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In a world where technological advancements are often heralded with great fanfare and widespread availability, <keyword id="19895622" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Microsoft" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Microsoft" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Microsoft">Microsoft</keyword> has taken an unusually cautious step. The tech giant has developed an <keyword id="19904566" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="artificial-intelligence" source="keywords">artificial intelligence</keyword> (<keyword id="19899640" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="AI" source="keywords">AI</keyword>) <keyword id="22419020" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="speech-generator" source="keywords">speech generator</keyword> so convincing and advanced that it has decided to withhold it from public release. <keyword id="22379215" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="VALL-E-2" source="keywords">VALL-E 2</keyword> is an AI marvel capable of mimicking human speech with uncanny accuracy, using just a few seconds of audio. Representing a significant leap in text-to-speech (TTS) technology, Microsoft’s researchers boast that it achieves "<keyword id="22419023" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="human-parity" source="keywords">human parity</keyword>" in generating speech — meaning its output is virtually indistinguishable from a human’s voice. <h2>What makes the AI so believable?</h2>This extraordinary capability has been made possible through a couple of groundbreaking features. The first of these is “Repetition Aware Sampling”, which ensures that VALL-E 2 avoids the pitfalls of monotonous speech by addressing repetitions of "tokens" — the small units of language like words or syllables. This feature prevents the AI from getting stuck in a loop of sounds, making its speech flow more naturally. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="111627686" title="Microsoft and Apple exit observer roles on OpenAI board" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>Secondly, “Grouped Code Modeling” enhances efficiency by reducing the sequence length, allowing the model to process fewer individual tokens in a single input sequence. This improvement not only speeds up speech generation but also tackles the challenges of processing lengthy strings of sounds. As per the researchers, VALL-E 2 is the first voice AI to reach human parity in peech robustness, naturalness, and speaker similarity. <h2>Fears of misuse</h2>While the potential applications of VALL-E 2 are vast — ranging from educational tools and entertainment to accessibility features and interactive voice response systems — Microsoft has opted to keep this technological marvel under wraps. The decision is driven by concerns over the potential misuse of such advanced <keyword id="22419021" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="voice-cloning-technology" source="keywords">voice cloning technology</keyword>. The risks include the ability to spoof voice identification systems and impersonate individuals convincingly. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="111749643" title="People are already becoming romantically and sexually involved with AI — here’s the problem with that" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>"VALL-E 2 is purely a research project. Currently, we have no plans to incorporate VALL-E 2 into a product or expand access to the public," the researchers stated. This cautious approach aligns with similar restrictions placed by other AI companies, such as OpenAI, on their <keyword id="22419024" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="voice-technology" source="keywords">voice technology</keyword>. Despite the decision to withhold VALL-E 2 from public release, Microsoft’s researchers remain optimistic about the future of AI speech technology. They envision practical applications where synthesised speech maintains speaker identity and can be used safely and ethically. Any future deployment of such technology, they emphasise, must include protocols to ensure that the speaker approves the use of their voice and a robust synthesised speech detection model. The findings of this research have been published in a <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/2406.05370">pre-print paper</a>.

Microsoft has created an AI that they think is "too dangerous" for public release

London, Jun 18 (AP) A genetic analysis of COVID-19 patients suggests that blood type might influence whether someone develops severe disease. Scientists who compared the genes of thousands of patients in Europe found that those who had Type A blood were more likely to have severe disease while those with Type O were less likely. Wednesday's report in the New England Journal of Medicine does not prove a blood type connection, but it does confirm a previous report from China of such a link. "Most of us discounted it because it was a very crude study," Dr Parameswar Hari, a blood specialist at the Medical College of Wisconsin, said of the report from China. With the new work, "now I believe it," he said. "It could be very important." Other scientists urged caution. The evidence of a role for blood type is "tentative...it isn't enough of a signal to be sure," said Dr Eric Topol, head of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in San Diego. The study, involving scientists in Italy, Spain, Denmark, Germany and other countries, compared about 2,000 patients with severe COVID-19 to several thousand other people who were healthy or who had only mild or no symptoms. Researchers tied variations in six genes to the likelihood of severe disease, including some that could have a role in how vulnerable people are to the virus. They also tied blood groups to possible risk. Most genetic studies like this are much larger, so it would be important to see if other scientists can look at other groups of patients to see if they find the same links, Topol said. Many researchers have been hunting for clues as to why some people infected with the coronavirus get very ill and others, less so. Being older or male seems to increase risk, and scientists have been looking at genes as another possible "host factor" that influences disease severity. There are four main blood types - A, B, AB and O - and "it's determined by proteins on the surface of your red blood cells," said Dr. Mary Horowitz, scientific chief at the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research. People with Type O are better able to recognize certain proteins as foreign, and that may extend to proteins on virus surfaces, Hari explained. During the SARS outbreak, which was caused by a genetic cousin of the coronavirus causing the current pandemic, "it was noted that people with O blood type were less likely to get severe disease," he said. Blood type also has been tied to susceptibility to some other infectious diseases, including cholera, recurrent urinary tract infections from E coli, and a bug called H pylori that can cause ulcers and stomach cancer, said Dr David Valle, director of the Institute of Genetic Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. Bottom line: "It's a provocative study. It's in my view well worth publishing and getting out there," but it needs verification in more patients, Valle said. (AP) SCY SCY

Study ties blood type to COVID-19 risk; O may help, A hurt

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Good morning! Here's what you need to know:
Alibaba Is Hot. In a new SEC filing, Chinese e-commerce giant <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/alibaba-raises-ipo-range-2014-9">Alibaba raised its IPO pricing range to $66-$68 per share</a> from $60-$66. At the midpoint of the new range, the company would raise about $21.4 billion, with the value of the company set at a bit more than $165 billion. Alibaba prices on Thursday evening and goes public on Friday.
Germany Is Cold. Germany's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/germany-zew-index-drop-to-new-lows-2014-9">ZEW index of investor confidence fell to 6.9</a> in September, down from 8.6 a month ago. While this was slightly better than the 5.0 expected by economists, it was nevertheless the lowest reading since December 2012. "Eurozone sentiment indicators continue to point to downside risks ahead, with political risks from ongoing tensions in Ukraine, and the uncertainty over the Scottish independence vote later this week the main factors weighing on investor sentiment this month," said Pantheon Macroeconomics' Claus Vistesen. "Additional easing by the ECB will help, but has not been enough, so far, to turn investor optimism around."
China's Investment Inflows Are Plunging. "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-china-august-fdi-falls-to-lowest-in-at-least-two-and-a-half-years-2014-9">China's foreign direct investment inflows in August fell</a> to a low not seen in at least 2-1/2 years, underscoring the challenges to growth facing the world's second-biggest economy," Reuters Siaoyi Shao and Koh Gui Qing reported. "China attracted $7.2 billion in foreign direct investment in August, the Commerce Ministry said on Tuesday, down 14 percent from a year earlier and at a level not seen since February 2012." This follows a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/china-was-blasted-back-to-2008-this-weekend-2014-9">slew of data confirming a major slowdown</a>.
Markets Are In The Red. Everything's red. In Europe, Britain's FTSE is down 0.6%, France's CAC 40 is down 0.5%, and Germany's DAX is down 0.4%. In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed down 0.9%. Dow futures are down 27 points and S&amp;P futures are down 2.9 points.
French Prime Minister Says The Economy Could Be ... In Trouble. France's Manuel Valls has some colorful language to describe the state of things. "Valls is now privately admitting 'in three to six months, if the situation isn't reversed, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/france-valls-hollande-fucked-economy-growth-2014-9">we'll be foutu'</a>, according to Le Monde," Business Insider's Mike Bird reports. "The word foutu has a number of equivalents in English, including the f-word, ruined, or damned. The Times translated the word as "knackered,"which has a similar but more PG-rated meaning."
Investors Are Bullish. "Investors remain bullish on equities, despite the risks posed by Fed policy normalisation and geopolitics, according to a Barclays survey of 972 global investors," Barclays' Guillermo Felices said. "More than half of the respondents said they believed equities would offer the best returns over the next quarter. Meanwhile, geopolitical developments, with 31% of responses, comprise investors' main concern over the next 12 months."
Hedge Funds Get A Devastating Blow. "The California Public Employees' Retirement System plans to <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-15/calpers-to-exit-hedge-funds-citing-expenses-complexity.html">divest the entire $4 billion that it has with hedge funds</a>, saying they're too expensive and complex," Bloomberg's Michael Marois reported. "The decision to eliminate 24 hedge funds and six hedge fund-of-funds, isn't related to the performance of the program, said Ted Eliopoulos, the interim chief investment officer. The board of the $298 billion pension, known as Calpers, hasn't decided where to invest the money after the pullout, which will take about a year, he said." Calpers reported paid <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/calpers-ditches-hedge-funds-2014-9">$135 million in fees</a> to hedge fund in the latest fiscal year.
It's Buybackpalooza. "<a href="http://online.wsj.com/articles/companies-stock-buybacks-help-buoy-the-market-1410823441">Companies are buying their own shares</a> at the briskest clip since the financial crisis, helping fuel a stock rally amid a broad trading slowdown," the WSJ's Dan Strumpf reported. "Corporations bought back $338.3 billion of stock in the first half of the year, the most for any six-month period since 2007, according to research firm Birinyi Associates. Through August, 740 firms have authorized repurchase programs, the most since 2008."
...What Does That Mean? "You got a 7%+ gain in the S&amp;P this year on basically nothing and for no reason other than float-shrink initiatives that have zero to do with fundamentals," said Joshua Brown. "For every Disney, a company that is truly killing it right now, there are a dozen stagnant names <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hft-players-and-cfos-only-ones-tradin-2014-9">masking slowing growth with a smaller overall pie to spread profits across</a>. If IBM and McDonalds were trading on the actual condition of their respective businesses, the Dow would be 500 to 1000 points lower."
US Inflation Check. The August producer price index report will be published at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists estimate PPI went nowhere month-over-month in August. Excluding food and energy, core-PPI is expected to have climbed by just 0.1%. On a year-over-year basis, both PPI and core-PPI is expected to have increased by 1.8%. "Farm and energy prices declined in August and should put downward pressure on headline PPI," Nomura economists said.

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