Deepfakes of your dead loved ones are a booming Chinese business

Christina Lobo

In Chinese homes, it’s common to put up a portrait of a deceased relative for a few years after the death. Zhang Zewei, founder of a Shanghai-based company called Super Brain, says he and his team wanted to revamp that tradition with an “AI photo frame.” They create avatars of deceased loved ones that are pre-loaded onto an Android tablet, which looks like a photo frame when standing up. Clients can choose a moving image that speaks words drawn from an offline database or from an LLM. 

“In its essence, it’s not much different from a traditional portrait, except that

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Financial stress is making us mentally and physically ill. Here’s how to cope

Christina Lobo

Years ago, I received a surprise in the mail: a $500 bill for a recent X-ray. I was earning an entry-level media salary at the time (for the uninitiated, that’s equivalent to peanuts), and the shock of having to figure out how to cover an unexpected expense sent my pulse racing with anxiety and my head pounding with stress. 

I was in good company. Research shows again and again that our finances can take a toll on our minds. Money has consistently topped Americans’ list of stressors since the American Psychological Association began running its annual Stress in America Survey

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SoftBank leads $1bn funding for UK artificial intelligence group Wayve

Christina Lobo

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Japanese conglomerate SoftBank is leading an investment of more than $1bn into UK self-driving car start-up Wayve, marking Europe’s largest artificial intelligence deal to date.

The funding round, which also includes Nvidia and existing investor Microsoft, will allow the London-based company to deploy its autonomous systems in cars in the coming years.

Wayve’s new financing is the largest for a European AI start-up, after France-based Mistral raised $415mn in December and Germany’s Aleph Alpha raised $500mn in November.

The deal

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In Marketing, AI Cannot Duplicate The Human Element

Christina Lobo

This is the published version of Forbes’ CMO newsletter, which offers the latest news for chief marketing officers and other messaging-focused leaders. Click here to get it delivered to your inbox every Wednesday.

Yesterday, TikTok made good on its vow to challenge the new law forcing its ban or sale to a non-Chinese entity in nine months. The short video social media platform, owned by Chinese company Byte Dance, sued the U.S. government in federal court yesterday, assailing the new law as an overreach that violates the First Amendment rights of the company—and the 170 million U.S. users of

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New survey sheds light on how small business owners are staying resilient amid uncertainty

Christina Lobo

Making Money host Charles Payne addresses the challenges of starting a small business.

A new survey of small business owners conducted by Capital One looked at how small businesses are dealing with adversity and remaining resilient amid uncertainty about the economic outlook.

Capital One surveyed over 1,000 small business owners with less than $20 million in total annual revenue and at least one employee and found that the need for small businesses to be nimble to keep pace with the competition and not fall behind in the use of new, emerging technologies can take a toll on the owners who

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Lemonade: Technology And Innovative Business Model Set It Apart

Christina Lobo

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When I last wrote about Lemonade (NYSE:LMND), it was just after the company reported its fourth quarter 2023 earnings. Investors were disappointed with revenue guidance. Management didn’t enthuse investors when they stated that the company would double

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