• Chinese tech giant Baidu to release next-generation AI model this year as DeepSeek shakes up market
    www.cnbc.com
    Baidu plans to release the next generation of its model for powering generative AI applications in the second half of this year, according to a source familiar with the matter.
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  • SEVIERVILLE VFX Breakdown by picture wizards
    vfxexpress.com
    Watch the creation of the Sevierville campaign, where live-action storytelling and stunning 3D nature coexist harmoniously. This VFX breakdown demonstrates the amazing artistry that made the digital bear, fish, and eagle in the campaign come to life.The crew put a lot of effort into making these digital creations feel realistic and immersive, from the first stages of modeling, rigging, animation, and texturing to the latter stages of compositing and color grading. Every component was expertly designed to improve the visual story, whether it was the eagles beautiful flight, the bears realistic movement, or the fishs intricate textures.Under the direction of director Mark DePasquale, the production created a campaign that encapsulated Seviervilles untamed beauty by fusing state-of-the-art visual effects with skilled cinematography. With a committed team managing everything from drone shots to sound design, Atlantic Pictures skills drove the project and made the idea a reality.With Mark DePasquale in charge of VFX compositing and Picture Wizards and Seven Bison contributing 3D character design and animation, this ad is a breathtaking illustration of how to combine digital artistry with cinematic storytelling. PICTURE WIZARDSThe post SEVIERVILLE VFX Breakdown by picture wizards appeared first on Vfxexpress.
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  • Autodesks CMO says Nike was the big brand winner on Super Bowl Sunday
    www.fastcompany.com
    Super Bowl LIX had a clear winner on the field, but victory for brands was more hard-won. Many aimed for impact, but did they deliver? Autodesk CMO Dara Treseder offers hot takes on this years hits and misses from the big games ads. She joins host Bob Safian to break down what makes an NBDB (never been done before) moment, why so many brands adopted a safe approach, and what trends business leaders should note going forward.This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by Robert Safian, former editor-in-chief of Fast Company. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with todays top business leaders navigating real-time challenges. Subscribe to Rapid Response wherever you get your podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode.Last year, we talked about whether you would buy a 30-second spot for Autodesk. When you were watching this year, did you think, Oh, maybe I should have; that would have been a good way to spend $8 million?No, when I was watching the game, I was like, I am very glad with our strategy of not buying an ad in the Super Bowl. Look, I think sometimes it makes sense for your business. And I think you really have to understand: What are we trying to accomplish? What are the objectives? And will this help us make that happen?I think that not enough brands who showed up this year did that calculation, I have to say. So, I think we did the right math by deciding to let our customers take center stage.When a game is not close, is that good from a marketers point of viewlike people are going to spend more time paying attention to the ad? Or is it bad because people arent as intensely focused on the screen?Its not good. Its not good because people are getting up and people are leaving. Consumers start to get distracted and go back to their lives when its not as competitive until the very end.Youre making a bet when you decide where youre going to buy your ad, where in the show, right? Like in some ways its better to be at the end because people will remember you more, but only if the game is close.Only if the game is close. So, youve got to think about the calculus for what youre trying to do. I always think that going early and in the middle is safe. Again, it comes down to calculated risk, a clear-eyed risk. You gather as much data as you can, you strip away uncertainty, and then you make a decision with conviction. Going late is a risk that you should only take if you are sure that even if consumers get up and walk away, that placement still makes sense for your brand. But if youre not sure about that, going early or going in the middle is probably a good way to make sure that you gather as many eyeballs as needed.If youre a brand like Autodesk and you havent bought a Super Bowl spot, how do you participate in the moment around the Super Bowl?If you have an authentic reason to participate in the conversation, hey, its as good a time as any to do that. So for us at Autodesk, our software is used to design and make anything, whether it is literally the Caesar Superdome stadium in NOLA that housed it all, or stages like Kendricks, or ads like the Michelob Ultra ad. Our software is used to design and make anything. So for us, being a part of the conversation makes sense in terms of celebrating our customers who are playing a role in the game.Now youve used this expression, NBDB (never been done before). There wasnt a whole lot of that this year.We like a good NBDB. And I thought a brand that actually did that was Rocket. So Rocket had that wonderful ad that really talked about owning the dream, owning the American dream, and owning the home.They took the time to tell the story in a way that was so powerful. I was watching it live, and everybody from my father-in-law to my daughter was like, Oh, we like this one. And every American can remember that song. I mean, Bob, Im sure in a bar somewhere at 1 a.m. at some point or the other, you were singing about country roads taking you home.Theres no video of that.Youre neither going to confirm nor deny, but I thought that ad was great. But what was especially awesome was to see that connected with the live experience of Country Roads playing in the stands and having the fans in the stadium. That was marketing magic, right?Because the ad, the extension was so real, so powerful, so wonderful. So that was an NBDB. I dont think Ive seen any ads do that before where they connect what is happening on the screen to what is happening physically in the stadium in such a powerful integrated way. I thought Rocket did that.They certainly owned that NBDB category with that first-of-its-kind integration.So not the skin cowboy hat from Tubi. I didnt get on with that.I mean, that was when everyone was like, Im going to go get some chips.Nobody wants to watch that, right?I thought that ad was pushing creative direction. Thats what I meant. Because people were staying away from relevance, sometimes they turned up the dial on ownability or memorability in a way that didnt always work.And I think for that Tubi ad, they turned up the memorability dial a little too much, and it didnt quite work.I want to ask you about the Nike So Win ad with top female athletes like Caitlin Clark and Jordan Chiles. In some ways, it was like a throwback to some of the ads wed seen from Nike before. So it wasnt really never been done before, but at the same time, I thought it was pretty darn effective.I think Nike was the winner of the night, and Ill tell you why. They did an amazing job of being ownable. It was like you said: It was an ownable Nike spot. You saw that spot, and you immediately knew it was Nike because of the athletes presence, the visual aesthetic, the black-and-white aesthetic, and the message. It showed the power of purpose and performance, and I have to give Nike a lot of credit for this spot because in a year where a lot of brands were staying away from saying anything, Nike said something.They said something important. They said something that matters. And they said something that needed to be said, right? And that was the power of women in sports. And the importance of gender equity in sports. And I thought they said it really well. It wasnt preachy. It was powerful. And, so talk about being memorable and being relevant.And many of us can remember what was happening in the Olympics when ShaCarri [Richardson] was running: She was ahead, and she looked to her left, and she looked to her right. And that moment was a part of the narrative, right? Many of us remember the journeys that these women athletes have had. And to see them standing on business, standing on power, standing on strength, it was saying, Look, come what may, womens sports is here to stay, and I love that. Just watching my daughter watch that spot and her face light up, it was a powerful moment. So I think Nike did that, and they were really the only brand that made a statement, right?A lot of brands talked about unity and nostalgia, which I thought was a little bit overdone, to be honest, and not actually reflective of the state of the country, so it felt a little forced. But I thought Nike did a really good job of saying, Hey, were standing on business. Were standing on purpose. Were not cause-led, so were not jumping into a political conversation. But were standing on what makes sense for our business. Our values remain unchanged.
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  • Full moon tonight: Heres the best time to see the February 2025 Snow Moon
    www.fastcompany.com
    In the Northern Hemisphere, February is the middle of winter. According to NASA, this is why Native American tribes named this months full moon the Snow Moon. Historically, the shortest month of the year was also the coldest because of the heavy snowfall that occurred.Another name for this bright lunar display is the Hunger Moon. That name also makes historical sense when you think of how the snowiest month had to have impacted our hunter-gathering ancestors. Lets take a deeper look at the winter of it all, and when will be the best chance for optimal full moon viewing.When exactly is the middle of winter?Many people believe that Groundhog Day marks the middle of winter. Its a close approximation, but not always 100% accurate. Thats because, according to the Farmers Almanac, the middle of winter varies from year to year.Groundhog Day is traditionally observed on February 2; and this year, the following day was, in fact, the halfway point between the winter solstice and spring equinox.Both the coldest and shortest season, winter lasts 88.99 days. Its brevity is because at this point in the Earths orbit, its closest to the sun (known asperihelion). Its cold is caused by Earths axial tilt. In the Northern Hemisphere, from December to February, the Earth is tilted away from the sun, giving us less direct sunshine and much chillier days. How to see the full Snow MoonIn parts of the country, such as the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, snow storms may prevent one from catching the Snow Moon. Talk about irony.The rest of the country may also experience cloudy skies and potential rainstorms. But with any luck, according to EarthSky, the full moon will reach peak illumination Wednesday morning, February 12, at 8:53 a.m. ET. Plus, the celestial orb will also appear full Thursday and Friday.
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  • Vitamix Promo Codes and Deals: $150 Off Select Blenders
    www.wired.com
    Score discounts on blenders, food processors, immersion blenders, and more with our selection of Vitamix coupons and deals.
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  • 10 Ways Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii Will be Different from Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
    gamingbolt.com
    Few modern AAA franchises put out games quicker than theLike a Dragon / Yakuzaseries does, which, even in spite of that kind of output, manages to maintain a remarkable level of quality and consistency. Unsurprisingly, many are excited to get their hands on the series next outing, upcoming spinoffLike a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. As the series has often been known to do in the past, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will be taking many of assets and foundational elements of last yearsLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealthand remixing them and blending them with new ideas of its own, hopefully to create something fresh, unique, and equally enjoyable. As youd expect, thatll mean plenty of familiar elements inPirate Yakuza in Hawaiifor those whove playedInfinite Wealth but at the same time, theres also plenty thats going to be different. The latter is what were going to focus on now- and theres quite a bit to talk about.PROTAGONISTLets start off with the basics- theLike a Dragonseries has cultivated a rich and diverse cast of beloved characters by now, but whore we playing as this time? Primetime good guys Ichiban Kasuga and Kazuma Kiryu took centerstage inInfinite Wealth, but this time, another beloved fan favourite is stepping forward into the limelight in the form of Goro Majima. The Mad Dog of of Shimano did have a role to play in last years game, yes, but its been a while since he has grabbed the spotlight in more prominent fashion, so for series fans, getting a game where hes the sole protagonist should be nothing short of a treat.COMBATLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealthfollowed inYakuza 7sfootsteps with its turn-based RPG systems, though just like the series last spinoff Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name the upcoming Pirate Yakuza in Hawaiiwill be returning toYakuzasroots. That means the game will feature real-time brawler combat, and yes, as was usually the case in pastYakuzaandJudgmentgames, players will also have access to multiple combat styles. Between the agile and aggressive Mad Dog style and the fantastical Sea Dog style which will turn Majima into a full-fledged gun-toting, cutlass-wielding pirate combat promises to be a colourful affair.NAVAL SECTIONSYes, piracy is the big central throughline inLike a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii,as its name so subtly alludes to. Former Yakuza Majima has turned up in Hawaii with his memory mysteriously wiped, following which he sets off on a swashbuckling pirate adventure on the high seas, in search of a fabled treasure. Ridiculous? Yes. But a) ridiculous is kind of this series bread and butter, and b) this ridiculous setup will allow players to command their ship on the high sees in naval combat and traversal sections, complete with crew building and ship customization mechanics, on top of other bells and whistles. A little bit of Assassins Creed: Black Flagin ourYakuzawasnt something we ever thought to ask for, but now that were getting it, we cant wait to dive in.LENGTHLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealthwas an absolutely monstrous game as far as its size is concerned. Depending on how much you engage with its substantial optional offerings, it can be anywhere between 80 and 120 hours long. Hell, even a rushed playthrough of the game is probably going to take you 50-60 hours.Pirate Yakuzain Hawaiiis promising to be a much more brief experience, however. Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has said its going to be about 1.5 times as long asLike a Dragon Gaiden, which would mean were looking at a 15-20 hour game. Thats not exactly a short game, obviously, but by mainline Yakuzastandards, itispretty short- then again, likeGaiden, this isnt a mainline entry, so theres that.SIDE ACTIVITIESLike a Dragongames are built on the backs of their side activities, and obviously,Pirate Yakuza in Hawaiiwill have plenty on offer. You can, of course, expect plenty of its roster to overlap withInfinite Wealth, with the likes of Crazy Delivery and karaoke confirmed to be returning, among others. Others, however, will be different. For instance, Dragon Kart, theMario Kart-like activity introduced inYakuza 7, sat outInfinite Wealthbut is now returning. Theres also a whole suite of naval activities, such as upgrading and customizing Majimas ship, the Goromaru, and expanding and leveling up his crew.MAJOR SIDE ACTIVITIES NOT RETURNINGLets stick withPirate Yakuza in Hawaiisroster of side activities a little longer, because it will differ fromInfinite Wealthin a few more key ways in this department. Some of the latters most significant side activities arent coming back, including the likes of Dondoko Island and Sujimon, as well as activities and mechanics that were related toInfinite WealthsRPG mechanics (such as the Ounabara Vocational School, Alo Happy Tours, and what have you).NEW CHARACTERSA bajillion games into a franchise, it can be hard to make truly standalone stories, which meansPirate Yakuza in Hawaiiwill obviously feature its fair share of familiar characters from pastYakuzagames, in addition to protagonist Majima himself. Additionally, however, the game will also introduce a vast and varied roster of entirely new faces. Throughout his adventure in Hawaii, Majima will meet a number of new personalities, including treasure hunters, pirates, former yakuza, and more.NEW LOCATIONSLike a Dragongames are better than most at reusing locations, which is something thatPirate Yakuza in Hawaiiwill also be doing, with the entirety ofInfinite WealthsHonolulu map returning as the main setting. On top of that, however, players can also expect plenty of new locations, including a secret island haven for pirates and criminals known as Madlantis, a secluded location known as Rich Island, and of course, the open seas themselves, where you can sail your ship around and get up to all sorts of trouble.NEW GAME PLUSLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealthmade the mistake of locking its New Game Plus mode behind a post-launch paywall, and rightly enough, Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio were called out for it. Thankfully, it looks like lessons have been learned. The publisher and developer have confirmed thatLike a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in HawaiisNew Game Plus mode which is still arriving as a post-launch update will be free for all players this time.PRICINGSega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio have been explicit in their messaging thatLike a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaiiis very muchnota mainlineentry, having been developed as a spinoff in the space of less than a year. As such, the shorter games pricing is going to reflect the same. WhereLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealthwas the first game that Sega chose to sell at $70,Pirate Yakuza in Hawaiiis instead going to be sold for a cheaper price of $60. In comparison, 2023sLike a Dragon Gaidenwas $50 at launch.
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  • Will Sony Offer a Disc Drive Option with the PS6?
    gamingbolt.com
    It seems inevitable that a fully digital future will soon be upon us. Over the last decade, the share of digital game sales in the PlayStation and Xbox ecosystems has risen meteorically, and both platforms offer more discless digital-only hardware options at this point than ones that also support physical media. So surely, its only a matter of time before we get digital-only consoles, right? After all, its beneficial to both Microsoft and Sony to not have to share margins on their game sales with retailers, manufacturers, and all the other logistics suppliers involved in physical medial. It feels tempting, then, to say that the PlayStation 6 will surely be a digital-only console.However, its not quite that straightforward. From Sonys perspective, there are a lot of factors to consider, as tempting as it may be to remove the physical option entirely. Relationships with retailers are chief among those, since Sony needs retailers to be happy if they want them to carry the PS6 in sufficient numbers and hardware sales themselves are fairly low-to-no margin. In other words, the only way the PlayStation 6 will be a profitable venture for retailers at all, the only way it is worth it for them to actually sell the thing, is if they also get to sell games with it. They can (and do, and will continue to) make money off of accessories (such as controllers, headsets, what have you), and digital coupons and vouchers too, to be fair. But without the ability for them to sell games as well, the money they make from console sales will be very limited.There are ways to offset this problem, of course, but they arent entirely practical. For example, one easy way to sidestep the problem is to make the console itself high margin for retailers. The easiest way to do that is to not subsidize the console and sell it at loss. In fact, more often than not, that has been Sonys entire modus operandi since the day that they entered the industry- to sell subsidized hardware at loss, and then make up that money via ecosystem and software revenues). But the problem there is that that either means Sony sells a very expensive console for instance, there was no way to sell a console like the PS5 for $399 at launch in 2020 like Sony did, without taking a hit or that they sell a reasonably priced machine that is still high margin itself, but then they end up having to sell far weaker hardware than PlayStation fans and the industry expects from them (like what Nintendo does).There are other things Sony could do. For example, allowing digital coupon and voucher sales in stores for not just PlayStation Plus subscriptions and PSN credit, but also directly for games. This is something Sonys competitors already do- Switch owners, for example, can buy digital codes for several major first and third party games directly from retailers. This isnt even limited to just the bigger releases either. Even indie titles such as Hollow Knight or Dead Cells can be purchased directly as a code in this way. Sony used to do this as well, but they discontinued the venture a few years ago, and locked down digital sales exclusively to PlayStation, because otherwise they have to share their cut with the retailers that carry and sell their codes. But its obviously not an unsolvable problem. Sonys competition already takes the hit to their revenue, and Nintendos ecosystem generates far less revenue than Sonys (meaning Sony can more than afford the hit, such as it is).However, even this solution presents a problem, which ties into another major factor for Sony to consider when it comes time to ponder a shift to a digital-only console. Of all the console manufacturers, PlayStation is the one with the biggest global presence, the one that is sold in more major markets in the world than either Nintendo or Xbox. This is a major advantage to Sony that cannot be downplayed at all, and a huge reason for the gigantic sales Sony enjoys with each console is the incumbency they enjoy in so many global markets, where console gaming may as well be synonymous with PlayStation.This isnt just limited to affluent markets such as western European or southeast Asian nations either. Sony is huge in multiple developing and emerging markets, such as India, China, the Middle East, South America, and Africa. And many of these are markets where internet connectivity to facilitate gigantic multi-hundred GB downloads is not necessarily a given, and any product that requires that for basic functionality in this case, a game console playing games is a non-starter in several of those markets as a result. So if Sony wants to decide to simply forsake its presence in several global markets (or be relegated to an extremely small niche of the market), then and only then going digital-only is a viable option.That said, Sony may have engineered a solution that lets them have their cake and eat it too. The modularity of the current PlayStation 5 models (both the Slim, and the Pro) may be a hint. It is very easy for Sony to sell a console that doesnt have a disc drive, and sell the disc drive as an add-on option, the way it has been doing this generation. This not only has the desired effect of creating a digital-only default (and most of the mass market will not bother ever upgrading past the base option), but it also keeps a physical option open.That latter factor means its an easier transition to digital-only for those consumers who will go kicking and screaming into a discless age, but it also keeps the console viable in those aforementioned global markets where a digital-only system would be unviable. In fact, Sony could feasibly take it one step further, and sell region-specific SKUs that come with the disc drive already included and attached in markets like India or Brazil, while continuing to sell the discless version of the console as the default option in markets like Europe or North America.Something like that definitely might work, and is closer to what would be feasible for Sony to do next generation. It not only creates a gentler transition for customers, it also gives them continued viability in other markets where internet infrastructure is not yet comprehensive enough to support a digital-only console. It may not be exactly what Sony ends up doing, but whatever the path they choose is, it is extremely likely that it will be a moderate, gentler nudge towards a digital-only future rather than a full-throttled, forced push. Smaller and iterative steps that encourage customers to go digital-only are likely to be the sum of what Sony does with the PS6. If there is ever a digital-only PlayStation console, it will come further in the yet more distant future- PlayStation 7, perhaps?Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
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  • The Trump administration restores federal webpages after court order
    www.theverge.com
    The Trump administration brought webpages back online, meeting a court-ordered deadline at 11:59PM on February 11th. Doctors for America (DFA), which represents physicians and medical students, filed suit last week against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) for taking health data off government websites.A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order, setting a deadline for those agencies to make that information available again online. The order includes more than a dozen CDC and FDA webpages that were specifically mentioned in the lawsuit. That includes the social vulnerability index and environmental justice index, for example, which are tools that show whether particular populations might face disproportionate health risks.Doctors for America (DFA), which represents physicians and medical students, filed suitDFA alleges that the agencies violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the Paperwork Reduction Act by removing public access to the webpages without giving adequate notice in advance. The CDC, FDA, and HHS didnt immediately respond to requests for comment from The Verge. The agencies started taking webpages down after President Donald Trump signed an anti-trans executive order, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, on his first day in office. The CDCs main data portal went down briefly before going live again with a note saying, Data.CDC.gov is temporarily offline in order to comply with the executive order. The court order says webpages are supposed to be restored to versions as of January 30th. The Verge wasnt able to immediately verify whether the restored pages have the same content they had on January 30th.The plaintiffs claim that removing the data forced DFA members to scramble in search of alternative resources to guide how they treat patients; slowed their clinical practices or reduced the amount of information they can convey to patients in time-limited visits; and paused or slowed their vital research. They say a temporary restraining order is necessary to protect their practices and public health while the lawsuit determines whether the defendants actions were lawful or not.Beyond the webpages named in the lawsuit, the defendants are also supposed to work with DFA to identify any other resources that need to be restored, setting a February 14th deadline for those webpages to become available again.See More:
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  • Parameter-Efficient Fine-Tuning (PEFT): A Hands-On Guide with LoRA
    towardsai.net
    Author(s): BeastBoyJay Originally published on Towards AI. Imagine building a powerful AI model without needing massive computational resources PEFT makes that possible, and Ill show you how with LoRA from scratch.IntroductionTraditional fine-tuning challenges :Fine-tuning large models sounds cool until reality hits. Imagine trying to sculpt a masterpiece but needing a giant crane just to lift your tools. Thats what traditional fine-tuning feels like. Youre working with millions (sometimes billions) of parameters, and the computational cost can skyrocket faster than your coffee bill during finals week.Hardware Struggles:Got a spare supercomputer lying around? Probably not.GPUs heat up like your phone during a marathon PUBG session.RAM gets maxed out faster than your Netflix binge in 4K.Data Dilemma:You need a ton of data, or your model behaves like a forgetful student on exam day.Gathering and cleaning that much data? A nightmare in itself.Snail-Speed Training:Hit run and wait and wait and maybe even take a nap while your model chugs along.Maintenance Mayhem:Tiny tweaks mean re-training the whole colossal beast.Waste of time, energy, and your already-thin patience.Need a solution :PEFT, solution for this traditional bulky fine-tuning method. Think of PEFT (Parameter-Efficient Fine-Tuning) as upgrading a car by just changing the tires instead of rebuilding the whole engine. Instead of retraining every parameter in a massive model, PEFT tweaks just the essential parts saving time, resources, and sanity.Why it rocks:Resource-Smart: No supercomputer required.Time-Saving: Faster results with minimal effort.Scalable: Handles large models like a pro.What is PEFT ?PEFT (Parameter-Efficient Fine-Tuning) is like giving your AI model a performance boost by only adjusting the most important parameters, rather than retraining the entire thing. Think of it as overclocking your model without needing to upgrade the whole motherboard.Why Is PEFT Necessary?Reduced Training Costs:Instead of burning through a fortune in GPU time to retrain the whole model, PEFT lets you fine-tune with minimal resources, saving both cash and computing power.Faster Adaptation to Tasks:PEFT allows you to quickly adapt large models to new tasks by only tuning the necessary components speeding up the training process without sacrificing accuracy.Minimal Memory Requirements:Rather than loading the entire model into memory, PEFT uses fewer resources, letting you work on large-scale models without draining your system.How PEFT works ?The core idea of the PEFT is toTypes of PEFT techniques :LoRA (Low-Rank Adaptation) :Lets talk about one of the coolest tricks in PEFT (Parameter-Efficient Fine-Tuning) LoRA. Imagine youve got this massive pre-trained model, like a Transformer, thats already packed with all sorts of knowledge. Now, instead of modifying everything in the model, LoRA lets you tweak just the essentials specifically, a few sneaky little low-rank matrices that help the model adapt to new tasks. The rest of the model stays frozen in time, like an immovable fortress, while LoRA does its magic.So, how does LoRA work its sorcery?Heres the gist of it: Lets say theres a weight matrix W in the model (maybe in the attention mechanism, where the model decides whats important in the input). LoRA comes in and says, Why not approximate W as the product of two much smaller matrices, A and B? Mathematically, its like:WABThese matrices, A and B, are low-rank which, in nerd terms, means they have way fewer parameters to deal with compared to the original weight matrix. The magic? Because A and B are so much smaller, weve got fewer parameters to tune during fine-tuning.But thats not all heres the real kicker:When it comes to fine-tuning, LoRA focuses only on training the parameters of A and B. The rest of the massive model stays locked, untouched. Its like having the keys to just one door in a huge mansion youre making minimal changes, but theyre all targeted and impactful.By doing this, you reduce the number of parameters you need to update during fine-tuning, which makes the whole process way more efficient. Youre getting the same task-specific performance without the heavy lifting of retraining everything. Its like finding the shortcut in a maze you still reach the goal, but with way less effort!Adapters :Lets talk about Adapters not the kind you plug into your phone charger, but these nifty little modules that slot into the transformer architecture like a perfect puzzle piece!Imagine youve got a powerful pre-trained model, and you need to adapt it to a new task. Instead of retraining the entire thing, you introduce an adapter a lightweight, task-specific module that fits neatly after each transformer block. The best part? You dont have to touch the core model at all. Its like adding a few extra gears to a well-oiled machine without dismantling the whole thing.Heres the lowdown on how adapters work:Insertion into Layers: Think of an adapter as a mini-module that slides in after key layers in the transformer, like right after the attention or feed-forward layers. It usually consists of a couple of fully connected layers, where the input size is the same as the original layer (because, lets face it, we dont want to mess with the models flow), but the output dimension is smaller. Its like a sleek, efficient middleman.Task-Specific Tuning: Heres where the fun happens: When you fine-tune the model, only the adapter parameters are updated. That means the core model packed with all its pre-trained knowledge stays frozen, like a wise professor whos teaching you everything they know, but youre just adding some extra knowledge with the adapter. The adapter absorbs the task-specific tweaks without messing up the original wisdom of the model.The Big Win?The core model retains its massive, generalized knowledge while the adapter learns just enough to tackle the new task. Its like teaching a world-class musician a new song without changing their entire repertoire. Efficient, fast, and keeps things clean.Prefix Tuning :Lets get into the groove of Prefix Tuning a clever, minimalist trick that adds just the right amount of guidance to steer a model without overhauling its entire structure. Its like giving your car a gentle nudge to take a different route without touching the engine. Cool, right?Heres how Prefix Tuning works its magic:Learnable Prefix: Picture this: before the model gets to process the input text, you prep a small, task-specific set of tokens this is your prefix. Its like a little note that says, Hey, focus on this when youre working! These tokens are learnable, meaning you can train them to carry the relevant task information. Importantly, the rest of the models weights stay locked down, untouched.Controlling Attention: The prefix isnt just a random add-on. These tokens guide the models attention mechanisms, telling it which parts of the input to focus on. Its like placing a signpost at the start of the road, directing the model on where to head next. So, when the model generates an output, its subtly influenced by the prefix tokens, helping it stay on track for the specific task at hand.The Beauty of Prefix Tuning?The brilliance of prefix tuning lies in its simplicity. Youre not retraining the entire model or altering its inner workings. Instead, youre enhancing its attention just enough to guide it in the right direction for the task you need it to perform.BitFit :Lets dive into BitFit, a deceptively simple yet highly effective PEFT technique thats like tweaking just the small dials on a well-tuned machine to get the perfect result. Instead of overhauling the entire system, BitFit focuses on the tiniest components to make a big impact.How BitFit Works:Bias Tuning: Imagine your model is a giant network of gears and levers (aka weights) that are already trained and doing their thing. Now, instead of retraining every gear, BitFit zooms in on the bias terms the extra parameters that get added to the final output of each layer. These bias terms are like small adjustments that help shift the models output in the right direction, but they dont have the complexity or weight of the entire models weights.Minimalist Fine-Tuning: The trick is that only the bias terms are tuned, while the rest of the models weights remain frozen. Bias terms are much smaller in number compared to the full set of weights, so youre making very targeted changes. Its like fine-tuning the volume on a speaker without touching the entire sound system. Youre still getting the desired sound (or task performance), but without the hassle of fiddling with everything.Why BitFit Rocks:The real charm of BitFit is its efficiency. By focusing on just a few parameters, youre able to fine-tune a model for a specific task while keeping the computational load light. Its a great way to make tweaks without the heavy lifting of full model fine-tuning, making it fast and resource-friendly.Implementing LORA from scratch in Pytorch:Now i will explain you how you can Implement the LORA from scratch so that you have more deep understanding about it.importing necessary libraries :import torchimport torchvision.datasets as datasetsimport torchvision.transforms as transformsimport torch.nn as nnfrom tqdm import tqdmMaking torch model deterministic :_ = torch.manual_seed(0)Training a small model :Lets have some fun with LoRA! Well start by building a small, simple model to classify those classic MNIST digits you know, the ones everyone loves to work with when learning machine learning. But heres the twist: instead of stopping at basic digit classification, were going to take it up a notch.Well identify one digit our network struggles with (maybe it just doesnt vibe with the number 7?), and fine-tune the whole thing using LoRA to make it smarter and better at recognizing that tricky number. Its going to be a cool mix of training, tweaking, and improving perfect for seeing LoRA in action!Loading the Dataset:transform = transforms.Compose([transforms.ToTensor(), transforms.Normalize((0.1307,), (0.3081,))])# Load the MNIST datasetmnist_trainset = datasets.MNIST(root='./data', train=True, download=True, transform=transform)# Create a dataloader for the trainingtrain_loader = torch.utils.data.DataLoader(mnist_trainset, batch_size=10, shuffle=True)# Load the MNIST test setmnist_testset = datasets.MNIST(root='./data', train=False, download=True, transform=transform)test_loader = torch.utils.data.DataLoader(mnist_testset, batch_size=10, shuffle=True)# Define the devicedevice = torch.device("cuda:0" if torch.cuda.is_available() else "cpu")Model Architecture:class SimpleNN(nn.Module): def __init__(self, hidden_size_1=1000, hidden_size_2=2000): super(SimpleNN,self).__init__() self.linear1 = nn.Linear(28*28, hidden_size_1) self.linear2 = nn.Linear(hidden_size_1, hidden_size_2) self.linear3 = nn.Linear(hidden_size_2, 10) self.relu = nn.ReLU() def forward(self, img): x = img.view(-1, 28*28) x = self.relu(self.linear1(x)) x = self.relu(self.linear2(x)) x = self.linear3(x) return xmodel = SimpleNN().to(device)Training Loop:def train(train_loader, model, epochs=5, total_iterations_limit=None): cross_el = nn.CrossEntropyLoss() optimizer = torch.optim.Adam(model.parameters(), lr=0.001) total_iterations = 0 for epoch in range(epochs): model.train() loss_sum = 0 num_iterations = 0 data_iterator = tqdm(train_loader, desc=f'Epoch {epoch+1}') if total_iterations_limit is not None: data_iterator.total = total_iterations_limit for data in data_iterator: num_iterations += 1 total_iterations += 1 x, y = data x = x.to(device) y = y.to(device) optimizer.zero_grad() output = model(x.view(-1, 28*28)) loss = cross_el(output, y) loss_sum += loss.item() avg_loss = loss_sum / num_iterations data_iterator.set_postfix(loss=avg_loss) loss.backward() optimizer.step() if total_iterations_limit is not None and total_iterations >= total_iterations_limit: returntrain(train_loader, model, epochs=1)After executing the above code your small model will get trained and ready to inference,but before that let me keep a copy of the original weights (cloning them) so later we can prove that a fine-tuning with LoRA doesnt alter the original weights.original_weights = {}for name, param in model.named_parameters(): original_weights[name] = param.clone().detach()Now, Testing the performance of the Trained Mode :def test(): correct = 0 total = 0 wrong_counts = [0 for i in range(10)] with torch.no_grad(): for data in tqdm(test_loader, desc='Testing'): x, y = data x = x.to(device) y = y.to(device) output = model(x.view(-1, 784)) for idx, i in enumerate(output): if torch.argmax(i) == y[idx]: correct +=1 else: wrong_counts[y[idx]] +=1 total +=1 print(f'Accuracy: {round(correct/total, 3)}') for i in range(len(wrong_counts)): print(f'wrong counts for the digit {i}: {wrong_counts[i]}')test()Output:Accuracy: 0.954wrong counts for the digit 0: 31wrong counts for the digit 1: 17wrong counts for the digit 2: 46wrong counts for the digit 3: 74wrong counts for the digit 4: 29wrong counts for the digit 5: 7wrong counts for the digit 6: 36wrong counts for the digit 7: 80wrong counts for the digit 8: 25wrong counts for the digit 9: 116As you can see the worst performing digit is 9.LoRA Implementation :Define the LoRA parameterization as described in the paper. The full detail on how PyTorch parameterizations work is here: clickclass LoRAParametrization(nn.Module): def __init__(self, features_in, features_out, rank=1, alpha=1, device='cpu'): super().__init__() # Section 4.1 of the paper: # We use a random Gaussian initialization for A and zero for B, so W = BA is zero at the beginning of training self.lora_A = nn.Parameter(torch.zeros((rank,features_out)).to(device)) self.lora_B = nn.Parameter(torch.zeros((features_in, rank)).to(device)) nn.init.normal_(self.lora_A, mean=0, std=1) # Section 4.1 of the paper: # We then scale Wx by /r , where is a constant in r. # When optimizing with Adam, tuning is roughly the same as tuning the learning rate if we scale the initialization appropriately. # As a result, we simply set to the first r we try and do not tune it. # This scaling helps to reduce the need to retune hyperparameters when we vary r. self.scale = alpha / rank self.enabled = True def forward(self, original_weights): if self.enabled: # Return W + (B*A)*scale return original_weights + torch.matmul(self.lora_B, self.lora_A).view(original_weights.shape) * self.scale else: return original_weightsimport torch.nn.utils.parametrize as parametrizedef linear_layer_parameterization(layer, device, rank=1, lora_alpha=1): # Only add the parameterization to the weight matrix, ignore the Bias # From section 4.2 of the paper: # We limit our study to only adapting the attention weights for downstream tasks and freeze the MLP modules (so they are not trained in downstream tasks) both for simplicity and parameter-efficiency. # [...] # We leave the empirical investigation of [...], and biases to a future work. features_in, features_out = layer.weight.shape return LoRAParametrization( features_in, features_out, rank=rank, alpha=lora_alpha, device=device )parametrize.register_parametrization( model.linear1, "weight", linear_layer_parameterization(model.linear1, device))parametrize.register_parametrization( model.linear2, "weight", linear_layer_parameterization(model.linear2, device))parametrize.register_parametrization( model.linear3, "weight", linear_layer_parameterization(model.linear3, device))def enable_disable_lora(enabled=True): for layer in [model.linear1, model.linear2, model.linear3]: layer.parametrizations["weight"][0].enabled = enabledDisplay the number of parameters added by LoRA.total_parameters_lora = 0total_parameters_non_lora = 0for index, layer in enumerate([model.linear1, model.linear2, model.linear3]): total_parameters_lora += layer.parametrizations["weight"][0].lora_A.nelement() + layer.parametrizations["weight"][0].lora_B.nelement() total_parameters_non_lora += layer.weight.nelement() + layer.bias.nelement() print( f'Layer {index+1}: W: {layer.weight.shape} + B: {layer.bias.shape} + Lora_A: {layer.parametrizations["weight"][0].lora_A.shape} + Lora_B: {layer.parametrizations["weight"][0].lora_B.shape}' )# The non-LoRA parameters count must match the original networkassert total_parameters_non_lora == total_parameters_originalprint(f'Total number of parameters (original): {total_parameters_non_lora:,}')print(f'Total number of parameters (original + LoRA): {total_parameters_lora + total_parameters_non_lora:,}')print(f'Parameters introduced by LoRA: {total_parameters_lora:,}')parameters_incremment = (total_parameters_lora / total_parameters_non_lora) * 100print(f'Parameters incremment: {parameters_incremment:.3f}%')Output:Layer 1: W: torch.Size([1000, 784]) + B: torch.Size([1000]) + Lora_A: torch.Size([1, 784]) + Lora_B: torch.Size([1000, 1])Layer 2: W: torch.Size([2000, 1000]) + B: torch.Size([2000]) + Lora_A: torch.Size([1, 1000]) + Lora_B: torch.Size([2000, 1])Layer 3: W: torch.Size([10, 2000]) + B: torch.Size([10]) + Lora_A: torch.Size([1, 2000]) + Lora_B: torch.Size([10, 1])Total number of parameters (original): 2,807,010Total number of parameters (original + LoRA): 2,813,804Parameters introduced by LoRA: 6,794Parameters incremment: 0.242%Freezing all the parameters of the original network and only fine tuning the ones introduced by LoRA. Then fine-tune the model on the digit 9 and only for 100 batches.# Freeze the non-Lora parametersfor name, param in model.named_parameters(): if 'lora' not in name: print(f'Freezing non-LoRA parameter {name}') param.requires_grad = False# Load the MNIST dataset again, by keeping only the digit 9mnist_trainset = datasets.MNIST(root='./data', train=True, download=True, transform=transform)exclude_indices = mnist_trainset.targets == 9mnist_trainset.data = mnist_trainset.data[exclude_indices]mnist_trainset.targets = mnist_trainset.targets[exclude_indices]# Create a dataloader for the trainingtrain_loader = torch.utils.data.DataLoader(mnist_trainset, batch_size=10, shuffle=True)# Train the network with LoRA only on the digit 9 and only for 100 batches (hoping that it would improve the performance on the digit 9)train(train_loader, model, epochs=1, total_iterations_limit=100)After Training the above new LoRA introduced weights modelVerifying that the fine-tuning didnt alter the original weights, but only the ones introduced by LoRA.# Check that the frozen parameters are still unchanged by the finetuningassert torch.all(model.linear1.parametrizations.weight.original == original_weights['linear1.weight'])assert torch.all(model.linear2.parametrizations.weight.original == original_weights['linear2.weight'])assert torch.all(model.linear3.parametrizations.weight.original == original_weights['linear3.weight'])enable_disable_lora(enabled=True)# The new linear1.weight is obtained by the "forward" function of our LoRA parametrization# The original weights have been moved to net.linear1.parametrizations.weight.original# More info here: https://pytorch.org/tutorials/intermediate/parametrizations.html#inspecting-a-parametrized-moduleassert torch.equal(model.linear1.weight, model.linear1.parametrizations.weight.original + (model.linear1.parametrizations.weight[0].lora_B @ model.linear1.parametrizations.weight[0].lora_A) * model.linear1.parametrizations.weight[0].scale)enable_disable_lora(enabled=False)# If we disable LoRA, the linear1.weight is the original oneassert torch.equal(model.linear1.weight, original_weights['linear1.weight'])Testing the network with LoRA enabled (the digit 9 should be classified better)# Test with LoRA enabledenable_disable_lora(enabled=True)test()Output:Accuracy: 0.924wrong counts for the digit 0: 47wrong counts for the digit 1: 27wrong counts for the digit 2: 65wrong counts for the digit 3: 240wrong counts for the digit 4: 89wrong counts for the digit 5: 32wrong counts for the digit 6: 54wrong counts for the digit 7: 137wrong counts for the digit 8: 61wrong counts for the digit 9: 9Testing the network with LoRA disabled (the accuracy and errors counts must be the same as the original network)enable_disable_lora(enabled=False)test()Output:wrong counts for the digit 0: 31wrong counts for the digit 1: 17wrong counts for the digit 2: 46wrong counts for the digit 3: 74wrong counts for the digit 4: 29wrong counts for the digit 5: 7wrong counts for the digit 6: 36wrong counts for the digit 7: 80wrong counts for the digit 8: 25wrong counts for the digit 9: 116Conclusion :The implementation weve walked through demonstrates the power and efficiency of LoRA in practice. Through our MNIST example, weve seen how LoRA can significantly improve model performance on specific tasks (like digit 9 recognition) while adding only 0.242% more parameters to the original model. This perfectly illustrates why PEFT techniques, particularly LoRA, are becoming increasingly important in the AI landscape.Key takeaways from our exploration:PEFT techniques like LoRA make fine-tuning accessible even with limited computational resourcesBy focusing on crucial parameters, we can achieve significant improvements in task-specific performanceThe original model weights remain unchanged, allowing for multiple task-specific adaptationsThe implementation requires minimal code changes to existing architecturesThe future of AI model adaptation lies in such efficient techniques that balance performance with resource utilization. As models continue to grow in size and complexity, PEFT approaches will become even more crucial for practical applications.GitHub Repository :I have created an project in which you can fine tune resnet on your custom dataset by using the technique that we have just learned.For the complete code and implementation details, visit: github.com/yourusername/peft-lora-guideJoin thousands of data leaders on the AI newsletter. Join over 80,000 subscribers and keep up to date with the latest developments in AI. From research to projects and ideas. If you are building an AI startup, an AI-related product, or a service, we invite you to consider becoming asponsor. Published via Towards AI
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  • Scale HUMAN animations with OmniHuman-1 (Technical Review)
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    Scale HUMAN animations with OmniHuman-1 (Technical Review) 0 like February 11, 2025Share this postLast Updated on February 12, 2025 by Editorial TeamAuthor(s): Deltan Lobo Originally published on Towards AI. Rethinking the Scaling-Up of One-Stage Conditioned Human Animation ModelsThis member-only story is on us. Upgrade to access all of Medium.Image courtesy: OmniHuman-1 paperVideo generation models have been fun till now. Weve seen several video generation models that create content especially HUMAN ANIMATIONS.But those models focus only on either facial expressions or body movement but not both.TikToks parent company ByteDance bridges this gap by releasing OmniHuman[1] Now we are able to try out a broader range of animations, from subtle lip-syncing to full-body motion by maintaining consistency in different body proportions.Of course yeah, traditional models were capable of creating human videos. But as I said it was only limited to a specific body movement and also even if it was created, the characters in the video would look lifeless.I hope you might be aware of some portrait videos giving explanations about something.But OmniHuman solves this up to a certain extent. Whether youre animating a portrait, half-body, or full-body character, this model adapts seamlessly. Supports both talking and singing, handles human-object interactions and challenging body poses, and accommodates different image styles.Video generation has made huge leaps in recent years Thanks to diffusion models[2] and transformer architectures[3]. These models work incredibly well for general video generation (like text-to-video systems).But, Read the full blog for free on Medium.Join thousands of data leaders on the AI newsletter. Join over 80,000 subscribers and keep up to date with the latest developments in AI. From research to projects and ideas. If you are building an AI startup, an AI-related product, or a service, we invite you to consider becoming asponsor. Published via Towards AITowards AI - Medium Share this post
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