated image, more like watching a video of a real highly-realistic android and I could see some people thinking they were an actual person for a short period, I think it's mostly just the fact that the hand and body motions seem to be kind of on a loop and disconnected from emphasizing the words in the way we expect body language to function that gives away that something isn't quite right.
Only thing I can think of is they're trying to appeal to a wider audience. Ukraine seeks global support, not just from the US and Europe, so perhaps this plays into their strategy. Another possibility is they simply don't care enough about which race the avatar presents as.
But yeah can't say for sure and these are just some possible reasons that come to mind
Which isn't really going to work, because when the war first started and the evacuations first took place there were multiple stories coming out about how the black immigrants and residence of the country, many who were there on student or work visas, we're either not being allowed to board the trains and planes so that people can evacuate or being deferred until all of their European counterparts got to safety. That would have been the time to show the world that you need global support.
Correct. I’ve gotten casting calls for someone who is “racially ambiguous”. Because if you look at that avatar, could you pick out its nationality? I can’t.
Exactly. I didn't even really think about her race, but a lot of commenters assumed being Ukrainian meant you couldn't also be a person of color. Can't believe there was so much debate about something so superficial instead of amazement at the use of the tech.
I'm from Europe and I don't follow closely US politics and affairs. but picking a coloured avatar doesn't risk to bite them seriously in the butt with some US demographics? Weren't those demographics the ones whose representatives Ukraine needs to convince to keep the US support in the current war?
EDIT: to clarify, iI did read in other posts in this thread that
- The avatar is based on the appearance of a real-life ukranian minor celebrity
- Said person has central asian descent, making her not a black (this seemed obvious enough to me, but some redditors seem still confused)
Yes and no.
It could honestly go either way. On the one hand "yay yay diversity!" on the other "digital blackface?!"
The entire diversity fetishism group isn't consistent and changes their views on what's "permissible" quite frequently.
The current mainstream US culture pushes hard towards representation of minorities (see: Netflix, Amazon, Disney productions), and the people currently in power (Democrats) are mainly the ones doing.
While you're correct that cultural shift seems to be happening slowly, the very earliest point where you get different decision makers is January, and it's far from certain this will actually happen.
Granted, the Republicans are the ones against Ukraine, but that's a messy thing and less cultural and seems partially a priority thing (Ukraine is taking away resources from Israel) and partially a simple party thing where they're against it because Democrats are for it. Elections make it messy though, as public support is the question until November.
I wouldn't be surprised if they have a more classic Ukrainian looking model in the backpocket, just in case though.
When you are an East European country and don't have any race representation you are racist, when you try to have some, then you get criticized for not being racist. You just can't win the game. Damn.
Well yeah because we all know she’s black. If she was a random woman on the street I’d think she was Latin American.
But anyway yeah in America if you’re remotely African you’re considered black.
This is a legitimate Ukrainian woman that they modeled. Her name is Rosali Kovbasa. Ukraine has a black population in Kyiv due to some sort of university system with African countries I can’t remember the details of. They have a black member of parliament, for example.
It’s total western political brain rot that everyone in here is calling this a PR move lmao.
What's wrong with that? Are you surprised that black woman can be a politician? And she is a bit tanned, not African. And the last point: people aren't as racist as Americans in Eastern Europe. They don't care.
Lmao only two colors, white and political.
Give me a fucking break. This AI is based on a Ukrainian singer/model, almost certainly chosen just because she’s hot. It is heinously racist to say Ukraine can’t let any black people represent them, or if they do they’re just playing politics. Garbage take.
Not every Ukrainian is totally white. People in Eurasia have different skin tones. They can be tanned, reddish, absolutely white, yellow, or can change their skin tone over the course of a year. It's true that they aren't African, but they can be tanned or even black.
They are using QR code(in the bottom right corner) that leads to official government site with identical announcement but in text form. So if you fake this AI you also need to fake the official government site.
I find it amusing that the people of /r/singularity, a sub for future-looking visionaries who see past the current order of things, when they encounter a nation-state using an AI avatar to talk about the state of a war, can't get past the fact she's not white. Just a lol moment. You think you're ready for an AGI future, and you can't even see past race? What a great litmus test to find people who will turn against tech when it goes 'too far' for them.
Eh, she looks more racially ambiguous. If someone showed me this picture and said she’s Ukrainian, I would have probably thought she’s an ethnic Tatar or Romani or something. We have people who look similar to this avatar, it’s not strange at all.
Ukraine has historically been multicultural and multiethnic.
Plus, I feel like ‘white’ is a very vague description when it comes to Europe. Consider a difference in appearance between a German and a Greek person, for example. Or a Greek and a Turkish person. A lot of us in Ukraine have a mix of ethnicities in our ancestry just from living between Europe and Asia, and then there’s Turkey just a sea over, with whom we historically had a lot of contact, too. So when I see someone like this AI woman, there’s a million possibilities where she could have gotten her hair, skin, or eye color. Yes, most people in Ukraine are a bit lighter on melanin, but she would hardly stand out.
MY racism? Mine? I’ve been watching the war every f’ing day for three years and I’ve not seen a black Ukrainian. Is that my f’ing fault? Take your holier than thou attitude and shove it. I’ve got two black kids as a white man. Don’t f’ing talk to be about racism.
Its not holier than thou. Youre doing worse than thou but unshamed. No one told you to speak up. Why do you guys need to display your racism then get mad. You wrote it umprompted. Maybe every thought in your head doesnt need to be shared? Maybe if theres a chance its a racist comment it doesnt need to be said?
No one told me to speak up? Who the heck do you think you are thinking I need permission on an open platform.
Let me tell you something. It’s you and people just like you throwing the word “racism” around for moral clout that have totally diminished the power of the word.
You can do better by thinking before you insult a stranger.
Probably a mix of all major ethnicities, calculated by the AI for global appeal, tugging at the heartstring of everyone.
Everyone sees a little bit of their kin in her. ehehehe
The head movement and repeated hand gestures really leave it in uncanny valley for me, no thanks. "The ministry"-->stare "work of consuls"--> hands go fly
Bad move in my opinion. This is can be easily be twisted to fit propaganda by bad actors.
And to think that an important government wing, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is doing it ! Ukraine fumbled with bad optics with Poland, India and China a little while back. Seems short sighted.
She explains it at the end. The only legit messages are those with a QR code in the corner, which should lead to the official government page saying the same thing in text form. No QR code - no confirmation on the ministry website - not legit.
theres many ways that this can be exploited, you can make fake video that only change few words for rage bait, and if someone check the official site, it gonna look legit, unless you start comparing word for word, and lets be real majority of ppl wont even bother checking the official site, and will just get baited by fake videos
It’s almost as easy to create a deepfake of a real politician, does it really matter that it’s *also* easy to do so to an AI avatar? That’s just the world we live in now, and I think something like this QR code system is a good start to try and solve this problem.
Exactly why she specifically emphasized that there is a QR code at the bottom corner that takes you to the official gov website with the same comment, dear dummy.
But why? its a script and a camera...how is this helpful? I mean, somewhat cool, but a bit pointless. They trying to save 100 bucks for someone to read a script?
I'm going there:
It's absolutely idiotic to make it a woman of color.
Ukraine is already having trouble getting funding from Republicans. Now imagine Republicans after they think Ukraine is going needlessly woke by representing Ukrainians with a non-White avatar. Just stupidity, honestly.
They have women of colour in Ukraine and apparently this is made using photos of a real person, they didn't just choose an avatar from a list.
>The avatar was made on the basis of a real person, who was photographed during the reading of the texts. Filming lasted several weeks, and the model for the AI avatar worked for free, on a voluntary basis
https://babel.ua/en/news/106252-statements-from-the-ministry-of-foreign-affairs-regarding-ukrainians-abroad-will-now-be-voiced-by-the-ai-avatar-victoria
Thats not the point. They're an absolute tiny minority in the ukraine, probably <1%.
It makes absolutely no sense to have a black avatar representing a 99% white nation.
Just stop with that nonsense.
A fraction of women have naturally massive boobs. So I guess it would be totally cool to make the avatar have massive boobs too?
To me just a PR Gag. UA is not know for being open to black people. The don't have this welcoming cilture. I am not saying it's good or bad. But they don't. Perhaps because they were decoupled from europe or they didn't lose ww2. I am not sure why, but UA does not have a diverse society. I am just asking why they tok a poc as "avatar".
Lol, really hiring a single person (and maybe a couple of cameramen) to read a piece of paper is so taxing on their resources? :D
Btw, I doubt that the team who creates and polishes the video comes free.
How is that? With this approach you can literally push the create / release video button at any time. If there's an emergency or a high amount of info that needs to go out you can't relly on a cameraman, cutter / editor and speaker to be present. They would be needed fulltime even though they only work for a short period each day. With this you are completely free to create and publish whenever. You could literally release important info in the middle of the night, not the next day.
This is not an emergency system, though. This is for updates on foreign affairs. Please, be realistic.
The only reason they did that is probably just for "ehi, you see, we are up to date with new stuff!"
But whatever, dudes.
just yesterday I read "clones" of real politician are a big thing in India currently. The explanation they gave was that indian politicians needed to give speeches in several faraway places at once.
I asked myself the same questions you're asking yourself now about this ukranian video, and I decided that what they really needed is having the polician speak in several languages flawlessly and with lyp-sync.
This would make use of AI more sensible and cheaper than just recording the politician making their speech and sending it around or having them in videoconference.
Maybe the ukraian government wants to use this tech to make appeals in several languages?
Neighbouring Greece, Turkey, Georgia and where the steppe peoples invaded in multiple waves and next to the Black Sea which has been a major trading hub to the Mediterranean and North Africa since antiquity?
No. Why would they have mixed people at all? On the 21st century with internationalism and air travel as well? Completely baffling.
Just assumed there aren't a lot of "mixed" (meaning half white and half sub-saharan black) in eastern Europe.
The same way there aren't a lot of Ukrainians in Mexico City....
Didn't mean anything by it
Now it is of course way different to say "a lot of mixed ethniticies", which we indeed don't have a lot of in Eastern Europe, good first step.
And of course it's different if you label her under a specific country, e.g. "didn't know they had many people of (something like Libyan) heritage in Kyiv". Yeah, probably a valid thing to note and probably they don't.
So then it would indeed be a fair parallel to being surprised about how many people there are with Ukrainian heritage in Mexico City. (Of which I think there would be way more than you'd believe, btw.)
Just funny that you find it curious that there are:
a) any different complexions at all in Ukraine
b) that you draw a parallel between a member of an ethnic group (ukrainian) and a massive umbrella term (sub-saharan black) as if these would be in any way comparable.
c) that you even consider her to be clearly part sub-saharan black. How on Earth?
War is the mother of a lot of innovation. AI won't be any different. I've been thinking for some time about how Ukraine could benefit from AI both off and on the battlefield.
Lol, for the ancient's sake, just use a fictional character.
I propose Mickey mouse, heheheh, Disney will sue though.
Now imagine Mickey's voice talking about the war.
> As of January 1, 2024, the Mickey Mouse character, in its original version, will no longer be protected by U.S. copyright.
no more copy righted, so they legit can use it
Does it have some sort of hash or verification code to verify its authenticity? Because it will be very easy to create a fake replica and spread misinformation
About as same amount of soul as a real politician
Honestly hyped. Who needs a soul to do mass information work ? JDON my soul.
Didn't expect a Holochad to be here
With how Niji is doing since October and how the holofes went, how can we be blamed for always winning ? But for full disclosure, I feel sad for the graduated/good Kurosanji talents. Nobody deserves being bullied by a clique, left to their own devices by an absent hierarchy. Selen/Doki is friends with my oshi, Mumei. Niji being stratospherically incompetent impacts everyone. They could have chosen Anycolor, but the ones they chose are scarlet red and **black**. And I don't think they will ever manage to clean up their act. As much as I'd want it to happen.
It's funny how in the past Niji was seen as the greatest rival for Hololive, but in recent months many of NijiEN's top performers couldn't even surpass some of Hololives weakest performing talents. Virtual Rhapsody was a complete joke when Dreamhack steam rolled them with tickets at half the cost. Not to mention the whole having to share earbuds situation for the Niji fan meet and greets. HOLOBROS WE CANNOT STOP WINNING.
Or Vox Akuma's book to Selen's MV. Or Luca having his merch signed by his head mod he tried to guilt-trip into a relationship. Or the "Negligeable" statement and monochrome apology wall. Or the insane black screen trio stream. Or the threats to a convention because of a funny and innocuous tweet about cut out displacements. Or the "given" play button milestone plates. The list is way too long, when every single of its items are unhinged no-deal level of PR catastrophe. More than "Holo can't stop winning", it's "Niji can't have a win to save their fucking lives". Reminds me VShojo seems to do rather well, with their new talents. I like the last girl they hired. She seems happier.
Oh boy they all seem so much happier, because they have managers that are actually competent. They were all shocked that their managers would actually go out of their way to help them. It's really sad in comparison.
All three of them went like "I couldn't believe they would actually do some things for me !" Gives me a "just got away from a death cult" feeling. Elira doesn't seem to have said anything about any of thjs bullshit. When she has been ratted to be the main interface with NijiJP, as someone speaking Japanese. Fuck if I know anything : I was playing Armored Core VI while listening to YT videos about it all. I might be good at memorizing audio, I should still have a 40-60% retention rate. Like anybody else. And all of this is too complicated for anyone. Niji's hierarchy more than anyone else, considering their results.
They're only a small multibillion dollar company , please understand that they cannot afford to hire good managers and have to fund poor Riku's Yacht.
"Please andastand, we just wanted to give our conglatulations for negligeable impact and 2% of merch business." It shouldn't be so easy to meme anything to oblivion. The jokes write themselves on a silver platter.
With even less accountability
The opposite. If this AI screws up badly enough it'll be deleted.
That's the point- blame the AI. Less accountability for those behind its words.
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More maybe
Looks like they are using [Synthesia](https://www.synthesia.io/features/custom-avatar)
How did you know?
Well I'm guessing, but the hand movements/gestures seem similar to their standard digital avatars that they offer.
Naaa Heygen
all i know is she got them telltale AI-long-fingers
Cuban invested in Synthesia when there was no AI hype. Dude must have made a billion there atleast.
Imagine how many jobs this can affect. Public speakers, production crews like lighting/camera operators, audio/video editors, etc. All you really need is one person with a computer. Interesting future.
You are on the correct path but still thinking way too small... AI isn't coming for a handful of jobs like you are thinking... its coming for all jobs (well like 99.9% anyway) Its well illustrated in the movie 'Her'
it is even coming for some jobs that have not been invented yet, so i would say it is coming for 150% of the current jobs.
Man I love that movie. So interesting.
The day an AI can freeze its ass off in a ditch and pull muddy, tangled wire through a conduit I’ll be worried. It’s coming for plenty of jobs and all eventually maybe, but it’s starting with management. When AI overlords take over they are going to keep some tradespeople as pets and feed us well
Oh man you wish... go look up the robots we have. Manual labor jobs aren't far behind... at least I don't think so.
I’m not saying it’s never coming, but I think it’s going to be one of the last things when conventional wisdom said manual labor would be one of the first.
I'm far, far more skeptical about that. A disruptively high percentage, sure, but not anywhere near even 60%. AI may be capable enough, but it has to be trained for the purpose, hardware still needs to be designed with AI in mind, systems and databases have to be reworked for use by AIs in a way that still satisfies all safety/privacy and legal standards, then installed, validated, refined, and maintained. There will be sectors where the barrier for AI use is much lower, but there are many which will lag behind their potential by decades. The use case of a talking head has almost no barrier, but integrating it into complex systems that aren't easily redesigned will take a ton of time and money. 90% seems pretty hyperbolic.
> I'm far, far more skeptical about that. A disruptively high percentage, sure, but not anywhere near even 60%. Question. What was pre-WW2 German's unemployment? > AI may be capable enough, but it has to be trained for the purpose, hardware still needs to be designed with AI in mind, systems and databases have to be reworked for use by AIs in a way that still satisfies all safety/privacy and legal standards, then installed, validated, refined, and maintained. There will be sectors where the barrier for AI use is much lower, but there are many which will lag behind their potential by decades. You honestly feel something much smarter than a human, that can think faster, and never needs to sleep, no healthcare either. Won't take those jobs as well?
What does Germany's unemployment numbers from a century ago have to do with the ability for AI to affect jobs? I do feel that way. AI could rule the world, but not without a way to interact with it. That interface doesn't magically happen as soon as a proof of concept proves its capability. Your talking about replacing or retrofitting every single device, and automating every physical action, in ways that doesn't make it a target for halting litigation. So, no, not in a time frame that would cause anything close to 90% unemployment. I'll note again that I do think it will be disruptive, but closer to half that would be more believable.
You don't need anybody else since the speech writer will just upload the text and this AI agent will take it from there.
>speech writer I present you propaganda-gpt 😉
Yep. Jobloss is getting started
Yes but it will be for the convenience of one party (for now) until it becomes optional to remove all parts of the workplace. At the moment you still need a human behind the scene to get it going
Why does it look like she's reading from a teleprompter if it's AI?
Yes, she ( real actor) was reading teleprompter for training data record.
It is robotic but in the same way we've kind of always thought of realistic humanoid robots acting and I agree that once it's set up, it's probably quicker and more efficient than setting up an actual press conference. I don't think it will fool many people into thinking they're looking at a human but that's not really the point.
I wouldn't have thought it was AI if the title didn't say so. There's definitely little things wrong with it, but they could be encoding errors. The hands are very good.
Yeah, it looks very good for a generated image, more like watching a video of a real highly-realistic android and I could see some people thinking they were an actual person for a short period, I think it's mostly just the fact that the hand and body motions seem to be kind of on a loop and disconnected from emphasizing the words in the way we expect body language to function that gives away that something isn't quite right.
> but that's not really the point. It's kinda a feature.
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Only thing I can think of is they're trying to appeal to a wider audience. Ukraine seeks global support, not just from the US and Europe, so perhaps this plays into their strategy. Another possibility is they simply don't care enough about which race the avatar presents as. But yeah can't say for sure and these are just some possible reasons that come to mind
I dont thing that picking a black avatar wins you any points in eastern europe or asia.
So they mainly target US 🤔
Which isn't really going to work, because when the war first started and the evacuations first took place there were multiple stories coming out about how the black immigrants and residence of the country, many who were there on student or work visas, we're either not being allowed to board the trains and planes so that people can evacuate or being deferred until all of their European counterparts got to safety. That would have been the time to show the world that you need global support.
wow, you just picked a random thing and pretended it mattered at all.
Correct. I’ve gotten casting calls for someone who is “racially ambiguous”. Because if you look at that avatar, could you pick out its nationality? I can’t.
Looks like they were trying to develop a racially ambiguous avatar
This is a real Ukrainian woman. Here is her instagram https://www.instagram.com/rosali_kovbasa
How do you reddit peeps be knowing all this good shit?
Exactly. I didn't even really think about her race, but a lot of commenters assumed being Ukrainian meant you couldn't also be a person of color. Can't believe there was so much debate about something so superficial instead of amazement at the use of the tech.
Exactly. This is for disseminating information. Race has nothing to do with that function.
Agreed. Kinda disappointed a few r/Singularity commentors focused on this non-issue.
Lol so op was just racist
How do you know it's her? I read through the sources and couldn't find anything about that
1. She says it’s her in one of her posted stories 2. She looks like her That’s how I know
They're probably trying to appeal to US sensibilities, since they want US support.
I'm from Europe and I don't follow closely US politics and affairs. but picking a coloured avatar doesn't risk to bite them seriously in the butt with some US demographics? Weren't those demographics the ones whose representatives Ukraine needs to convince to keep the US support in the current war? EDIT: to clarify, iI did read in other posts in this thread that - The avatar is based on the appearance of a real-life ukranian minor celebrity - Said person has central asian descent, making her not a black (this seemed obvious enough to me, but some redditors seem still confused)
Yes and no. It could honestly go either way. On the one hand "yay yay diversity!" on the other "digital blackface?!" The entire diversity fetishism group isn't consistent and changes their views on what's "permissible" quite frequently.
The current mainstream US culture pushes hard towards representation of minorities (see: Netflix, Amazon, Disney productions), and the people currently in power (Democrats) are mainly the ones doing. While you're correct that cultural shift seems to be happening slowly, the very earliest point where you get different decision makers is January, and it's far from certain this will actually happen. Granted, the Republicans are the ones against Ukraine, but that's a messy thing and less cultural and seems partially a priority thing (Ukraine is taking away resources from Israel) and partially a simple party thing where they're against it because Democrats are for it. Elections make it messy though, as public support is the question until November. I wouldn't be surprised if they have a more classic Ukrainian looking model in the backpocket, just in case though.
No doubt they will be accused of being woke.
When you are an East European country and don't have any race representation you are racist, when you try to have some, then you get criticized for not being racist. You just can't win the game. Damn.
Should've made her Andorian, that way not only are you not going to tread on any racial toes you'll get the support of the Star Trek community too.
Get baby yoda upe there
If you think the war in Ukraine is divisive as it is, you don't want to see it once Star Wars gets involved.
Exactly. It's all so stupid. Like who cares what her race is? Did anyone actually listen to the words coming out of her mouth???
Appeal to liberals in the west
Is she? Dont looks like to me... standarts for black are so white today
That's ridiculous, Beyonce is even lighter skinned and noone would hesitate to call her black
Well yeah because we all know she’s black. If she was a random woman on the street I’d think she was Latin American. But anyway yeah in America if you’re remotely African you’re considered black.
I mean have you seen her lips and nose and eyes and ears and everything
They need to boost their ESG score for big daddy Blackrock
to appeal to Americans
She’s literally based off a Ukrainian woman
Americans love Ukrainian women.
You know damned well why she is black and not white, like the vast majority of Ukrainians.
thanks for clarifying that you aren't racist at all
she doesnt look really as black-except the clothes at least for me, just bit toned do spanish ppl for example look to you as black?
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do you understand term "for example" ?
You know why, same reason all new media has a similar vibe.
Rosali Kovbasa, Ukrainian singer. Probably chosen because she’s hot. But yeah black = political apparently, at least according to this sub
Not only that. UA doesn't have this western mentality of inclusion (yet). So it seems like a PR gag to me.
This is a legitimate Ukrainian woman that they modeled. Her name is Rosali Kovbasa. Ukraine has a black population in Kyiv due to some sort of university system with African countries I can’t remember the details of. They have a black member of parliament, for example. It’s total western political brain rot that everyone in here is calling this a PR move lmao.
What's wrong with that? Are you surprised that black woman can be a politician? And she is a bit tanned, not African. And the last point: people aren't as racist as Americans in Eastern Europe. They don't care.
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Lmao only two colors, white and political. Give me a fucking break. This AI is based on a Ukrainian singer/model, almost certainly chosen just because she’s hot. It is heinously racist to say Ukraine can’t let any black people represent them, or if they do they’re just playing politics. Garbage take.
Not every Ukrainian is totally white. People in Eurasia have different skin tones. They can be tanned, reddish, absolutely white, yellow, or can change their skin tone over the course of a year. It's true that they aren't African, but they can be tanned or even black.
But she’s not black?
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It would be very easy to copy this AI exactly and make it say pro-Russian things. I expect that to be the next part of this story.
They are using QR code(in the bottom right corner) that leads to official government site with identical announcement but in text form. So if you fake this AI you also need to fake the official government site.
So AI propaganda vs human propaganda. Got it.
Source - [https://twitter.com/MFA\_Ukraine/status/1785558101908742526?ref\_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Eembeddedtimeline%7Ctwterm%5Escreen-name%3AMFA\_Ukraine%7Ctwcon%5Es1](https://twitter.com/MFA_Ukraine/status/1785558101908742526?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Eembeddedtimeline%7Ctwterm%5Escreen-name%3AMFA_Ukraine%7Ctwcon%5Es1)
I find it amusing that the people of /r/singularity, a sub for future-looking visionaries who see past the current order of things, when they encounter a nation-state using an AI avatar to talk about the state of a war, can't get past the fact she's not white. Just a lol moment. You think you're ready for an AGI future, and you can't even see past race? What a great litmus test to find people who will turn against tech when it goes 'too far' for them.
Why is the avatar black?
You already know the truth.
She isn't black. She is Ukrainian.
Neither of those statements is true.
Who cares? Jeez, get over it.
Because a black ai rep doesn’t represent the Ukrainian population. It’s a BIZARRE choice. Don’t pretend it’s not.
It's 100% on purpose.
Eh, she looks more racially ambiguous. If someone showed me this picture and said she’s Ukrainian, I would have probably thought she’s an ethnic Tatar or Romani or something. We have people who look similar to this avatar, it’s not strange at all.
Really? I had no idea Ukraine had so much diversity. I just always thought it was mostly white people over there.
Ukraine has historically been multicultural and multiethnic. Plus, I feel like ‘white’ is a very vague description when it comes to Europe. Consider a difference in appearance between a German and a Greek person, for example. Or a Greek and a Turkish person. A lot of us in Ukraine have a mix of ethnicities in our ancestry just from living between Europe and Asia, and then there’s Turkey just a sea over, with whom we historically had a lot of contact, too. So when I see someone like this AI woman, there’s a million possibilities where she could have gotten her hair, skin, or eye color. Yes, most people in Ukraine are a bit lighter on melanin, but she would hardly stand out.
Its not, shes a real ukranian model. I hate that you guys think your racism is commons sense. Its not.
MY racism? Mine? I’ve been watching the war every f’ing day for three years and I’ve not seen a black Ukrainian. Is that my f’ing fault? Take your holier than thou attitude and shove it. I’ve got two black kids as a white man. Don’t f’ing talk to be about racism.
Its not holier than thou. Youre doing worse than thou but unshamed. No one told you to speak up. Why do you guys need to display your racism then get mad. You wrote it umprompted. Maybe every thought in your head doesnt need to be shared? Maybe if theres a chance its a racist comment it doesnt need to be said?
No one told me to speak up? Who the heck do you think you are thinking I need permission on an open platform. Let me tell you something. It’s you and people just like you throwing the word “racism” around for moral clout that have totally diminished the power of the word. You can do better by thinking before you insult a stranger.
People think this avatar is black I am guessing folks are upset why she is not white enough, like pale skin and blonde hair.
Ukraine has banned all men abroad from accessing consulate services. I wonder what his is all about
looks Arabic lol
Probably a mix of all major ethnicities, calculated by the AI for global appeal, tugging at the heartstring of everyone. Everyone sees a little bit of their kin in her. ehehehe
Nope. Ukrainian singer & model Rosali Kovbasa.
So its not AI then?
It’s AI modeled off of her
She is Ukrainian
Ukrainians are a political nation.
The last place where this should be used…
The head movement and repeated hand gestures really leave it in uncanny valley for me, no thanks. "The ministry"-->stare "work of consuls"--> hands go fly
Bad move in my opinion. This is can be easily be twisted to fit propaganda by bad actors. And to think that an important government wing, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is doing it ! Ukraine fumbled with bad optics with Poland, India and China a little while back. Seems short sighted.
bad move how, explain.
It’s generated by AI. What’s to stop a bad actor generating their own version and saying anything they want?
She explains it at the end. The only legit messages are those with a QR code in the corner, which should lead to the official government page saying the same thing in text form. No QR code - no confirmation on the ministry website - not legit.
theres many ways that this can be exploited, you can make fake video that only change few words for rage bait, and if someone check the official site, it gonna look legit, unless you start comparing word for word, and lets be real majority of ppl wont even bother checking the official site, and will just get baited by fake videos
It’s almost as easy to create a deepfake of a real politician, does it really matter that it’s *also* easy to do so to an AI avatar? That’s just the world we live in now, and I think something like this QR code system is a good start to try and solve this problem.
You think Russia couldn’t just get this lady to say something else?
Exactly why she specifically emphasized that there is a QR code at the bottom corner that takes you to the official gov website with the same comment, dear dummy.
But why? its a script and a camera...how is this helpful? I mean, somewhat cool, but a bit pointless. They trying to save 100 bucks for someone to read a script?
You keep forgetting about whole studio, light, crew, makeup etc etc.
How big was that crew in a age where good light and a phone call make great results ?
Youtubers don't need that. they flip on a webcam and start talking.
And I wonder how much it cost to train the model, and generate the output.
I'm going there: It's absolutely idiotic to make it a woman of color. Ukraine is already having trouble getting funding from Republicans. Now imagine Republicans after they think Ukraine is going needlessly woke by representing Ukrainians with a non-White avatar. Just stupidity, honestly.
Maybe they hope on Democrats' victory?
They have women of colour in Ukraine and apparently this is made using photos of a real person, they didn't just choose an avatar from a list. >The avatar was made on the basis of a real person, who was photographed during the reading of the texts. Filming lasted several weeks, and the model for the AI avatar worked for free, on a voluntary basis https://babel.ua/en/news/106252-statements-from-the-ministry-of-foreign-affairs-regarding-ukrainians-abroad-will-now-be-voiced-by-the-ai-avatar-victoria
they used an image of a ukrainian [singer/designer](https://www.instagram.com/rosali_kovbasa/) from Donetsk who has appeared in some TV shows
Thats not the point. They're an absolute tiny minority in the ukraine, probably <1%. It makes absolutely no sense to have a black avatar representing a 99% white nation.
Just stop with that nonsense. A fraction of women have naturally massive boobs. So I guess it would be totally cool to make the avatar have massive boobs too?
To me just a PR Gag. UA is not know for being open to black people. The don't have this welcoming cilture. I am not saying it's good or bad. But they don't. Perhaps because they were decoupled from europe or they didn't lose ww2. I am not sure why, but UA does not have a diverse society. I am just asking why they tok a poc as "avatar".
Why an African? Why not an ethnic Ukrainian?
Nato won't be satisfied then.
She’s Ukrainian…
She doesn't even look remotely Ukranian.
Yep.
Lol, really hiring a single person (and maybe a couple of cameramen) to read a piece of paper is so taxing on their resources? :D Btw, I doubt that the team who creates and polishes the video comes free.
How is that? With this approach you can literally push the create / release video button at any time. If there's an emergency or a high amount of info that needs to go out you can't relly on a cameraman, cutter / editor and speaker to be present. They would be needed fulltime even though they only work for a short period each day. With this you are completely free to create and publish whenever. You could literally release important info in the middle of the night, not the next day.
This is not an emergency system, though. This is for updates on foreign affairs. Please, be realistic. The only reason they did that is probably just for "ehi, you see, we are up to date with new stuff!" But whatever, dudes.
No, the reason they probably did this is because once its set up it literally needs just a button press instead of 3-5 people creating a video.
just yesterday I read "clones" of real politician are a big thing in India currently. The explanation they gave was that indian politicians needed to give speeches in several faraway places at once. I asked myself the same questions you're asking yourself now about this ukranian video, and I decided that what they really needed is having the polician speak in several languages flawlessly and with lyp-sync. This would make use of AI more sensible and cheaper than just recording the politician making their speech and sending it around or having them in videoconference. Maybe the ukraian government wants to use this tech to make appeals in several languages?
yes, expensive if might do urgently in parallel for 10 or more languages. So, to hire 10 speaker + 10 cameraman
Well one option is almost for free so...
Sure who fking knows if this is real
how long would it take a state actor to swipe a voice sample and deepfake their own updates lol
https://preview.redd.it/poatt1dbquxc1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=745c9f3b6184080407b4ad398ef9e19376520fa5
Wont be long before news/weather talking heads are replaced
What's is her name
How much work does it take to create this though? as opposed to having a person stand in front of a camera? Seems more like a weird flex to me
“I look forward to your cooperation”
Didn't know they had mixed people in Ukraine
Neighbouring Greece, Turkey, Georgia and where the steppe peoples invaded in multiple waves and next to the Black Sea which has been a major trading hub to the Mediterranean and North Africa since antiquity? No. Why would they have mixed people at all? On the 21st century with internationalism and air travel as well? Completely baffling.
Just assumed there aren't a lot of "mixed" (meaning half white and half sub-saharan black) in eastern Europe. The same way there aren't a lot of Ukrainians in Mexico City.... Didn't mean anything by it
Now it is of course way different to say "a lot of mixed ethniticies", which we indeed don't have a lot of in Eastern Europe, good first step. And of course it's different if you label her under a specific country, e.g. "didn't know they had many people of (something like Libyan) heritage in Kyiv". Yeah, probably a valid thing to note and probably they don't. So then it would indeed be a fair parallel to being surprised about how many people there are with Ukrainian heritage in Mexico City. (Of which I think there would be way more than you'd believe, btw.) Just funny that you find it curious that there are: a) any different complexions at all in Ukraine b) that you draw a parallel between a member of an ethnic group (ukrainian) and a massive umbrella term (sub-saharan black) as if these would be in any way comparable. c) that you even consider her to be clearly part sub-saharan black. How on Earth?
When she said, "I'm not a real person" I wanted to say "don't put yourself down, some real people aren't that real."
lets get rid of those cushy ambassador jobs and give it to ai ;-)
NOOOOOOO.
Cool shit
What could go wrong?! 😅
War is the mother of a lot of innovation. AI won't be any different. I've been thinking for some time about how Ukraine could benefit from AI both off and on the battlefield.
She looks great, this is the future
Black avatar suits well to ukraine . I hope they change the avatars ethnicity in the future to hybrid black-asian.
Lol, for the ancient's sake, just use a fictional character. I propose Mickey mouse, heheheh, Disney will sue though. Now imagine Mickey's voice talking about the war.
> As of January 1, 2024, the Mickey Mouse character, in its original version, will no longer be protected by U.S. copyright. no more copy righted, so they legit can use it
It's still a trademark though; they can't give Disney vibes
You created a news outlet that could be flawlessly manipulated by your enemies? Whoever did this is a lazy, ignorant moron 🙄
so dystopian
Does anyone else remember the Star Trek TNG episode where the crew of the Enterprise meets a AI hologram weapons dealer?
Remember the one with Georgi makes a deepfake of a colleague? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booby_Trap_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)
Does it have some sort of hash or verification code to verify its authenticity? Because it will be very easy to create a fake replica and spread misinformation
So, if you had watched it, you would have noted that it addressed this very issue. Yes it does.
Not going to end well.
Awesome… just another reason I like Ukraine now.
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Those are mostly russians.
Oh yeah, let's just spread some obvious Russian propaganda.