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As the COVID-19 pandemic wound down, people began reflecting on the strange way it had warped their sense of time. The feeling became known as the pandemic skip: the sense of having lost milestones and experiences while life was on hold. Five years later, the sensation persists, now rebranded as the COVID pause. @himmothychalamet OP: @burrbrii #CovidPause #LostYears #SocialMediaEra #PandemicLife #FeelingYounger original sound – Himmothy chalamet I still feel like I felt when COVID started, one TikTok user said. I dont feel like I aged. Though nearing 38, she explained that she still feels more like the 32-year-old she was when the lockdowns began. Others echoed the sentiment. COVID stole my 20s. Im gonna be 29 soon and I still feel like Im 23 when covid started, or even about to be 26? one person wrote. Another added, I turned 33 this year and I still feel like I’m in my late 20s. A third summed it up: Yup. Total time warp. On Reddit, one user described the transformation more starkly: going in the pandemic I was a kid and when it was over I was an adult working a nine-to-five. They wondered whether the COVID-19 pause was real or are people just making up something new? Psychologists sometimes use the term arrested development to describe being stuck at the emotional age when a trauma or stressor occurred. In this case, that trauma was the pandemic. With education, careers, relationships, and independence all disrupted, many feel those formative years were stolen. Whether its arrested development or a kind of Peter Pan syndrome, the result is the same: minds and bodies feel out of sync. The COVID pause is so real, said a TikTok user. But he offered a silver lining: It took so much away from us that were no longer ashamed of doing certain things, like dancing on camera on TikTok.
Category:
E-Commerce
Artificial intelligence could boost the value of trade in goods and services by nearly 40% by 2040, but without adequate policies it could also exacerbate economic divides, a new World Trade Organization report warned on Wednesday. Lower trade costs and enhanced productivity could drive substantial increases in trade and GDP by 2040, with global trade projected to rise by 34-37% under various scenarios, according to the WTO’s World Trade Report. Global GDP could also increase by 12-13%, it said. “AI could be a bright spot for trade in an increasingly complex trading environment,” said the Deputy Director General of the WTO, Johanna Hill, commenting on the annual report that analyses trends in the multilateral trading system. Acknowledging current turbulence in the world trading system, Hill noted that AI was reshaping the future of the global economy and international trade, with the potential to reduce trade costs and boost productivity. Global trade rules, governed by the Geneva-based watchdog, have faced major disruption this year following a slew of tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. The report highlighted how businesses could reduce costs in logistics, regulatory compliance and communications. “AI-driven translation technologies can make communication faster and more cost-effective, particularly benefiting small producers and retailers by enabling them to expand into global markets,” the report said. Such advancements could help increase export growth in low-income countries by as much as 11%, provided they improved their digital infrastructure. However, the report cautioned that without targeted investment and inclusive policies, AI could deepen existing divides. “The effects of the development and deployment of AI are raising concerns that many workers, and even entire economies, could be left behind,” the report said. WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said policy makers needed to carefully manage the transition to AI. “AI could upend labor markets, transforming some jobs whilst displacing others. Managing these shifts demands investment in domestic policies to enhance education, skills, retraining and social safety nets,” she said during the launch event for the report in Geneva. To ensure the benefits of AI were shared widely, predictable trade supported by WTO rules and lower tariffs on raw materials essential for AI technologies, including semiconductors, were crucial, the WTO added. Olivia Le Poidevin, Reuters
Category:
E-Commerce
When Whitney Houston died in 2012, she was just 48 years old. Now, 13 years later, one of the most iconic voices in music is making a return. And, as you might expect, artificial intelligence is involved. A concert experience, called The Voice of Whitney: A Symphonic Celebrationblending isolated vocal tracks, video performance footage, and a live symphony orchestraopens a limited series of shows across the country starting September 20. While the estates of other artists who have died have had similar tribute shows before, in Houston’s case, it wasn’t just a matter of putting together footage and tracks. Many of the original multitrack recordings of Houston’s music (those that combine vocals, instruments, drums, etc.) had been lost. Park Avenue Artists, which is collaborating with Houstons estate to produce the shows, tapped Moises, an AI-powered music platform, to assist. That company’s AI is designed to isolate vocals and instruments from songs in near-studio quality. “This project demanded exceptionally high-caliber stem separation, Moises cofounder and CEO Geraldo Ramos said in a statement. We had to isolate Whitneys vocals from fully mixed recordings without compromising the emotional power of her performance. A concert like this simply wouldnt have been possible five years ago.” The concert tour is timed to honor the 40th anniversary of Houston’s career launch (her self-titled debut album was released in February 1985). The show previewed in Nashville in June; now it heads to seven other cities. September 20 and 21: with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Cincinnati Music Hall October 11: Wilson Center at Cape Fear Community College, Wilmington, North Carolina October 25: Bank of America Performing Arts Center, Thousand Oaks, California November 8: Palladium at Allied Solutions Center, Carmel, Indiana November 15: Genesee Theatre, Waukegan, Illinois November 21: McCallum Theatre, Palm Desert, California November 22: Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, Arizona Fans can expect to hear “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me),” “I Will Always Love You, “Higher Love,” and other Houston classics. Moises has developed 45 proprietary AI models, which it says can process 2.5 million minutes of audio daily. The company’s app has proven popular with musicians, and its team members have worked at Spotify, Pandora, and TikTok, among other music-centric businesses. This may not be the company’s last work with a so-called legacy artist tour, either. Other collaborations with Park Avenue Artists are underway. This project demonstrates how legacy artists and their estates can create meaningful experiences for music lovers through the thoughtful use of AI technology, said Ross Michaels, copresident of Park Avenue Artists. “The Voice of Whitney is the first of several planned collaborations that will use AI to illuminate new dimensions of an artists work. Its a powerful example of how AI can honor artists legacies while enriching the audience experience in beautiful and respectful ways.” This isn’t the first time Houston’s estate has signed off on a posthumous tour. In 2020, right before the pandemic virtually shut down the world, a tour kicked off featuring a hologram of Houston performing her greatest hits accompanied by a live band. That production was overseen by Base Hologram, which has a proven track record of bringing legacy acts back to life, with successful concert tours of Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, and opera diva Maria Callas. The practice of posthumous performances has been a controversial one for years. Most artists did not have a say in the matter. Then again, they also generally did not have a say in unreleased music being unearthed years after their death. Despite the debate, the shows have largely gone on, and are seemingly becoming more prevalent.
Category:
E-Commerce
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