Blizzard has announced it will not hold BlizzCon, the publisher’s annual fan convention, this year. “After careful consideration over the last year, we at Blizzard have made the decision not to hold BlizzCon in 2024,” Blizzard wrote on its website.

Instead of BlizzCon, Blizzard wrote that it would be holding other, smaller events throughout the year and mentioned participating in other trade shows, such as Gamescom. Additionally, 2024 marks the 30th anniversary of World of Warcraft, with Blizzard stating that it’s planning “multiple, global, in-person events” as well as sharing updates for WoW’s 10th expansion, The War Within, and Diablo IV’s first expansion, Vessel of Hatred.

Despite this year’s cancellation, Blizzard says the event will return in the future: “While we’re approaching this year differently and as we have explored different event formats in the past, rest assured that we are just as excited as ever to bring BlizzCon back in future years.”

The cancelation of BlizzCon 2024 comes as another notable video game event, E3, finally gave up the ghost last year and amidst a video game industry grappling with unprecedented layoffs and financial struggles. Earlier this year, Microsoft laid off 1,900 employees across Activision Blizzard and Xbox, one of the largest single video game industry layoff events of the last two years.

It’s natural to be leery regarding the ways in which people may use artificial intelligence to cause problems for society in the near future. On a personal level, you may be concerned about a future where artificial intelligence takes your job or creates a Terminator that comes back in time to try to eliminate a younger you. (We admittedly might be overthinking that one.)

One fear regarding AI on a personal level that you should know about because it’s very much in the present is the creation of deepfake photos, including those that strip you of the most basic of privacy rights: the right to protect images of your body.

Two German artists recently created a camera called NUCA that uses AI to create deepfake photos of subjects by stripping away their clothing. The automated removal of the photo subject’s clothing occurs in close to real-time, speeding up the creepy factor exponentially.

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Why would someone create an AI camera that removes clothing?

The two German artists, Mathias Vef and Benedikt Groß, decided to create the camera to show the implications of AI’s rapid advancements. The pair were trying to think of the worst possible uses of AI to affect someone’s privacy, and they realized that the technology needed to create a camera like NUCA was already possible.

WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?

The two artists hope that people will consider the dangers of continuing to develop AI technologies like this, which could eliminate the expectation of privacy. They hope it will spark debates about the direction of AI.

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How does a camera that digitally strips away clothing work?

The German artists used 3D design and print software to create the lenses and the shell for controlling the camera. It then uses a smartphone on the inside of the shell that handles the image capture. NUCA passes the photo to the cloud for the application of AI that removes the subject’s clothing.

The result of NUCA camera using AI to strip away clothing. (NUCA)

Of course, NUCA is not actually creating a photo of your naked body. Instead, it analyzes your gender, face, age and other aspects of your body shape to develop a replication of what AI believes your naked body would look like.

Illustration of what NUCA camera analyzes to create image. (NUCA)

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Doesn’t deepfake nude photo technology already exist?

Deepfake nude photos, usually of celebrities, have been around for a long time on pornography websites, but the photos from NUCA require almost no technical know-how. 

Even more frightening, NUCA is able to perform the process within about 10 seconds. The immediacy of the creation of the deepfake nude photo is what sets NUCA apart from other fake nude photos that typically require quite a bit of editing skill and time. 

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NUCA’s deepfake dilemma: Artistic innovation or ethical Invasion?

Bottom line: Anyone could use the technology that’s found with NUCA to create a deepfake nude photo of almost anyone else within several seconds. NUCA doesn’t ask for permission to remove your clothing in the photo.

It’s worth emphasizing again that the two artists have no plans to allow others to use NUCA for commercial gain. They will showcase its capabilities in late June at an art exhibition in Berlin all in an effort to spark public debate.

However, the next people who develop a similar technology may choose to use it in a far different way, such as to potentially blackmail people by threatening to release these fake nude photos that other people won’t necessarily know are fake.

Kurt’s key takeaways

If it feels like AI is expanding wildly in dozens of different directions all at once, you aren’t all that far off. Some of those directions will be helpful for society, but others are downright terrifying. As deepfakes continue to look more and more realistic, the line between a fake digital world and reality will become increasingly difficult to discern. Guarding our privacy will almost certainly be more and more difficult as AI strips away our safeguards … and, potentially, even our clothing. 

Are you concerned about AI-created deepfake photos and videos affecting you personally? What safeguards should exist around the use of AI? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact

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Supercell doesn’t release a lot of games, but the studio’s mobile releases tend to be big hits. Think Clash of Clans, Brawl Stars, and Clash Royale. Now, the developer is gearing up for its next major release: Squad Busters, which will be out globally on both Android and iOS on May 29th.

It’s a competitive multiplayer game, but one on a larger scale than a typical mobile release. In each match, 10 players compete to collect the most gems while building up a squad of computer-controlled characters. It’s sort of like a simplified MOBA: you move your team around fighting minions, earning cash that lets you improve and grow your squad before you eventually start fighting other players and going for the big gem pile in the middle of the map. It also has a bit of a Smash Bros. vibe, as the cast of characters are all pulled from popular Supercell games.

The studio is known for experimenting with different games and genres, and it’s also known for not moving forward with titles that it doesn’t think will become a Clash-level hit — which means the developer seems to have a lot of faith in Squad Busters, which is currently in soft launch in a number of territories, including Canada, Mexico, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Singapore.

“Our dream is to create great games that as many people as possible play for years and that are remembered forever,” Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen said in a statement. “Huge credit to the Squad Busters team — it’s already apparent that the game has such high potential, making it our first company game launch since Brawl Stars in 2018.”