Serena Williams officially retired on Friday after a loss in the third round of the US Open to 29-year-old Ajla Tomljanovic. Serena won her first Grand Slam Title 23 years ago in the same stadium.
Serena started playing professional tennis in 1995 as a 14-year-old. Twenty-seven years later, she walks away from the game with 858 tour victories, an 85% win rate, 73 singles titles, an Olympic gold medal, and 319 weeks at No. 1. With her sister, Venus, they won 14 major doubles titles and three Olympic gold medals.
Recently, I shared this graph that helps put the Williams sisters' dominance into perspective.
via Yahoo!Sports
Serena is undoubtedly one of the most dominant athletes - man or woman - in any sport.
To be great requires an extraordinary level of grit, determination, and pain tolerance over an extended period of time. It isn't just what you choose to do from moment to moment – it's about a persistent commitment to who you choose to be!
During Serena's final match, an ESPN commentator said something interesting about what makes her (and many famous athletes) great. For context, Serena was down 5-1 in the final set of the final match, with her opponent having won two sets already. It's 'game point'. To get here, Ajla will win a point, then Serena - it goes back and forth like that more than seven times. Yet, Serena keeps finding a way to keep herself in the match despite everything going against her.
While this is going on, the commentator exclaims, "How can she care so much? How can she keep dancing on the lip of the volcano?"
Imagine being in Serena's position. She's 40, she's announced her retirement, the match has been going on for almost 3 hours, and her chances of coming back are almost nil ... she has nothing left to prove ... but she keeps finding more in the tank. She keeps putting herself in a position to turn it around. After the match, her opponent makes clear that she never once thought that Serena was out of it - that she couldn't turn it around and clinch victory.
It was beautiful - and it was a testament to the passion and discipline it takes to be that elite for that long.
There's a difference between good and great - but there's also a difference between great and the greatest.
The Surreal World of Deepfakes And Deep AI
Deep Learning excels in analyzing pictures & videos and creating facsimiles or combining styles. People are using generative AI tools like ChatGPT or Midjourney increasingly frequently. And there is an explosion of simple tools (like the Deep Dream Generator or DeepAI) that use Convolutional Neural Networks to combine your photo with an art style (if you want to do it on your phone, check out Prisma). Here are some example photos.
via SubSubRoutine
The same foundation that allows us to create these cool art amalgamations also can create deepfakes. A Deepfake is precisely what it sounds like ... they use "Deep Learning" to "Fake" a recording. For example, a machine learning technique called a Generative Adversarial Network can be used to superimpose images onto a source video. That is how they made this fun (and disturbing) Deepfake of Jennifer Lawrence and Steve Buscemi.
Another interesting technology can create AI-powered replicas of someone that don't just look and sound like them – they can respond like them too. Examples of this are seen in tools like Replica Studios or Replika. One of the artistic uses people have been exploring recently is getting unlikely characters to sing famous songs. These chatbots have also been used by lonely men and women to create virtual paramours.
The three basic uses of deep learning (described above) are being combined to create a lot of real mainstream applications ... and the potential to create convincing fakes.
Deepfakes can be fun and funny ... but they also create real concerns. They're frequently used for more "nefarious" purposes (e.g., to create fake celebrity or revenge porn and to make important figures say things they never said). You've likely seen videos of Trump or Biden created with this technology. But it is easy to imagine someone faking evidence used at trial, trying to influence business transactions, or using this to support or slander causes in the media.
As fakes get better and easier to produce, they will likely be used more often.
On a more functional note, you can use these technologies to create convincing replicas of yourself. You could use that replica to record videos, send voicemails, or participate in virtual meetings for you. While I don't encourage you to use it without telling people you are, even just using the technology puts you a step ahead.
Posted at 10:03 PM in Business, Current Affairs, Film, Gadgets, Games, Ideas, Just for Fun, Market Commentary, Science, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)
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