How Discord and Xbox Are Working To Keep Up with AIβs Rapid Advancement
Andria is the Social and Engagement Editor for dot.LA. She previously covered internet trends and pop culture for BuzzFeed, and has written for Insider, The Washington Post and the Motion Picture Association. She obtained her bachelor's in journalism from Auburn University and an M.S. in digital audience strategy from Arizona State University. In her free time, Andria can be found roaming LA's incredible food scene or lounging at the beach.
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When I woke up this morning, I didnβt expect to end up on the set of the Peabody award winning show, βThe Good Placeβ with its countless picnic tables stretching across cobblestone streets set against the backdrop of pastel-colored building props.
On Tuesday, Microsoftβs M12 Venture fund, corporate VC firm Comcast Ventures, and The Mini Fund, a micro VC firm, hosted a panel discussion on the intersection of AI, gaming and entertainment at the Universal Studios backlot.
The panel featured Haiyan Zhang, General Manager of Gaming AI at Xbox, Michael Stewart, Partner at M12 and Stan Vishnevskiy, CTO & Co-Founder of Discord.
One of the hot topic questions that kept resurfacing: how do we regulate AI use? And perhaps more importantly, how do we balance regulating AI without sacrificing the freedom to create?
Stewart believes part of the solution is to create βclean datasets,β where the content produced by the AI model is in line with what the creator intended it to be. βEven if you labeled or watermarked AI output from a model, how do you control people's use of that within the boundaries of the owners of the data set that went into it?β Stewart posed to the crowd.
He argued that, at the end of the day, it's not just about βintercepting illegitimate content or harmful contentβ but that you have to fix the problem of ownership and licensing around AI content before you βcan turn generative AI into a useful machine for commerce.β
Adding that, βthere are still open questions on do you own what you're generating? So you've got to solve that before you turn generative AI into a useful machine for commerce.β
Amidst concerns around deepfakes and AIβs role in the spread of misinformation, all three panelists explained how its rapid expansion has forced them to evaluate the best ways to implement AI into their products.
βAs ChatGPT and these things sprung up, we took a step back and said, βWhat would it mean for us to do it [AI integration] on Discord?ββ said Vishnevskiy. βAnd for us thatβs a multiplayer experience where you can spend time with others.β
Vishnevskiy pointed to Midjourney as one example of AIβs rapid expansion in a public space. βThe coolest part about generative AI is it kind of democratizes it,β Vishnevskiy said. βYou donβt have to be an ML engineer to play with it. And so when we started we were like, βWow, this is people doing stuff together...so we worked closely with [Midjourney] to see could we give them even higher reach than our cap, so at that point you could have more than a million people on a Discord server.β
Zhang said Xboxβs βwhole thesisβ is helping users create engaging, meaningful experiences and in an AI-driven world, part of that includes implementing AI tools that can help creators. The gaming manager is particularly enthused about the application of AI in helping enhance the experience of players with disabilities.
βYou see AI coming in to level the playing field,β Zhang said. βHow can we have adaptive games that adapt to your capability?β
That said, Zhang said the verdict is still out on how AI is going to shape the future of humanity.
βLife has really changed,β she said. βIs the AI stuff just gonna be hereβ¦or is it going to fundamentally change what we do for work, what we do for play, how we realize our ultimate achievement, how we realize our creativity?β
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Andria is the Social and Engagement Editor for dot.LA. She previously covered internet trends and pop culture for BuzzFeed, and has written for Insider, The Washington Post and the Motion Picture Association. She obtained her bachelor's in journalism from Auburn University and an M.S. in digital audience strategy from Arizona State University. In her free time, Andria can be found roaming LA's incredible food scene or lounging at the beach.