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Missing 3-year-old boy found dead in creek in Mississauga, Ont.: police
A three-year-old boy has been found dead a day after he went missing in a park in Mississauga, Ont., Peel police say.
While much of internet is still buzzing about the wonders of ChatGPT, a Toronto-based technology and visual effects company is making its own splash in Hollywood using artificial intelligence.
The goal is to help content creators produce effects, such as making an actor look younger, 300 times faster than it currently takes.
“We’re on the bleeding edge of technology and I think it’s only getting started,” says Jonathan Bronfman, co-founder of MARZ, which is short for Monsters, Aliens, Robots and Zombies.
The company started in a Queen Street basement four years ago and has grown to employ more than 270 workers.
They primarily make visual effects (VFX) for movies and TV series on streaming platforms, and the AI software they have developed has been used for scenes in hit shows including Netflix’s "Stranger Things" and the film "Spider-Man: No Way Home."
“The software is now so simple to use, and it's so fast and automated, that we don't see it being restricted to Hollywood,” says MARZ COO Matt Panousis.
Images from MARZ show the impact of AI effects. The image on the left is before the effects have been added.
By making some simple adjustments to a still image of an actor’s face, the AI can age or de-age that face with convincing results.
It can also fix a wig or prosthetic that is out of place without an artist having to correct each individual frame.
Panousis says such changes to a scene can take a traditional visual effects artist up to five days to complete. But the system developed by MARZ, called Vanity AI, is designed to allow them to do it in minutes and cost much less.
“We think people are going to be thrilled with the results,” says Bronfman.
Effects are applied using AI technology.
There’s been a surge in demand for visual effects as the streaming wars continue to heat up and the number of productions expands.
“I read an industry report the other day that stated that there’s probably three times as much VFX needed in the world than there are artists to solve that problem,” says Panousis.
Disney has already turned to artificial intelligence to help create a decades-younger looking Harrison Ford in the upcoming Indiana Jones sequel "Dial of Destiny."
The movie trailer has generated plenty of excitement because of how real it looks.
Panousis sees a future where independent films can include visual effects that they never could previously, thanks to the speed and affordability of the technology. He notes when it comes to AI its capacity to produce effects is nearly limitless.
“It’s just a means to telling better stories,” says Panousis. “That’s what we’re really excited about.”
A three-year-old boy has been found dead a day after he went missing in a park in Mississauga, Ont., Peel police say.
Against the rainy Paris night sky, Celine Dion staged the comeback of her career with a powerful performance from the Eiffel Tower to open the Olympic Games.
Premier Danielle Smith said Friday afternoon in Hinton while weather conditions are cooler, the Jasper fire is still considered out of control and that Jasper residents can expect to be away from their homes 'for several weeks.'
An Irish museum will withdraw a waxwork of singer-songwriter Sinéad O'Connor just one day after installing it, following a backlash from her family and the public, it told CNN in a statement on Friday.
A Winnipeg senior is getting soaked with a six-figure water bill.
Nearly two weeks after Donald Trump's near assassination, the FBI confirmed Friday that it was indeed a bullet that struck the former president's ear, moving to clear up conflicting accounts about what caused the former president's injuries after a gunman opened fire at a Pennsylvania rally.
Orillia OPP arrested and charged a driver with impaired driving after flashing their high beams.
A powerful Mexican drug cartel leader who eluded authorities for decades was duped into flying into the U.S., where he was arrested alongside a son of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, according to a U.S. law enforcement official familiar with the matter.
The lawyer for a former judge whose claims to be Cree were questioned in a CBC investigation says his client is not considering legal action against the broadcaster after the Law Society of British Columbia this week backed her claims of Indigenous heritage.
As fire threatened people in Jasper National Park, Colleen Knull sprung into action.
Video posted to social media on Thursday morning appears to show the charred remains of a Jasper, Alta., neighbourhood.
A Saskatchewan-born veteran of the Second World War was recently presented with France's highest national order.
A local First Nations elder and veteran is helping to bring the Ojibwe language to a well-known film for the first time.
A cat who fled her Montreal home nearly a decade ago has been reunited with her family after being found in Ottawa.
A woman in Waterloo, Ont. is out thousands of dollars for a car crash she wasn’t involved in.
A swarm of bees living in a lamppost in Winnipeg’s Sage Creek neighbourhood has found a new home for its hive.
Around 100 acres of Manitoba Crown Land near the Saskatchewan border is being returned to the Métis community.
Nova Scotia is suspending the licensed Cape Breton moose hunt for three years due to what the province is calling a “significant drop” in the population.