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Category: media & arts – Page 24

Researchers develop a new generative adversarial networks model that stabilizes training and performance

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning models have advanced rapidly, becoming easily accessible. This has enabled people, even those without specialized expertise, to perform various tasks with AI. Among these models, generative adversarial networks (GANs) stand out for their outstanding performance in generating new data instances with the same characteristics as the training data, making them particularly effective for generating images, music, and text.

GANs consist of two , namely, a generator that creates new data distributions starting from random noise, and a discriminator which checks whether the generated data distribution is “real” (matching the training data) or “fake.” As training progresses, the generator improves at generating realistic distributions, and the discriminator at identifying the generated data as fake.

GANs use a loss function to measure differences between the fake and real distributions. However, this approach can cause issues like gradient vanishing and unstable learning, directly impacting stability and efficiency. Despite considerable progress in improving GANs, including structural modifications and loss function adjustments, challenges such as gradient vanishing and mode collapse, where the generator produces a limited variety, continue to limit their applicability.

Sound of Earth’s magnetic flip 41 000 years ago

Approximately 41 000 years ago, Earth’s magnetic field briefly reversed during what is known as the Laschamp event. During this time, Earth’s magnetic field weakened significantly—dropping to a minimum of 5% of its current strength—which allowed more cosmic rays to reach Earth’s atmosphere.

Scientists at the Technical University of Denmark and the German Research Centre for Geosciences used data from ESA’s Swarm mission, along with other sources, to create a sounded visualisation of the Laschamp event. They mapped the movement of Earth’s magnetic field lines during the event and created a stereo sound version which is what you can hear in the video.

The soundscape was made using recordings of natural noises like wood creaking and rocks falling, blending them into familiar and strange, almost alien-like, sounds. The process of transforming the sounds with data is similar to composing music from a score.

Three-armed robot conductor makes debut in Dresden

She’s not long on charisma or passion but keeps perfect rhythm and is never prone to temperamental outbursts against the musicians beneath her three batons. Meet MAiRA Pro S, the next-generation robot conductor who made her debut this weekend in Dresden.

Her two performances in the eastern German city are intended to show off the latest advances in machine maestros, as well as music written explicitly to harness 21st-century technology. The artistic director of Dresden’s Sinfoniker, Markus Rindt, said the intention was “not to replace human beings” but to perform complex music that human conductors would find impossible.