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Salt-N-Pepa details the journey of Queensborough Community College students Cheryl “Salt” James and Sandra “Pepa” Denton as they enter the world of rap and hip hop, after recording a song for their friend Hurby Azor. Salt-N-Pepa made a huge impact as one of the first all-female rap groups, changing the look of hip hop and being unafraid to talk about sex and share their thoughts on men.

The movie follows the group as they become the first female rap act to go platinum and experience ground-breaking success with multiple awards, including a Grammy award –  paving the way for all female rappers to follow. The film will feature performances of Salt-N-Pepa’s greatest hits, including: “Let’s Talk About Sex”, “What a Man”, “Shoop” and “Push It”.

Salt-N-Pepa will premiere Saturday, January 23, 2021 at 8 PM EST/7 PM CST on Lifetime.

Microsoft, the $1.7 trillion megacorporation behind the Zune and Bing, has filed a patent for a chatbot that can mimic a “specific person.” The patent says the chatbot would have its personality sculpted in part from “social data,” and would, in some instances, work in tandem with a 3D model of its real-life counterpart—whether that counterpart be alive, or dead.

The Independent reported on Microsoft’s new patent, which outlines a “conversational” chatbot that legitimately sounds like something out of Black Mirror. Specifically, the episode “Be Right Back,” in which a boyfriend comes back to “life” as a robot. (It features Domhnall Gleeson, and you should watch it if you haven’t!)

Netflix

Microsoft notes the chatbot would develop its target personality in several ways. The social data, consisting of social media posts, texts, voice messages, etc., would, in effect, be used to train the chatbot’s neural networks; this would enable it to speak like a specific individual. The bot would also have a “personality theme,” proportionately weighted by the social data.

As The Independent points out, the patent specifically states “The…person [who the chat bot represents] may correspond to a past or present entity (or a version thereof), such as a friend, a relative, an acquaintance, a celebrity, a fictional character, a historical figure, a random entity etc.” Which undoubtedly hints at the ability to revive someone from the afterlife. And maybe even change them so you like them more?

“The specific person may also correspond to oneself (e.g., the user creating/training the chat bot),” the patent also notes. Another implicative statement that makes it sound like you could store your own personality with one of these chatbots, allowing you to stick around after death.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to say Microsoft has had a stellar record with cutting-edge AI. Most notably, the company struggled with its experimental Twitter chatbot, Tay. Soon after Tay appeared on the social media platform, she devolved into making racist remarks. (Thanks to users figuring out a way to hack her with certain behaviors.) On top of that, the company also earned backlash when one of its AIs confused two mixed-race musicians.

Regardless of Microsoft’s previous endeavors, or whether or not it pursues this patent, it seems inevitable that reviving dead people as chatbots—or full-blown robots—is going to become a thing. To prepare, we should all watch more Black Mirror. And maybe save any controversial thoughts we have on the series somewhere very private.

The post Microsoft Patents Chatbot Capable of Simulating Dead People appeared first on Nerdist.

Since his swearing in yesterday, President Joe Biden has hit the ground running in an effort to undo the damage wreaked by the previous administration. He signed a slew of executive orders to roll back Trump’s cruelest executive actions, including rescinding the Muslim ban, canceling the Keystone XL pipeline, and rejoining WHO and the Paris Climate Accords.

Biden also canceled one of Trump’s most sinister and racist schemes: the 1776 commission. Designed as a response to the New York Times’ Pulitzer-winning series “1619 Project,” which seeks to reframe the history of America around the date the first slave ships arrived in the country, the 1776 commission sought to ignore and belittle the horrific consequences of slavery and racism in America.

Pres Trump claims the 1619 project distorts and “rewrites” American history. He says the project wrongly says America was founded on “oppression not freedom.”

Fact: At America’s founding, kidnapped enslaved black people were exploited. The consequences of slavery continue today.

— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) September 17, 2020

Trump described the commission as something that would “restore patriotic education to our schools” via a “pro-America curriculum,” which is essentially white supremacist propaganda. The 1776 report whitewashes American history, which is already rife with whitewashing and the white male perspective. According to Trump, teaching kids critical race theory is tantamount to “child abuse.”

Civil War historian David Blight called the report, “an insult to the whole enterprise of education. Education is supposed to help young people learn to think critically … That report is a piece of right-wing propaganda.”

Trump’s 1776 Commission says historians pointing out the paradox of a nation founded on the idea of freedom denying freedom to Black people “has done enormous damage” to “our civic unity and social fabric.” pic.twitter.com/TQkMkNtBTt

— Eli Stokols (@EliStokols) January 18, 2021

The 1776 commission is horrific, dangerous, and disgusting. There is no other way to describe it. So it’s a relief to see the Biden administration withdrawing the report and suspending the website, with officials saying the commission “sought to erase America’s history of racial injustice.”

It stayed up for about as long as it took to write it. https://t.co/v7O3xCinnA

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) January 20, 2021

The order is part of a broad executive order on advancing racial equity. The order reads, “Our country faces converging economic, health, and climate crises that have exposed and exacerbated inequities, while a historic movement for justice has highlighted the unbearable human costs of systemic racism. Our Nation deserves an ambitious whole-of-government equity agenda that matches the scale of the opportunities and challenges that we face.”

The order also commands all federal agencies “to undertake a baseline review of the state of equity within their agency and deliver an action plan within 200 days to address unequal barriers to opportunity in agency policies and programs,” which stands in marked opposition to Trump’s previous order to cancel racial sensitivity and bias training in the federal government.

Many were relieved by the swift action taken, and by Biden’s direct denunciation of white supremacy in his inaugural speech. But of course, this doesn’t mean the end of the right wing’s attempts to indoctrinate our children and push their revisionist fantasy of American history. There is still so much work to be done, but this is a great place to start.

(via AP News, featured image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network announced a new extended episode for its first-ever digital animated short-form comedy series Sincerely, Camille from creator Munirah Safiyah Jones (“Junt Land”). In this new episode Staci has a bone to pick, while Camille seeks some solutions. Daddy Earl and Camille’s mother, Leila, have a chance encounter.

Created as a part of OWN’s first ever nonpartisan get-out-the-vote campaign OWN Your Vote, Sincerely, Camille follows a trio of women – Camille, Staci, and Sara – navigating life, work, and relationships during a pivotal time in American history. Three friends, three different viewpoints, three varying approaches to evoking civic participation. The series follows the women’s efforts to get their communities informed, engaged, and inspired to act. Whether it be affordable healthcare or legal reform, “Sincerely, Camille” starts the conversation and encourages the audience to continue it. Animation provides a dynamic way of delivering the sermon—minus the preaching. 

2020. Amirite? It’s behind us, but old acquaintance be not forgot. Staci has a bone to pick, while Camille seeks some solutions. Daddy Earl and Camille’s mother, Leila, have a chance encounter.

‘On My Golden Gate’ characters are voiced by creator Munirah Safiyah Jones as ‘Camille,’ Kent King (General Hospital) as ‘Sara,’ Kiana Thompson (Friend Request) as ‘Staci,’ Jay Devon Johnson as ‘Daddy Earl,’ Rodney Worthy Williams as ‘Brian,’ Havon Kesean Baraka as ‘Melvin,’ LaZora Jones as ‘Leila,’ and Jabree Webber (Unbelievable) as ‘Naomi.’

Sincerely, Camille is produced for OWN by Executive Producer Munirah Safiyah Jones and Harpo Films. 

Munirah Safiyah Jones is represented by Heroes and Villains Entertainment and Ginsburg Daniels LLP.