Top 5 Creative Tech Stories This Week
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Here's a quick roundup of the most significant developments in media and entertainment technology this week:
- Fox Entertainment approves generative AI for public distribution. Fox's internal FAQ explicitly states Runway is "All Clear!" for use in deliverables and encourages staff to share how they're using it to justify the investment, though they still need to run it by Standards & Practices.
- Runway introduces References feature for Gen-4, enhancing scene and character consistency. The new References feature allows filmmakers and content creators to specify exactly how characters, objects, and scenes should appear throughout a project, addressing one of the biggest challenges in AI-generated video: maintaining consistent visuals across multiple shots or sequences.
- Duolingo shifts to "AI-first" approach, replacing contractors with artificial intelligence. Language learning platform Duolingo has announced a major strategic pivot to become an "AI-first" company, gradually phasing out contractors for tasks AI can handle. CEO Luis von Ahn shared that the company has already leveraged AI to create 148 new language courses in less than a year-a process that previously took 12 years for their first 100 courses.
- Ideogram releases major upgrade to its AI image generation platform. Ideogram has launched a significant update to its 3.0 platform, featuring enhanced realism, more versatile style options, and improved prompt following capabilities.
- Midjourney introduces Omni-Reference feature for precise object and character placement. This tool allows creators to precisely indicate "put THIS in my image" for characters, objects, vehicles, and more.
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