The Relevance of AI Technology

By: Ashley N. Rosa

November 1, 2021

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is pertinent in our lives. AI went from being in Sci-Fi movies to becoming a reality. AI learns your interests and behaviors to make personalized suggestions and save you time sifting through thousands of product results to discover exactly what you want.

The way Instagram suggests ‘similar accounts to follow’ or the way shopping apps recommend different brands based on your previous searches are ways AI is used in our lives as students. Every day there are new tech companies coming out with innovative software that can further enhance our consumer experience.

AI Relevance

A few ways AI has made a presence in our lives include:

• Using face ID as your passcode

• Online shopping experience- giving us options related to our previous searches

• Curating our social media feeds/recommendations

• Chatbots on every website to help answer our questions

• As a student, if you use Grammarly or its competitors

• Siri/Alexa are voice assistants that can quickly answer your questions

• Netflix and any other streaming services are all powered by AI

• For businesses, it is vital for tracking website attractions, inventory

• Tracking customer engagement on a business website and business process automation.

D-ID Bringing Photographs to Life

D-ID is a company based in Tel-Aviv, Israel who has brought the use of artificial intelligence to new heights. To shield photographs and videos from face recognition, they were the first to develop facial image de-identification software. Their Creative Reality™ technology has allowed them to “animate still photos, to facilitate high-quality video productions, and create viral user experiences” (D-ID).

There are infinite examples to demonstrate how relevant AI is in our day-to-day encounters. An example is how D-ID brings photographs to life. By providing them with a portrait photograph they can use their developed AI system to make the still photograph come to life. The photograph will now be able to make head movements, eye movements, etc. It gives a sense of realism.

The use of animated still photos were used to bring still portraits of Vietnamese families to life during the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. Still photos are pictures with a majority of inanimate objects. These animated photographs were able to bring a sense of familiarity to the festival despite the COVID pandemic. The customers were able to create a personalized still photo animated card that would be shared virtually. It brought everyone together and made consumers feel closer to their loved ones despite the distance. This signals the positive attributes of AI in digital media. This technology can completely change the way we celebrate our loved ones.

The animated images can portray facial expressions. emotions, voice, by using artificial intelligence. By using their reenactment technology, D-ID is able to adapt videos into still photographs.

This innovation can open many doors to future projects we have yet to think of. AI’s impact on digital media has allowed us to reach new heights and change the way we interact with the world.

If you want to learn more about how this process works watch this video demonstration or check out D-ID website.

College Students and Universities Interaction with AI

One way to further explain how AI works is to think of popular applications students use, such as Snapchat and Instagram.

Snapchat uses AI in many ways but the one we would recognize most is its use of creative filters. The AI technology reads our faces and applies the filter accordingly. The features range from adding extra lashes and makeup to your face to enhancing your skin color to look tanner or paler. Instagram uses the same technology when it comes to its filter games. Such games are ‘What celebrity do you look like?’ which encompasses you standing in front of the camera and Instagram’s AI technology reading your facial features to best match one of a celebrity in their database.

There are many more examples of how useful and essential AI technology is becoming. The University of Tampa has implemented temperature readings stations. You will find a contactless face temperature screening kiosk in most buildings. This is powered by AI technology. This kiosk helps read your temperature levels by scanning your face and using various receptors to determine your temperature. This helps the university, as well as the students, know if they have a fever. This is an important safety measure when it comes to COVID.

For students, AI technology has been beneficial by providing entertainment through the use of Snapchat and Instagram but has also provided safety measures.

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