People often have the impression that machine learning is the boring sidekick of artificial intelligence, involved only in serious matters. If you are of similar opinion then it is about time you thought again. Just as I was finishing my five minute scroll (which somehow takes a little over twenty minutes usually) on facebook tonight I came across this news that iconic American actor James Dean who had died in a car crash in 1955 is going to be resurrected for a film called Finding Jack. I saw the heading and I knew that was going to be in my story.
Recreating an icon
The makers of ‘Finding Jack’ have tied up with a tech firm to recreate James Dean with the help of CGI which stands for computer generated imagery. This has been done before with some success and some failure but this is probably the most ambitious project so far. Now, what goes into the process is a lot of data and what comes out is a person on screen bearing all the little, hardly noticeable features of an actor, dead six decades ago. And it is machine learning that eases this process. The software used in this case is called Masquerade. Masquerade’s job is to study James Dean’s performances in the three movies he acted in, collect information and draw patterns from it. It needs to figure out how Dean would respond to a certain situation by analysing his responses in other situations.
In the Avengers
Machine learning based CGI has also been used in the creation of Thanos in Avengers Infinity War and End Game. A lot of effort was put in to make Thanos look more like Josh Brolin, the actor who played Thanos. Had it not been for machine learning, the makers would probably have skipped it keeping in mind the sheer amount of labour that would go into it.
Play harder with ML
Film industry aside the industry which has had the greatest impact of machine learning in recent times is the video game industry. Ubisoft, in their 2017 game ‘Assassins Creed Origins’ used machine learning to create an ancient Egyptian world with considerable historical accuracy. The gaming industry, which is worth more than the film and music industry combined, uses machine learning to make the game respond better to different users to make the experience more personalized and unique. Owing to the development of natural language processing gamers can now use various commands during the game play; there are fewer limitations, more interaction, and better non playable characters.
Finding the customers
Apart from the creation of content its marketing depends a lot on machine learning. The mobile gaming industry is booming; it amounts to half of the overall gaming scenario. There is so many applications that it is really hard to be spotted even with 2.3 billion gamers searching. So, the ad campaigns and the in game ads must be applied well. Machine learning does a good deal in processing consumer data and find patterns to understand what might work for which consumer.
The scope of machine learning is growing and shows no signs of stopping. A machine learning certificate at this point can really launch you into an exciting career.
