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February 17, 2024
Issue No. 91
CURATOR:
Welcome to this week's AtherXplorer, covering the latest in gaming, blockchain, and everything in between.
This week’s top picks include:
Artificial Intelligence
OpenAI Introduces Text-to-video AI Model ‘Sora’
OpenAI has introduced a new AI model called Sora that is capable of generating realistic photorealistic videos up to a minute in length based on text prompts. Sora can create complex scenes with multiple characters, specific types of motion, and accurate details about subjects and backgrounds. It understands how objects exist in the physical world and can accurately interpret props while generating characters that express emotions.
The model can take a still image and generate a video from it, or fill in missing frames and extend existing videos. Example videos Sora produced include an aerial view of California during the gold rush and footage shot from inside a Tokyo train. Some videos still showed imperfections like suspiciously moving floors, and OpenAI notes Sora may struggle with complex physics simulations. However, the results were generally impressive.
Text-to-video AI has advanced significantly in recent years as models from Runway, Pika, and Google's Lumiere can also turn text into videos or use images as a starting point. For now, Sora is only accessible to those assessing it for potential harms, along with some artists and filmmakers for feedback. OpenAI acknowledges limitations like inaccurate physics simulations and cause-and-effect interpretations. It will have to address mistakenly realistic fake videos, as with its text-to-image tool DALL-E which recently added watermarks that can be easily removed.
Slack Adds AI-fueled Search and Summarization Features
Slack has introduced new AI-powered search and summarization features to help users access the large amounts of institutional knowledge stored unstructured on the platform. As Noah Weiss, CPO of Slack, noted it is challenging to surface this hidden information with conventional search. The new features leverage generative AI capabilities first announced in May to extract new meaning and insights.
The summarization allows users to ask Slack to summarize topics discussed in a channel. It generates a summary along with references to show how it was created, designed to build trust through transparency by allowing users to drill into the context. Natural question asking also lets users query Slack's content archives for answers, again with sourcing to verify. Users can provide feedback on answer quality to help the model learn.
Weiss explained drilling into any area shows detailed context and they focused on prompt engineering and fine-tuning models for Slack's specific data. A quality check on answers includes options to say if the response was good, bad or neutral. The features are available to enterprise customers in the U.S. and U.K. in English initially but will support more languages soon, at an additional cost over standard licenses.
ChatGPT ‘Memory’ Feature Unveiled
OpenAI has introduced a major upgrade to ChatGPT with the addition of persistent memory. The new feature allows ChatGPT to recall information provided by users across multiple chat sessions, rather than just within a single conversation. Previously, ChatGPT had no memory between sessions. Now selected free users and paid ChatGPT Plus subscribers can take advantage of this memory feature.
Users can explicitly ask ChatGPT to remember specific details, or it will build memory over time through natural conversation. Remembered information is stored to individual accounts to enhance future chats. This helps ChatGPT save users from repeating preferences around formatting, programming languages, or data visualization. OpenAI notes memories may be used for model training. However, temporary chats without history or memory can also be opted for.
The memory capability is being rolled out gradually and can be turned off in settings or by deleting specific memories. OpenAI is focusing on assessing biases to avoid proactively remembering sensitive data. Broader rollout for Enterprise and Teams subscribers is coming soon, where memories will not be used for training. Businesses building GPTs will also have the option to embed memory to personalize customer experiences based on interactions. However, each GPT’s memory will be unique to its own conversations.
In Other AI News…
Gaming
Disney Invests $1.5B in Epic Games, Huge Fortnite Partnership
Epic Games and Disney have announced a new partnership to jointly create an expansive games and entertainment universe connected to Fortnite. Disney is investing $1.5 billion to acquire an equity stake in Epic Games. The multi-year project aims to integrate Disney properties like Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar and Avatar into the universe, allowing players to create their own stories, share content, and express fandom.
Disney CEO Bob Iger said this represents Disney's biggest entry into games and offers significant growth opportunities. Fortnite has previously featured collaborations with Disney properties. Epic's Unreal Engine is also used across Disney films, parks and games.
Tim Sweeney from Epic Games said Disney was one of the first to see potential in combining their worlds with Fortnite. The companies will now collaborate on an interoperable ecosystem bringing together Fortnite and Disney communities.
This announcement comes months after Epic Games laid off employees and launched new Fortnite game modes. Epic owns other developers like Psyonix, Mediatonic and Harmonix. Sweeney currently owns most of Epic Games, with other investors including Tencent, Sony and Kirkbi A/S. Disney's $1.5 billion investment is pending regulatory approval to acquire a stake in Epic Games. The partnership aims to create immersive experiences for fans across the Disney and gaming franchises.
Helldivers 2’s Successful Launch, Sells Over 1 Million Copies
Arrowhead Games' new cooperative shooter Helldivers 2 has seen incredible success in its first days on sale, with around 1 million copies sold between PC and PlayStation 5. CEO and creative director Johan Pilestedt shared that sales were already blowing past the studio's internal expectations.
On Steam alone, Helldivers 2 peaked at over 155,926 concurrent players, making it one of the top-selling titles on the platform. While its unclear how the 1 million total sales split between PC and PS5, the game reached 360,000 concurrent players across both at its peak weekend playercount.
However, the game's sudden and immense popularity caused server issues for Arrowhead. The studio had to rapidly deploy fixes over the weekend to address problems with reward drops, player logins, and server capacity. Pilestedt admitted the influx of players threatened to completely fail their systems.
They worked quickly to prevent crashes and apologize to players affected by the connection problems, but noted it's impossible to fully prepare servers for the load brought on when an online game explodes in players numbers so quickly. Still, the sales success has clearly surpassed Arrowhead's projections for Helldivers 2 in its first few days available.
Take-Two Argues that Virtual Currencies are “Fictitions” in Lawsuit Dismissal Attempt
Take-Two has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit related to non-refundable or non-transferable virtual currencies when game servers shut down. In the filing, the company argues that virtual currency does not belong to players as claimed by the plaintiff. Take-Two's lawyer stated in-game currencies are "fictions" created by publishers according to their terms of service, not owned as property.
The motion adds the plaintiff did not identify any contract or law showing they owned the virtual currency sold by Take-Two. It also pointed to license agreements giving Take-Two rights to "manage, regulate, control, modify, suspend, and/or eliminate" currency as it sees fit, unless prohibited by law, with all purchases being final and non-refundable or transferable.
A hearing on the motion to dismiss is scheduled for March 14th. The original lawsuit filed in November accused 2K Games and Take-Two of theft and unlawful practices in NBA 2K, WWE 2K, and PGA Tour 2K, seeking refunds or transfers of remaining currency when games shut down. The plaintiff, a minor, wants relief for currency removed from their 2K account in November 2019.
Take-Two's latest financial report showed $1.44 billion in net bookings for the quarter, with 75% from recurrent spending including virtual currency and purchases.
In Other Gaming News…
Web3, Metaverse, and NFTs
DN-404 Proposed Amidst Excitement of ERC-404 Standard
ERC404 is a new experimental token standard that aims to combine the fungibility of ERC20 tokens with the uniqueness of ERC721 NFTs. The first project to launch using this standard was PANDORA, which created a token and NFT collection at a preset ratio.
In an ERC404 contract, the NFTs and tokens are linked - if a user sells their token, the associated NFT is burned and a new one is minted for the recipient. This allows partial transfers of ownership. ERC404 contracts also enable liquidity pools like ERC20s, reducing trading friction for NFTs which typically face liquidity issues.
Shortly after ERC404's launch, another standard called Divisible NFT (DN404) was proposed as an improvement. It uses two contracts - a base ERC20 token and a mirrored ERC721. Most trading occurs through fractional units of the ERC20, automatically burning and minting the NFT. This aims to allow portions of NFTs to traded on different platforms.
However, DN404's developer warned the code was not audited. Additionally, last week one developer claimed a possible vulnerability in ERC404 that could see tokens stolen if lent to protocols using it incorrectly. The ERC404 creator argued an improper implementation caused the issue and the standard was being updated for better integration.
Starknet Announces Airdrop Details, Gets Backlash Over Two Month Cliff Period
Starknet announced details of its upcoming STRK token airdrop, set for February 20th. Nearly 1.3 million wallets will be eligible to receive tokens, including Starknet users, dapp developers, and even Ethereum stakers with no prior exposure to Starknet. Over 700 million STRK will be distributed in the first phase, with a total of 1.8 billion to be airdropped. Allocations vary depending on level of contribution or activity.
However, some criticism emerged regarding the speed at which tokens allocated to investors and early contributors will unlock. On April 15th, just under two months after the airdrop, over 1.3 billion STRK tokens worth an estimated $2.15 billion will be transferable. Typically token locks for insiders are much longer.
In response, Starkware CEO Eli Ben-Sasson defended the shorter lock period. He argued concerns were about long-term commitment, which Starkware had proven through 150 employees and its CEO's career change. Prolonging the lock also may not prevent dumping concerns later. Ben-Sasson emphasized Starkware's sole focus is advancing Starknet and that early contributors deserve reward for their work. While unusual, he had full confidence in their long-term support of the network.
Wormhole Unveils $W Tokenomics and Airdrop, Surpasses 1B Cross-chain Messages
Cross-chain messaging protocol Wormhole has surpassed 1 billion messages sent since launching in September 2021. It currently processes around 110,640 daily messages, transferring $30 million in funds, oracle feeds, and NFTs across 30 blockchains. The total value locked has reached $39.6 billion, though it peaked at $3.8 billion in May 2022 before the crypto winter.
A sizable portion of transactions are between Polygon and Celo, as well as between Solana and Polygon. Decentralized exchanges and applications like Uniswap, Pyth Network, Circle, Lido, and Synthetix are among the largest users. Pyth Network, which accounts for 48% of oracle-based trading volume, relies heavily on Wormhole.
In January, Wormhole hit $1 billion TVL, with Ether, Fantom, and Solana as the top assets at $675 million, $174 million, and $96 million, respectively. On February 7th, Wormhole published a tokenomics paper, pledging a 17% airdrop of its 10 billion tokens to the community with no set date. It explained governance tokens will allow token holders to guide the protocol.
In November 2023, Wormhole announced a $225 million fundraise at a $2.5 billion valuation led by investors like Brevan Howard, Coinbase Ventures, Multicoin Capital, Jump Trading, ParaFi, Dialectic, Borderless Capital and Arrington Capital.
In Other Web3 & Metaverse News…
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