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Review Reviews: Jordan Petersons We Who Wrestle With God – Dartmouth Review

On February 5, 2024, members of The Dartmouth Review attended a stop of We Who Wrestle With God, a lecture tour conducted by the prominent conservative academic Dr. Jordan B. Peterson.

Dr. Petersons early life was marked by fascinations with mythology, religion, and philosophy, which all contributed to his academic and intellectual pursuits. He earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Alberta and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from McGill University. He went on to hold academic positions at Harvard and the University of Toronto, where he earned plaudits and prominence due to his research on personality and social psychology.

Outside of academia, Peterson has gained international attention in the last decade for his commentary on a variety of social and political issues, often focusing on topics such as free speech, identity politics, and the role of religion. In direct response to the power and influence of his commentary, some left-wing critics have sought to cancel Peterson. However, he has easily shed himself of such criticism and, most recently, embarked on a 51-city lecture series.

In his stop on the tour that came closest to Dartmouth, Peterson traveled to Manchester, New Hampshire, where he delivered his lecture in the SNHU arena. Truth be told, the attendance at the event was much better than I expected. The line to enter the arena was out the doora nonideal circumstance in the frigid New Hampshire winter. Once inside the arena, it was clear that Petersons following was much stronger than I had realized.

Im not sure if my expectation came from my perception of Manchester being a small New Hampshire town, or if I thought Petersons following was simply dissipating due to a comparative lack of discussion about him lately. Regardless of whether my ignorance related to population density or to Petersons following (perhaps both), it is undeniable that this event was not the small, streamlined lecture that I thought it would be.

As Peterson is an academic, I thought the structure of the event would be a focused analysis of why we wrestle with God, but this event was more of a collection of anecdotes that vaguely related to having a relationship with God. This is not to say that the event was unsuccessful, but I was mildly disappointed that it lacked intellectualism and thought-provoking ideas. Peterson began his event with what was less an argument than a story from Petersons wife Tammy, who took the stage with him.

Their discussion focused on some experiences that she and Peterson have gone through in recent months: Both Petersons and Tammys fathers were simultaneously experiencing health issues. The decision with which they had to wrestle was whose father they were going to go see, in anticipation that both would pass away in the subsequent weeks. After the couple visited both fathers, Tammy went back to stay with her family in Alberta, while Peterson stayed with his family in Edmonton. During this time, Tammy said she developed a sense of resentment toward her husband. In the following week, Tammy went to Arizona to see her daughter and her newly born granddaughter while Peterson stayed in Canada. During this time, Tammys resentment became clearer to her, as they were not able to continually be together during such a hard time. This is when Tammy, a devout Christian and a new convert to the Catholic Church, decided to allow God to guide her as she wrestled with difficulties in her life. The ultimate purpose of the story illustrated the power of offering up ones sadness to God in order to navigate complex situations of emotional pain and joy.

The next section of the event was the actual lecture that Peterson delivered. The structure of the lecture was all too similar to what I have experienced elsewhere: low-effort slides that seemed to have been thrown together the night before, and tangential rambling that seemed to have no end. With every slide, there seemed to be no predetermined anecdote or message, just stories that related to family structures and personal relationships, and, infrequently, tie-backs to wrestling with God.

Overall, the main portion of the event seemed to fall flat, as it lacked a clear message or purpose. Yet the portion that substantially involved his wife was successful in exploring feelings of resentment and ones relationship with God. A Q&A that came later allowed for Peterson to make clear commentary as to how we should approach controversial issues in politics and among our family members. It is unfortunate that the main lecture did not have the same effect.

The expectations that I set for this event may have been beyond feasible given the setting. The tour is not intended for any particular audience but rather serves as a way for Peterson to engage with as many members of his following as possible. In this regard, I would say that the event was generally successful. The audience itself was diverse, including college students, people in professional dress, blue-collar workers, and retirees. Although those in attendance were not present for a uniform reason, I think that everyone was able to take something away from that event. Some undoubtedly attained a better understanding of the circumstances that guided Petersons life and thought process; others learned how we can better navigate situations involving resentment; and, maybe, some others gained a new recognition of how to wrestle with God.

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Review Reviews: Jordan Petersons We Who Wrestle With God - Dartmouth Review

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Jordan Peterson: "Deadly boxers have become profound economic philosophers" – Jordan Peterson stunned by … – Sportskeeda

Renato Moicano was able to extend his winning streak to three with a second-round TKO victory over Jalin Turner on the early preliminary card of UFC 300. Following the bout, the No.13-ranked lightweight used his post-fight speech to state:

Bitcoin Rapid-Fire podcast host John Vallis shared the footage, leading psychologist and author Jordan Peterson to respond:

Peterson added:

Moicano caught wind of Peterson's comments and responded, stating:

He added:

Check out the tweets from Jordan Peterson and Renato Moicano below:

Moicano has seen his popularity increase since UFC 281, thanks in large part to his post-fight speeches. Following his victory over Brad Riddell, he expressed his desire for more money.

He followed that up by expressing his love for the United States and his desire to become a citizen after his UFC Fight Night 235 victory over Drew Dober in February.

Jalin Turner had one of the biggest gaffes fans will ever see as he walked away from Renato Moicano after dropping him in the first round, assuming he had knocked out his opponent rather than pursuing a finish. Things did not work out as Turner planned as he wound up suffering a second-round TKO loss.

The No.13-ranked lightweight weighed in on his opponent's blunder in his post-fight press conference, stating:

Check out Renato Moicano's comments on Jalin Turner walking away below (starting at the 0:22 mark):

While Turner has not commented on the loss, there have been suggestions that his decision could have been motivated by a pursuit of the $300,000 bonus that was on the line. Moicano later made the case that he was deserving of a bonus as he overcame adversity.

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Sam Harris and Jordan Peterson on Dogma – Word on Fire

Whatever dogma is, Sam Harris certainly doesnt like it. In his recent conversation with Jordan Peterson, Harris repeatedly condemns dogma, and Peterson repeatedly tries to moderate this condemnation. Harris notes correctly that dogma is a Catholic term. But what exactly is being condemned? The target is moving.

First, Harris defines dogma as a belief that is held in spite of the fact that theres no good evidence for it. According to this definition, belief in God is not a dogma. If Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Liebniz, Plantinga or William Lane Craig are right, there is good evidence to believe that God exists. Indeed, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that, By natural reason man can know God with certainty.

But belief in God is not only a dogma, but is the fundamental dogma of the Catholic creed. So, Harris definition of dogma must differ radically from Catholic understandings of the term. In which case, his critique of dogma is a straw man of his own invention.

Harris offers a second understanding of dogma, If I say to you, listen, I believe X and theres nothing you can say to convince me otherwise, and no matter how good your evidence gets, no matter how good your arguments get, Im not gonna want to hear it. And if you press the case, Im gonna get angrier and angrier until the possibility of having a conversation about anything fully erodes. Dogma in this sense means close-mindedness.

Yet close-mindedness is a characteristic that can afflict a believer or a skeptic, an atheist or a theist. As woke mobs show us, you could reject all dogma in the religious sense of the term and yet be utterly certain of your beliefs and closed off from learning from others. Moreover, you could believe in a dogma (lets say, God exists) and also not get angry and indeed (as I do) even enjoy talking to people who see things differently. So, close-mindedness is a sloppy definition of dogma.

Everyone who reasons has basic beliefs, first principles, fundamental axioms, or dogmas from which they begin to reason to other conclusions.

In a third characterization, Harris seems to understand dogma as a belief that leads to harming others. Harris is right that dogma can lead to harming others. But anything, even the best of things, can be misused, distorted, degraded. Romantic love can be the beginning of a relationship that lasts a lifetime. But, as countless true crime episodes indicate, the abuse of romantic love can lead to murder. Harris and I share an admiration for the achievements of science. But can science be abused? The answer to this question is found in the scientific experiments conducted at Tuskegee as well as those of Dr. Josef Mengele.So, it hardly counts against dogma that it can lead to bad consequences.

Peterson recognizes this when he says we should try to distinguish between religious experience per se, or the religious experience thats valuable and a counterproductive totalitarian dogmatism. Indeed, if someone believes and lives in accordance with the dogma that every single human being deserves respect, this belief would in general help rather than harm people. The world would be a much better place if the dictum of Bernard Lonergan were universally adopted as dogma, Be attentive, be intelligent, be responsible, be loving, and, if necessary, change.

In a fourth way of using the term, Harris contrasts dogma and method,

Dogma is not a statement of how good the method was. Dogma is just, we didnt have a method, but this is so. It says so in the book, the book is perfect. How do we know its perfect? cause the book itself says so, right? Thats a dog that bites its own tail. Thats not a method. That is dogmatism and in my view, totally illegitimate.

I totally agree with Harris that circular arguments are invalid. But as Karl Keating points out in his book, Catholicism and Fundamentalism, [Catholics] are not basing the inspiration of the Bible on the Churchs infallibility and the Churchs infallibility on the word of an inspired Bible. That indeed would be a circular argument. At least if his target is Catholic belief, Harris has again attacked a straw man.

Harris has confidence in method, and in this too I think he is right. But even the best method cannot be self-authenticating. If I have questions about whether I can trust the empirical method, it hardly helps to gather empirical evidence. If I am unsure whether logically valid deductive arguments show their conclusion, I cannot settle the matter by means of a logically valid deductive argument.

So, as Aristotle noted, first principles are necessary in order to begin the process of reasoning. Every method must presuppose some starting points. There is nothing illegitimate or dogmatic in a pejorative sense about having first principles in science, in philosophy, or in theology.

As the philosopher Alvin Plantinga pointed out, Every train of argument will have to start somewhere, and the ultimate premises from which it starts will not themselves be believed on the evidential basis of other propositions; they will have to be accepted in the basic way, that is, not on the evidential basis of other beliefs. Everyone who reasons has basic beliefs, first principles, fundamental axioms, or dogmas from which they begin to reason to other conclusions.

So, what is dogma actually? Rather than understand the meaning of the term as Catholics understand it, Harris gives his own idiosyncratic meanings to the term dogma and then criticizes figments of his imagination.This method is like ignoring what evolutionary biologists mean by the term evolution, and understanding evolution as, the belief that one day an ape gave birth to a human being.

An accurate definition of dogma comes from Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later elected Pope Benedict XVI). He wrote that dogma is by definition nothing other than an interpretation of Scripture. Catholic dogma constitutes the first principles or basic beliefs of Catholics expressed, for example, in the Nicene Creed.

There is nothing close-minded, harmful, or viciously circular about intellectual activities arising from first principles or basic beliefs. Mathematicians, philosophers, and scientists all begin to reason from fundamental axioms. But, despite Petersons efforts to pull Harris away from caricatures, this sympathetic understanding was not found in Harris diatribes against dogma.

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Sam Harris and Jordan Peterson on Dogma - Word on Fire

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Logitech wants you to press its new AI button – The Verge

The Logi AI Prompt Builder doesnt just present you with a chatbot; it gives you preset recipes to help you prompt it, too. After I assigned an AI button to a Logitech mouse, I could ask it to Rephrase paragraphs of text, turn them into bullet points, make them shorter and more concise, or fit a specific word count. Another recipe helped me summarize press releases. And since I pay for ChatGPT Plus, I customized another recipe to generate an image.

Prompt Builder seems like it could be useful. But I had to get a new Logitech mouse to use it, as my Logitech M557 I bought in 2022 but has been around since 2014, was deemed too old and did not support the required Options Plus software. Also, it strangely only launched when I wasnt on either of my two browser windows. (I found myself using a ChatGPT tab in my web browser instead since that way I wouldnt have to click out of my browser.)

Logitech will also sell at least one mouse with a dedicated AI button you wont need to map to its prompt builder: an AI edition of its M750 mouse with a teal-colored key to instantly launch it. Its only available in the US and UK for $49.99 or 54.99, respectively, through Logitechs online store.

You dont need the special-edition AI mouse, but you do need a Logitech device, as the prompt builder is part of the companys bundled Logi Options Plus software.

For now, Logi AI Prompt Builder only works with ChatGPT and understands only English at launch. Logitech did say its working on linking it to other chatbots.

At the end of the day, this seems like a way for Logitech to sell more Logitech peripherals, and it likely wont be the only company with such an idea. When the time comes that all PCs have dueling AI buttons, which one will you push to ask your chatbots a question?

Update April 17th, 2024, 12:20 PM ET: Clarified why the M557 mouse could not launch the AI Prompt Builder.

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Is AI good or bad? A deeper look at its potential and pitfalls – Mashable

We dont know how we feel about AI.

Since ChatGPT was released in 2022, the generative AI frenzy has stoked simultaneous fear and hype, leaving the public even more unsure of what to believe.

According to Edelman's annual trust barometer report, Americans have become less trustworthy of tech year over year. A large majority of Americans want transparency and guardrails around the use of AI but not everyone has even used the tools. People under 40 and college-educated Americans are more aware and more likely to use generative AI, according to a June national poll from BlueLabs reported by Axios. Of course, optimism also falls along political lines: The BlueLabs poll found one in three Republicans believe AI is negatively impacting daily life, compared to one in five Democrats. An Ipsos poll from April came to similar conclusions.

Whether you trust it or not, there is not much of a debate as to whether AI has the potential to be a powerful tool. President Vladimir Putin told Russian students on their first day of school in 2017 that whoever leads the AI race would become the "ruler of the world." Elon Musk quote-tweeted a Verge article that included Putins quote, and added that "competition for AI superiority at national level most likely cause of WW3 imo." That was six years ago.

These discussions all drive one imperative question: Is AI good or bad?

It's an important question, but the answer is more complicated than "yes" or "no." There are ways generative AI is used that are promising, could increase efficiency, and could solve some of society's woes. But there are also ways generative AI can be used that are dark, even sinister, and have the potential to increase the wealth gap, destroy jobs, and spread misinformation.

Ultimately, whether AI is good or bad depends on how it's used and by whom.

The big positive for AI that Big Tech promises is efficiency. AI can automate repetitive tasks in fields like data entry and processing, customer service, inventory management, data analysis, social media management, financial analysis, language translation, content generation, personal assistants, virtual learning, email sorting and filtering, and supply chain optimization, making tedious tasks a bit easier for workers.

You can use AI to make a workout plan or help create a travel itinerary. Some professors use it to clean up their work. For instance, Gloria Washington, an Assistant Professor at Howard University and a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, uses ChatGPT as a tool to make her life easier where she can. She told Mashable that she uses ChatGPT for two main reasons: to find information quickly and to work differently as an educator.

"If I am writing an email and I want to appear as if I really know what I'm talking about I'll run it through ChatGPT to give me some quick little hints and tips on how to improve the way that I say the information in the email or the communication in general," Washington said. "Or if I'm giving a speech, [I'll ask ChatGPT for help with] something really quick that I can easily incorporate into my talking points."

As an educator, it's revolutionizing how she approaches giving homework assignments. She also encourages students to use ChatGPT to help with emails and coding languages. But it's still a relatively new technology, and you can tell. While 80 percent of teachers said they received "formal training about generative AI use policies and procedures," only 28 percent of teachers said "that they have received guidance about how to respond if they suspect a student has used generative AI in ways that are not allowed, such as plagiarism," according to research from the Center for Democracy & Technology.

"In our research last school year, we saw schools struggling to adopt policies surrounding the use of generative AI, and are heartened to see big gains since then," the President and CEO of the Center for Democracy & Technology, Alexandra Reeve Givens, said in a press release. "But the biggest risks of this technology being used in schools are going unaddressed, due to gaps in training and guidance to educators on the responsible use of generative AI and related detection tools. As a result, teachers remain distrustful of students, and more students are getting in trouble."

AI can improve efficiency and reduce human error in manufacturing, logistics, and customer service industries. It can accelerate scientific research by analyzing large datasets, simulating complex systems, and aiding in data-driven discoveries. It can be used to optimize resource consumption, monitor pollution, and develop sustainable solutions to environmental challenges. AI-powered tools can enhance personalized learning experiences and make education more accessible to a broader range of individuals. AI has the potential to revolutionize medical diagnoses, drug discovery, and personalized treatment plans.

The positives are undeniable, but that doesn't mean the negatives are worth ignoring, Camille Carlton, a senior policy manager at the Center for Humane Technology, told Mashable.

"I don't think that these potential future benefits should be driving our decisions to not pay attention and put up guardrails around these technologies today," she said. "Because the potential for these technologies to increase inequality, to increase polarization, to continue to [affect the deterioration of our] mental health, [and] increase systemic bias, are all very real and they're all happening right now."

You might consider anyone who fears negative aspects of generative AI to be a Luddite, and maybe they are but in a more literal sense than how the word is carried today. Luddites were a group of English workers in the early 1800s who destroyed automated textile manufacturing machines not because they feared the technology, but because there was nothing in place to ensure their jobs were safe from replacement by the tech. Beyond this, they weren't just economically precarious they were starving at the hands of the machines. Now, of course, the word is used to derogatorily describe a person who fears or avoids new technology simply because it is new technology.

In reality, there are loads of questionable use cases for generative AI. When we consider healthcare, for instance, there are too many variables to worry about before we can trust AI with our physical and mental well-being. AI can automate repetitive tasks like healthcare diagnostics by analyzing medical images via X-rays and MRIs to help diagnose diseases and identify abnormalities which can be good, but the majority of Americans are concerned about the increased use of AI in healthcare, according to a survey from Morning Consult. Their fear is reasonable: Training data in medicine is often incomplete, biased, or inaccurate, and the technology is only as good as the data it has, which can lead to incorrect diagnoses, treatment recommendations, or research conclusions. Moreover, medical training data is often not representative of diverse populations which could result in unequal access to accurate diagnoses and treatments particularly for patients of color.

Generative AI models don't understand medical nuance, can't provide any kind of solid bedside manner, lack accountability, and can be misinterpreted by medical professionals. And it becomes far more difficult to ensure patient privacy when data is being passed through AI, obtaining informed consent, and preventing the misuse of generated content become critical issues.

"The public views it as something that whatever it spits out is like God," Washington said. "And unfortunately it is not true." Washington points out that most generative AI models are created by collecting information from the internet and not everything on the internet is accurate or free from bias.

The automation potential of AI could also lead to unemployment and economic inequality. In March, Goldman Sachs predicted that AI could eventually replace 300 million full-time jobs globally, affecting nearly one-fifth of employment. AI eliminated nearly 4,000 jobs in May 2023 and more than one-third of business leaders say AI replaced workers lastyear, according to CNBC. This has led unions in creative industries, like SAG-AFTRA, to fight for more comprehensive protection against AI. OpenAI's new AI video generator Sora makes the threat of job replacement even more real for creative industries with its ability to generate photorealistic videos from a simple prompt.

"If we do get to a place where we can find a cure for cancer with AI, does that happen before inequality is so terrible that we have complete social unrest?" Carlton questioned. "Does it happen after polarization continues to increase? Does it happen after we see more democratic decline?"

We don't know. The fear with AI isn't necessarily that the sci-fi movie iRobot will become some kind of documentary, but more that the people who choose to use it might not have the best intentions or even know the repercussions of their own work.

"This idea that artificial intelligence is going to progress to a point where humans dont have any work to do or dont have any purpose has never resonated with me," Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, which launched ChatGPT, said last year. "There will be some people who choose not to work, and I think thats great. I think that should be a valid choice, and there are a lot of other ways to find meaning in life. But Ive never seen convincing evidence that what we do with better tools is to work less."

A few more questionable use cases for AI include the following: It can be used for invasive surveillance, data mining, and profiling, posing risks to individual privacy and civil liberties; if not carefully developed, AI systems can inherit biases from their training data, leading to discriminatory outcomes in areas such as hiring, lending, and criminal justice; AI can raise ethical questions, such as the potential for autonomous weapons, decision-making in critical situations, and the rights of AI entities; over-reliance on AI systems could lead to a loss of human control and decision-making, potentially impacting society's ability to understand and address complex issues.

And then there's the disinformation. Don't take my word for it Altman fears that, too.

"I'm particularly worried that these models could be used for large-scale disinformation," Altman said. "Now that they're getting better at writing computer code, [they] could be used for offensive cyberattacks." For instance, consider the AI voice-generated robocalls created to sound like President Joe Biden.

Generative AI is great at creating misinformation, University of Washington professor Kate Starbird told Axios. The MIT Technology Review even reported that humans are more likely to believe disinformation generated by AI than by other humans.

"Generative AI creates content that sounds reasonable and plausible, but has little regard for accuracy," Starbird said. "In other words, it functions as a [bullshit] generator." Indeed, some studies show AI-generated misinformation to be even more persuasive than false content created by humans.

"Instead of asking this question about net good or net badwhat is more beneficial for all of us to be asking is, good how?" Carlton said. "What are the costs of these systems to get us to the better place we're trying to get to? And good for who, who is going to experience this better place? How are the benefits going to be distributed to [those] left behind? When do these benefits show up? Do they show up after [the] harms have already happened a society with worse mental health, worse polarization? And does the direction that we're going in reflect our values? Are we creating the world that we want to live in?"

Governments have caught on to AI's risks and created regulations to mitigate harms. The European Parliament passed a sweeping "AI Act" to protect against high-risk AI applications, and the Biden Administration signed an executive order to address AI concerns in cybersecurity and biometrics.

Generative AI is part of our innate interest in growth and progress, moving ahead as fast as possible in a race to be bigger, better, and more technologically advanced than our neighbors. As Donella Meadows, the environmental scientist and educator who wrote The Limits to Growth and Thinking In Systems: A Primer asks, Why?

"Growth is one of the stupidest purposes ever invented by any culture; weve got to have an 'enough,'" Meadows said. "We should always ask 'growth of what, and why, and for whom, and who pays the cost, and how long can it last, and whats the cost to the planet, and how much is enough?'"

The entire point of generative AI is to recreate human intelligence. But who is deciding that standard? Usually, that answer is wealthy, white elites. And who decided that a lack of human intelligence is a problem at all? Perhaps we need more empathy something AI cant compute.

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Is AI good or bad? A deeper look at its potential and pitfalls - Mashable

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Inside Washingtons Role in Microsofts Big AI Deal With G42 – The New York Times

A relatively small deal by Microsofts standards, anyway is leading to big geopolitical ripples on Tuesday.

The tech giant is investing $1.5 billion in G42, an Emirati artificial intelligence company. On its face, that may appear to be just another effort by the tech giant to claim a foothold in a fast-growing A.I. company, as it has done with OpenAI and others.

But details of the transaction reflect a collaboration between the Biden administration and Microsoft to box Beijing out of tech influence in the Gulf, as the U.S. and China compete for A.I. superiority.

The terms of the deal: G42 will be able to sell Microsoft services that use powerful A.I. chips; in return, it will use Microsofts Azure cloud services for its A.I. offerings.

More important, G42 agreed to strip out equipment from Chinese companies like Huawei from its systems, eliminating what U.S. officials worry could be a potential backdoor for Chinese intelligence agencies.

Its meant to bring an influential A.I. company into Americas orbit. G42 is seen as an increasingly important player in the Gulf and beyond: Its chairman is Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, the Emirates top security official and a brother of the countrys ruler, and it has struck a number of high-profile business partnerships. Peng Xiao, the companys C.E.O., was previously associated with DarkMatter, an Emirati spyware company that had employed former spies.

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Adobe Previews Breakthrough AI Innovations to Advance Professional Video Workflows Within Adobe Premiere Pro – Adobe

SAN JOSE, Calif. Today, Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) previewed breakthrough generative AI innovations within Adobe Premiere Pro that will reimagine video creation and production workflows, delivering new creative possibilities that every pro editor needs to keep up with the high-speed pace of video production. New generative AI tools coming to Premiere Pro this year enable users to streamline editing all videos, including adding or removing objects in a scene or extending an existing clip. These new editing workflows will be powered by a new video model that will join the family of Firefly models including Image, Vector, Design and Text Effects. Adobe is continuing to develop Firefly AI models in the categories where it has deep domain expertise, such as imaging, video, audio, and 3D and will deeply integrate these models across Creative Cloud and Adobe Express.

Adobe also previewed its vision for bringing third-party generative AI models directly into Adobe applications like Premiere Pro. Creative Cloud has always had a rich partner and plugin ecosystem, and this evolution expands Premiere Pro as the most flexible, extensible professional video tool that fits any workflow. Adobe customers want choice and endless possibilities as they create and edit the next generation of entertainment and media.

Early explorations show how professional video editors could, in the future, leverage video generation models from OpenAI and Runway, integrated in Premiere Pro, to generate B-roll to edit into their project. It also shows how Pika Labs could be used with the Generative Extend tool to add a few seconds to the end of a shot.

By delivering new generative AI capabilities powered by Adobe Firefly and a variety of third-party models, Adobe is giving customers access to a range of new capabilities without having to leave the workflows they use every day in Premiere Pro.

Adobe is reimagining every step of video creation and production workflow to give creators new power and flexibility to realize their vision, said Ashley Still, senior vice president, Creative Product Group at Adobe. By bringing generative AI innovations deep into core Premiere Pro workflows, we are solving real pain points that video editors experience every day, while giving them more space to focus on their craft.

Adobe also announced upcoming general availability of AI-powered audio workflows in Premiere Pro, including new fade handles, clip badges, dynamic waveforms, AI-based category tagging and more.

The Future of Generative AI in Premiere Pro

Adobe showcased a technology preview of generative AI workflows coming to Premiere Pro later this year, powered by a new video model for Firefly. In addition, an early sneak shows how professional editors might leverage video generation models from Open AI and Runway in the future to generate B-roll, or how they might use Pika Labs with the Generative Extend tool to add a few seconds to the end of a shot.

While much of the early conversation about generative AI has focused on a competition among companies to produce the best AI model, Adobe sees a future in which thousands of specialized models emerge, each strong in their own niche. Adobes decades of experience with AI shows that AI-generated content is most useful when its a natural part of what you do every day. For most Adobe customers, generative AI is just a starting point and source of inspiration to explore creative directions.

Adobe aims to provide industry-standard tools and seamless workflows that let users use any materials from any sources across any platform to create at the speed of their imaginations. Whether that means Adobe Firefly or other specialized AI models, Adobe is working to make the integration process as seamless as possible from within Adobe applications.

Adobe has developed its own AI models with a commitment to responsible innovation and plans to apply what it's learned to ensure that the integration of third-party models within its applications is consistent with the companys safety standards. As one of the founders of the Content Authenticity Initiative, Adobe pledges to attach Content Credentials free, open-source technology that serves as a nutrition label for online content to assets produced within its applications so users can see how content was made and what AI models were used to generate the content created on Adobe platforms.

AI-Powered Audio Workflows Generally Available in Premiere Pro

In addition to Adobes new generative AI video tools, new audio workflows in Premiere Pro will be generally available to customers in May, giving editors everything they need to precisely control and improve the quality of their sound. The latest features include:

In addition, the AI-powered Enhance Speech tool which instantly removes unwanted noise and improves poorly recorded dialogue has been generally available since February.

About Adobe

Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. For more information, visit http://www.adobe.com.

2024 Adobe. All rights reserved. Adobe and the Adobe logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

PR Contact Frankie Tobin Adobe Ftobin@Adobe.com

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Renato Moicano Grabs The Attention Of Renowned Psychologist And Best-Selling Author Jordan Peterson At UFC 300 – LowKick MMA

Renato Moicano extended his streak to three in a row with a big win over Jalin Turner at UFC 300.

Moicano walked into his UFC 300 prelim bout as a moderate underdog, sitting at +200 against the heavily favored Turner. The oddsmakers were nearly proven right after Turner blasted Moicano with a nasty right hook that sent Money crashing to the canvas. But instead of going in for the kill, Turner turned his back and walked away, believing Moicano was done.

Instead, referee Herb Dean allowed the fight to continue. Less than a round later, Moicano was victorious after taking Turner to the canvas and lighting him up with some fierce ground and pound.

Taking the microphone following his finish, Renato Moicano offered fans a word of advice on how to save their country from a looming economic crisis.

I love private property, and let me tell you something, Moicano said to the live crowd. If you care about your f*cking country, read Ludwig Von Mises and the 6 lessons of the Austrian Economic School, motherf*ckers!

For those unfamiliar, Ludwig von Mises was a prominent economist and one of the major figures in the Austrian School of Economics. You can learn more about that here.

Bit-Coin Rapid Fire podcast host John Vallis shared a clip of Moicanos post-fight comment which then got the attention of Canadian psychologist and media commentator Jordan B. Peterson who remarked, This is unspeakably great.

What a world, Peterson added. The satirists are Christian; the left shills for Big Pharma; and the deadly boxers have become profound economic philosophers.

Getting wind of Petersons comments, Moicano showed his appreciation for the kind words from such a well-respected educator, writing:

I can not believe Jordan Peterson the man himself retweeted this!!! Thank you so much doctor Peterson, Moicano wrote. He followed that up with another post adding,What a fucking world.

Moicano has seen his popularity rise over the last year after delivering a series of viral post-fight speeches. Following his win over Brad Riddell, Moicano called for more money. When he decisioned Drew Dober, he expressed his love for the United States and voiced his desire to become an American citizen.

Oh, and he also vowed to get his wife pregnant upon his return home.

Whats next for the rising lightweight star?

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The Dow drops 45 points as AI and tech stocks fall – Quartz

Stocksstarted the dayhigherbut fell later, as investors grew more cautious as Wednesday went on. The biggest jolts came from the technology and AI sectors, as major stocks fell.

ChatGPT requires 15 times more energy than a traditional web search, says Arm exec

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 45 points, or about 0.1%, to end the day at 37,753. The S&P 500 fell 0.7% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 1.1%.

The crypto market also felt the turbulence as the big Bitcoin halving event approaches. Bitcoin dipped below $60,000, and Ether couldnt cross the $3,000 mark by the end of the day.

The biggest fall was seen in the tech sector, with chip stocks dropping after Dutch company ASML missed first-quarter earnings expectations. ASML stock closed down 7.1%. But the pain spread.

Amazon and Meta both lost 1.1%, and Tesla continued its long slide to close down about 1%.

AI chipmaker Nvidia fared worse, losing 3.9%. Micron Technology stock dropped 4.5%. Super Micro Computer, which soared Tuesday, fell back about 1.7% Wednesday.

Three energy stocks made the top performers list. Consolidated Edison, an energy delivery company, rose 3.3%. NextEra Energy, an electric power and energy infrastructure company, gained 3.4%. And First Solar, a solar technology company, added 2.9%.

United Airlines stock soared 17.5% after it blamed Boeing for a $200 million loss. But its earnings still beat expectations as the the airline reported strong demand and a rebound in business travel.

Other airline stocks moved up with United. American Airlines stock rose 6.6%, Delta Air Lines added 2.9%, and Southwest Airlines stock gained 2.6%.

The surge came a day after the Biden administration announced it would enforce consumer protection laws on airline travelers with the help of officials in 15 states.

Trump Media & Technology Group ended a weeks-long spell of losses Wednesday when its stock spiked.

Shares in Trump Media, the company behind former President Donald Trumps Truth Social, shot up as much as almost 22% in afternoon trading on Wednesday. Its shares traded at a high of $27.77, bringing its market cap back up to $3.8 billion and erasing some of the losses it accrued in recent weeks, before dropping off to close up 15.6%, at $26.40 per share.

Trump Media went public on the Nasdaq under the ticker DJT on March 26, after completing its merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. From its high trading price of $79.38 in its first week, its market cap has fallen more than $4 billion, with the stock price hitting an all-time low of $22.55 per share this week.

Bitcoin got jittery before the big halving event scheduled for Friday. The top cryptocurrency fell to $59,900 on Wednesday for the first time since early March, almost 17% below its all-time high.

Many of the other major cryptocurrencies also dropped Wednesday, including the second-largest, Ether, which has gone below $3,000, according to crypto tracking website CoinMarketCap.

Rocio Fabbro and Francisco Velasquez contributed to this article

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Microsoft invests in Arabic AI firm as U.S. tries to limit China’s sway – The Washington Post

Microsoft plans to invest $1.5 billion in an Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence company, a deal that could limit Chinas influence in the Gulf region amid rising technological competition with the United States.

In a blog post Tuesday, Brad Smith, Microsoft vice chair and president, said the deal with G42 will deepen international ties for artificial intelligence while ensuring the technology follows world-leading standards for safe, trusted and responsible AI.

Our two companies will work together not only in the UAE, but to bring AI and digital infrastructure and services to underserved nations, wrote Smith, who will join G42s board of directors.

Microsoft negotiated the deal with the governments of the United States and the United Arab Emirates for more than a year to ensure all parties were comfortable with the terms, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private talks. As part of its negotiations with the U.S. government, G42 has agreed to strip Chinese gear from its operations, following concerns about its use of Huawei equipment, the person said.

AI has emerged as a flash point amid increasing tensions between the United States and China. The deal announced Wednesday positions a key American tech giant to have influence over the burgeoning AI sector in the UAE, amid concerns that China seeks to invest more in the region.

The United States regularly works with other countries to expand opportunities for U.S. businesses while balancing national security concerns, Commerce Department spokesperson Brittany Caplin said Tuesday.

That includes collaborating with countries like the UAE, a global player in cutting-edge technology, and working toward verifiable commitments on how these technologies should be safely developed, protected and deployed, she said. When responsibly managed, investments like the one announced today have the potential to further innovation in digital technologies around the world.

Lawmakers from both parties said they were encouraged by the potential of the deal to promote U.S. technological leadership.

American innovation and American values should be leading the world, and deals like this are one of the ways we accomplish that, Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. At the same time, we have to make sure any agreement is structured in a way that protects the crown jewels of our intellectual property.

As G42 realized it needed the commercial backing of a larger tech giant, it began talks with Microsoft in late 2022, G42 told The Washington Post in an email.

Microsoft in recent years has thrust itself to the forefront of the AI revolution by partnering with smaller companies, including a multibillion investment in OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. Microsoft has recently been increasing its investments outside the United States, such as a major deal with the French company Mistral. The deals have allowed Microsoft to skirt traditional antitrust scrutiny, while asserting itself as a formidable tech leader on the global stage.

Peng Xiao, group chief executive at G42, said the deal will significantly enhance his companys global presence by allowing it to build on Microsofts cloud infrastructure.

G42 told The Post it began to phase out existing Chinese components and incorporate more of Microsofts technology in 2022. In 2023, G42 began discussions with the U.S. Commerce Department, following a more formal collaboration with Microsoft. In April 2023, they announced a joint plan to create artificial intelligence solutions using Microsofts Azure cloud system, and later agreed to introduce AI tools that meet the complicated security needs of government users. And in November, Microsoft made G42s Arabic AI language model, called Jais, available on its cloud.

G42 has been subject to congressional scrutiny over its close ties to China.

In a Jan. 4 letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, a congressional committee asked her agency to consider export controls on G42 and several related companies.

In the letter, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party states that Xiao is affiliated with an expansive network of companies that support the Chinese military and enable its human-rights abuses.

It also states that Xiao served in a leadership position with a subsidiary of the UAE-based company DarkMatter. DarkMatter develops spyware and surveillance tools that can be used to spy on dissidents, journalists, politicians, and U.S. companies, according to the letter.

In addition to hacking and spying on UAE dissidents, DarkMatter drove division in the U.S. government by hiring some Americans while hacking others. Three former U.S. intelligence operatives admitted illegal conduct in 2021, prompting legislation to limit where similar veterans could work.

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), the committee chairman, later said he was satisfied with G42s decision to sell its stake in Chinese companies.

The UAE is a critical and powerful ally, one that will only become more important for regional and global stability as AI advances, Gallagher said in February. Therefore, it is imperative the United States and the UAE further understand and mitigate any high-risk commercial and research relationships with [Peoples Republic of China] entities, he added.

Joseph Menn contributed to this report.

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Microsoft invests in Arabic AI firm as U.S. tries to limit China's sway - The Washington Post

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