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Brian Contreras

Brian Contreras

Reporter & Staff Writer at Los Angeles Times

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Email address
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Influence score
60
Phone
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Location
United States
Languages
  • English
Covering topics
  • E-Commerce
  • Society
  • Technology

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Recent Articles

latimes.com

Actors can start selling AI voice clones to game companies under ... - Los Angeles Times

Recording new voice-overs without speaking a word: For a busy voice actor, it might sound like a dream — unless that actor is worried about artificial intelligence being used to devalue her work and make hiring her unnecessary. But under a new deal with an artificial intelligence company, members of the Screen Actors Guild will be able to create and license digital simulations of their voices for video games and other projects while enjoying safeguards against their potential misuse, the Hollywo…
almost 2 years ago
latimes.com

Artificial intelligence in 2024: experts give four predictions - Lo...

If 2023 was the year that AI finally broke into the mainstream, 2024 could be the year it gets fully enmeshed in our lives — or the year the bubble bursts. But whatever happens, the stage is set for another whirlwind 12 months, coming in the wake of Hollywood’s labor backlash against automation; the rise of consumer chatbots, including OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Elon Musk’s Grok; a half-baked coup against Sam Altman; early inklings of a regulatory crackdown; and, of course, that viral deepfake of Pope F…
almost 2 years ago
latimes.com

Farewells from Gaza: With their lives at risk, Palestinians are pos...

The people of Gaza have lived for more than two months under the constant specter of death. Shaken by falling bombs, surrounded by advancing troops and grieving the loss of loved ones, they have communicated with the rest of the world mainly through social media — as long as the internet is working. Their messages have been sporadic amid Israel’s ongoing airstrikes and invasion in response to Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israeli civilians. According to their respective governments, about 1,200…
about 2 years ago
latimes.com

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok sounds off on its creator - Los Angeles...

Fickle bosses can be tough. Doubly so when they’re also the richest person on the planet. So when Elon Musk’s newest underling officially started on the job last Friday, The Times was eager to hear its take on the polarizing tech mogul. Enter: Grok. An artificial intelligence chatbot that Musk recently launched on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, for all U.S.-based Premium Plus subscribers, Grok uses X posts and reams of other data to answer user questions. The program isn’t actually i…
about 2 years ago
latimes.com

Sam Altman tells Trevor Noah what he really thinks about his ouster...

When Sam Altman was abruptly fired last month as CEO of artificial intelligence powerhouse OpenAI, the rupture left him with a lot of thinking to do. But looking back on the experience, Altman told comedian Trevor Noah in a video podcast released Thursday morning, there may have been some upside. “The empathy I gained out of this whole experience, and my recompilation of values, for sure was a blessing in disguise,” Altman told the former “Daily Show” host in one of his first major interviews si…
about 2 years ago
latimes.com

Why metal band Avenged Sevenfold is playing VR concerts - Los Angel...

In a nondescript Culver City warehouse, members of the metal band Avenged Sevenfold wear protective booties over their shoes to avoid scuffing the floor-to-ceiling green screen. The surroundings couldn’t be more different from their usual fire-and-brimstone aesthetics. That will soon change, of course, with the green screen swapped out for a series of fantastical concert venues, leaving the platinum-selling quintet to perform beneath lightning strikes, floating monoliths and the massive winged s…
about 2 years ago
latimes.com

With OpenAI in chaos, tech recruiters are targeting talent - Los An...

For OpenAI, which has become the face of the booming AI industry thanks to popular consumer products such as ChatGPT and DALL-E, the last few days have been a crisis with no clear end in sight. But for competitors in the frothy AI sector, it’s an opportunity. More than 700 employees at the artificial intelligence powerhouse OpenAI threatened on Monday to leave the software developer unless its board members — who late last week abruptly fired Chief Executive Sam Altman — resign and reinstate the…
about 2 years ago
latimes.com

Sam Altman is back at OpenAI. What just happened? - Los Angeles Times

Nearly as quickly as he left, Sam Altman is back. Following his abrupt and still largely unexplained firing from the influential artificial intelligence developer OpenAI on Friday, the 38-year-old technology entrepreneur will now return to the firm behind ChatGPT and other popular AI programs. The once and future chief executive will answer to a different board of directors than the one that fired him late last week, the company wrote on X, formerly Twitter, adding: “We are collaborating to figu…
about 2 years ago
latimes.com

While Hollywood grapples with AI, these filmmakers are embracing it...

Blazers brushed up against streetwear. Miniature cameras dangled from a woman’s earrings. One man’s hoodie read: “Rendered With Love.” Envoys from two parallel planets, software and showbiz, mingled in the Cary Grant Theatre on Thursday evening as they waited for the show to begin. Some recalled tales from the Cannes Film Festival; others debated the merits of different artificial intelligence platforms and pontificated on the future of “wearable AI.” They’d all gathered, several hundred of them…
about 2 years ago
latimes.com

AI is causing panic for authors. Now the courts are involved - Los ...

When novelist Douglas Preston first started messing around with ChatGPT, he gave the AI software a challenge: Could it write an original poem based on a character from some of his books? “It came out with this terrific poem written in iambic pentameter,” Preston recalled. The result was impressive — and concerning. “What really surprised me was how much it knew about this character; way more than it possibly could have gleaned from the internet,” Preston said. The adventure writer suspected that…
about 2 years ago
latimes.com

Senators draft policy aimed at deep fakes of Drake, Tom Hanks and ....

Late last month, Tom Hanks warned fans that a video in which he appeared to shill for dental care was in fact an AI-generated fake. And back in April, a song featuring artificially intelligent mimicry of Drake and the Weeknd went viral. Both cases illustrate the growing threat that machine-generated voice and video clones pose to brand-conscious entertainers. Now, they’re also being cited by a bipartisan group of senators pitching a draft policy that would seek to rein in so-called deep fakes. T…
about 2 years ago
latimes.com

AMC theaters CEO says he was the target of an elaborate blackmail ....

AMC Theatres Chief Executive Adam Aron, who runs the world’s largest movie theater chain, was targeted by a “elaborate” blackmail scheme, the businessman said Thursday on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “Last year I became the victim of an elaborate criminal extortion by a third party who was unknown to me related to false allegations about my personal life,” Aron wrote in a lengthy post on X. “Rather than give in to blackmail, I personally engaged counsel and other professi…
about 2 years ago
latimes.com

Can you tell which script was written by AI? - Los Angeles Times

Under the terms of the WGA’s new contract, AI is here to stay — with limits.
about 2 years ago
latimes.com

Tom Hanks disavows AI clone amid Hollywood's robot reckoning - Los ...

In the midst of an actors’ strike motivated in part by concerns about what AI means for the industry’s future, Tom Hanks just gave performers one more thing to worry about. “Beware!” the “Forrest Gump” and “Saving Private Ryan” star wrote in an Instagram post this Sunday. “There’s a video out there promoting some dental plan with an AI version of me. I have nothing to do with it.” Hanks, one of the most recognizable faces in the entertainment industry, included in his Instagram post what appeare…
about 2 years ago
latimes.com

WGA has an AI deal. Actors could have a harder time - Los Angeles T...

After nearly five months on strike, the Writers Guild of America has finally reached a tentative deal with Hollywood’s major studios. Among the key points? Limits on the use of artificial intelligence. The nascent technology proved a sticking point between the two sides. In fact, AI was the last topic on which they came to an agreement, according to people familiar with the matter who weren’t authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity. Now, the proposed contract aims to establish gua…
about 2 years ago
latimes.com

Amazon's Prime Video to incorporate commercials next year. Ad ... -...

Amazon will be adding advertisements to shows and movies streamed on its Prime Video platform early next year, the tech and e-commerce giant said Friday morning. Amazon said Prime Video will have “meaningfully fewer ads than” traditional TV channels and other streaming services. U.S. subscribers will be able to opt out of commercials for an additional charge of $2.99 a month, with pricing for other countries to come later. The ads will launch in early 2024 in the U.S., the United Kingdom, German…
over 2 years ago
latimes.com

La inteligencia artificial está aquí y está haciendo películas. ¿Es...

El director Scott Mann tenía un problema: demasiadas palabrotas en su película de suspense. Podría la inteligencia artificial ayudarle a conseguir una calificación PG-13?
about 3 years ago
latimes.com

‘I need my girlfriend off TikTok’: How hackers game abuse-reporting...

Influencers can find fame and fortune on TikTok — but only if their videos stay up. Communities of online trolls and coders say they have tools to keep that from happening.
about 4 years ago
latimes.com

Facebook, Netflix protests show tech workers aren’t afraid to take ...

Silicon Valley long had a keep-it-in-the-family ethos. But recent episodes at Facebook and Netflix suggest employees seeking change from the inside face daunting obstacles — unless they’re willing to go public.
about 4 years ago
latimes.com

Why captions are everywhere on TikTok: ‘Glasses for your ears’

The written word is making a comeback in an unlikely place: TikTok. The reasons for that include accessibility concerns and changes in the way Americans consume media.
over 4 years ago
latimes.com

Some Black creators are done with TikTok. These are their alternatives

From Fanbase and the Cookout to Instagram and YouTube, these are the platforms that Black TikTok users are turning to when they leave.
over 4 years ago