3 injured after man with knife enters Montreal-area mosque
Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.
The Mona Lisa can now do more than smile, thanks to new artificial intelligence technology from Microsoft.
Last week, Microsoft researchers detailed a new AI model they’ve developed that can take a still image of a face and an audio clip of someone speaking and automatically create a realistic-looking video of that person speaking. The videos — which can be made from photorealistic faces, as well as cartoons or artwork — are complete with compelling lip-syncing and natural face and head movements.
In one demo video, researchers showed how they animated the Mona Lisa to recite a comedic rap by actor Anne Hathaway.
Outputs from the AI model, called VASA-1, are both entertaining and a bit jarring in their realness. Microsoft said the technology could be used for education or “improving accessibility for individuals with communication challenges,” or potentially to create virtual companions for humans. But it’s also easy to see how the tool could be abused and used to impersonate real people.
It’s a concern that goes beyond Microsoft: as more tools to create convincing AI-generated images, videos and audio emerge, experts worry that their misuse could lead to new forms of misinformation. Some also worry the technology could further disrupt creative industries from film to advertising.
For now, Microsoft said it doesn’t plan to release the VASA-1 model to the public immediately. The move is similar to how Microsoft partner OpenAI is handling concerns around its AI-generated video tool, Sora: OpenAI teased Sora in February, but has so far only made it available to some professional users and cybersecurity professors for testing purposes.
“We are opposed to any behaviour to create misleading or harmful contents of real persons,” Microsoft researchers said in a blog post. But, they added, the company has “no plans to release” the product publicly “until we are certain that the technology will be used responsibly and in accordance with proper regulations.”
Microsoft’s new AI model was trained on numerous videos of people’s faces while speaking, and it’s designed to recognize natural face and head movements, including “lip motion, (non-lip) expression, eye gaze and blinking, among others,” researchers said. The result is a more lifelike video when VASA-1 animates a still photo.
For example, in one demo video set to a clip of someone sounding agitated, apparently while playing video games, the face speaking has furrowed brows and pursed lips.
The AI tool can also be directed to produce a video where the subject is looking in a certain direction or expressing a specific emotion.
When looking closely, there are still signs that the videos are machine-generated, such as infrequent blinking and exaggerated eyebrow movements. But Microsoft said it believes its model “significantly outperforms” other, similar tools and “paves the way for real-time engagements with lifelike avatars that emulate human conversational behaviours.”
Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.
Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.
Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.
A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris on Thursday issued a warning to any potential home intruder: 'If somebody breaks in my house, they're getting shot.'
What Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, 49, the Italian-Hungarian CEO and owner of Hungary-based BAC Consulting, says she hasn't done is make the exploding pagers that killed 12 people and wounded more than 2,000 in Lebanon this week.
Advocates have identified the woman who died this week after being shot by police in Surrey, B.C., as a South American refugee who was raising a young daughter.
The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.
Provincial police investigating the death of a cat that was allegedly set on fire in Orillia earlier this week released surveillance video of a person of interest in the case.
Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.
An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.
They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.
A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.
It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.
A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.