Average hourly wage in Canada now $34.95: StatCan
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
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.”
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
A 4.2-magnitude earthquake was recorded west of Vancouver Island early Friday morning.
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.
Oprah Winfrey said on Thursday evening that she has long played a role in promoting unhealthy and unrealistic diets.
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Toronto police say a man who allegedly attempted to access Drake’s Bridle Path property was taken to hospital on Thursday after an altercation with security guards.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.