One of the most talked about and shared videos from the 2024 World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos was created using the US AI video platform HeyGen.
HeyGen harnesses the power of generative AI to streamline the video-creation process.
The speech, delivered by Argentina President Javier Milei, was already making headlines for his fiery delivery in which he attacked socialism, gender equality policies, collectivist economics and wealth redistribution, but an added technological twist is causing it to reverberate weeks after the meeting in Davos.
The new Argentinian president delivered his speech in Spanish, but a version of the speech translated to English through an AI video translation feature later stole the show.
Aaron Slodov, co-founder and chief executive of Atomic Industries, a creator of artificial intelligence-powered manufacturing solutions, posted a version of the speech on X using HeyGen’s AI translation.
This was no ordinary translation. Mr Milei’s mouth seemed to have a near-perfect match to the English audio. Users of X took notice and, 75 million views later, the world seemed to take notice. The speech also received almost 240,000 likes.
“Curiosity? Timing of the message/zeitgeist? A major theme in the comments was how amazing and terrifying it was simultaneously. Either way, it captures how powerful a good demo can be,” Mr Slodov later posted on X, reacting to the momentum of his initial post on the social media platform.
HeyGen, a Los Angeles-based start-up founded in 2020, used the continued momentum of the video to promote its AI-infused product.
“People hate watching non-lip-synced dubbed videos,” the company posted on X. “The original speaker’s voice is drowned out by the interpreter … the better the interpreter, the more you have to pay …”
The company is hardly alone in the increasingly crowded field of AI translation and video editing services.
In November, while announcing an AI advisory board, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres spoke about major advances in AI video manipulation and translation services.
“Thanks to one AI app, I had the surreal experience of watching myself deliver a speech in flawless Chinese, despite the fact that I don’t speak Chinese," he said.
“The lip movement corresponded exactly to what I was saying,” he said, referring to the technological triumph and potentially deceptive dangers stemming from AI.
Reaction to Mr Milei’s AI-translated speech has been a mixture of astonishment and concern, a balance that continues to play out as AI evolves.
Robert Wahl, an associate professor of computer science at Concordia University Wisconsin, spoke about the mixed reactions to AI video manipulation, noting that he has seen it play out before with computer-generated imagery, or CGI, as it is commonly known.
“It’s all about balancing the fears with the actual things it can do,” he said, referring to CGI and AI.
The translation and audio dubbing process has long been problematic, with translation voices not matching mouth movements, thus making for a distracting movie-watching experience, according to Mr Wahl.
“Now with AI, you can level the playing field and maybe hit 10 different language translations and make it look flawless,” he said, explaining how filmmakers could make use of the tools, particularly those with limited budgets.
“It’s no longer just a specialised tool that’s in the hands of a certain number of people or large studios in Hollywood,” he added.
Mr Wahl acknowledged that ultimately, such tools could affect jobs in the traditional movie-making and translating apparatus, but said it might also have an upside.
“I agree with the predictions that ultimately there’s going to be a net improvement of production jobs because of AI, but there will definitely be a transition period where people need to learn new skills and adjust to keep up,” he said.
The viral clip of Mr Milei's speech is the latest in what has been a series of major moments showing promising and potentially problematic use examples of AI, inevitably prompting many to point out the potential for such technology to be abused.
Overall, however, Mr Wahl said he was hopeful that various attempts around the world to implement laws and standards around AI, will curtail major problems before they pop up.
"So the people who don’t have the right ethical background are going to misuse the technology. It’s going to happen," he said.
"But I think, in general, it’s going to be a good technology ... and speed things up."
The biog
Favourite car: Ferrari
Likes the colour: Black
Best movie: Avatar
Academic qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in media production from the Higher Colleges of Technology and diploma in production from the New York Film Academy
Sustainable Development Goals
1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its effects
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development
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Washmen Profile
Date Started: May 2015
Founders: Rami Shaar and Jad Halaoui
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Laundry
Employees: 170
Funding: about $8m
Funders: Addventure, B&Y Partners, Clara Ventures, Cedar Mundi Partners, Henkel Ventures
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Your rights as an employee
The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.
The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.
If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.
Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.
The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Picture of Joumblatt and Hariri breaking bread sets Twitter alight
Mr Joumblatt’s pessimism regarding the Lebanese political situation didn’t stop him from enjoying a cheerful dinner on Tuesday with several politicians including Mr Hariri.
Caretaker Culture Minister Ghattas Khoury tweeted a picture of the group sitting around a table at a discrete fish restaurant in Beirut’s upscale Sodeco area.
Mr Joumblatt told The National that the fish served at Kelly’s Fish lounge had been very good.
“They really enjoyed their time”, remembers the restaurant owner. “Mr Hariri was taking selfies with everybody”.
Mr Hariri and Mr Joumblatt often have dinner together to discuss recent political developments.
Mr Joumblatt was a close ally of Mr Hariri’s assassinated father, former prime minister Rafik Hariri. The pair were leading figures in the political grouping against the 15-year Syrian occupation of Lebanon that ended after mass protests in 2005 in the wake of Rafik Hariri’s murder. After the younger Hariri took over his father’s mantle in 2004, the relationship with Mr Joumblatt endured.
However, the pair have not always been so close. In the run-up to the election last year, Messrs Hariri and Joumblatt went months without speaking over an argument regarding the new proportional electoral law to be used for the first time. Mr Joumblatt worried that a proportional system, which Mr Hariri backed, would see the influence of his small sect diminished.
With so much of Lebanese politics agreed in late-night meetings behind closed doors, the media and pundits put significant weight on how regularly, where and with who senior politicians meet.
In the picture, alongside Messrs Khoury and Hariri were Mr Joumbatt and his wife Nora, PSP politician Wael Abou Faour and Egyptian ambassador to Lebanon Nazih el Nagari.
The picture of the dinner led to a flurry of excitement on Twitter that it signified an imminent government formation. “God willing, white smoke will rise soon and Walid Beik [a nickname for Walid Joumblatt] will accept to give up the minister of industry”, one user replied to the tweet. “Blessings to you…We would like you to form a cabinet”, wrote another.
The next few days will be crucial in determining whether these wishes come true.
TOUR DE FRANCE INFO
Dates: July 1-23
Distance: 3,540km
Stages: 21
Number of teams: 22
Number of riders: 198
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
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Miss Granny
Director: Joyce Bernal
Starring: Sarah Geronimo, James Reid, Xian Lim, Nova Villa
3/5
(Tagalog with Eng/Ar subtitles)
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
AndhaDhun
Director: Sriram Raghavan
Producer: Matchbox Pictures, Viacom18
Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Tabu, Radhika Apte, Anil Dhawan
Rating: 3.5/5
Ticket prices
- Golden circle - Dh995
- Floor Standing - Dh495
- Lower Bowl Platinum - Dh95
- Lower Bowl premium - Dh795
- Lower Bowl Plus - Dh695
- Lower Bowl Standard- Dh595
- Upper Bowl Premium - Dh395
- Upper Bowl standard - Dh295
RESULTS
5pm: Maiden | Dh80,000 | 1,600m
Winner: AF Al Moreeb, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer)
5.30pm: Handicap | Dh80,000 | 1,600m
Winner: AF Makerah, Adrie de Vries, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Handicap | Dh80,000 | 2,200m
Winner: Hazeme, Richard Mullen, Jean de Roualle
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Winner: AF Yatroq, Brett Doyle, Ernst Oertel
7pm: Shadwell Farm for Private Owners Handicap | Dh70,000 | 2,200m
Winner: Nawwaf KB, Patrick Cosgrave, Helal Al Alawi
7.30pm: Handicap (TB) | Dh100,000 | 1,600m
Winner: Treasured Times, Bernardo Pinheiro, Rashed Bouresly
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Name: Brendalle Belaza
From: Crossing Rubber, Philippines
Arrived in the UAE: 2007
Favourite place in Abu Dhabi: NYUAD campus
Favourite photography style: Street photography
Favourite book: Harry Potter