The Advanced Imaging Society (AIS) and EARTHDAY.ORG announced that Academy Award-winning director, writer, producer James Cameron and Academy Award-winning producer Jon Landau will be presented with the Voices For The Earth Award at the 2023 AIS Lumiere Awards for their transcendent and immersive Avatar: The Way of Water. The 13th annual awards ceremony will take place at a luncheon on Friday, February 10, 2023 at The Beverly Hills Hotel.
“James Cameron and Jon Landau’s first Avatar revolutionized filmmaking technology 13 years ago, winning several of our top awards including Best Picture,” said AIS president Jim Chabin. “With Avatar: The Way of Water, these masters of film have again left us awestruck with magnificent characters and stories, but also reminders of just how fragile life and ecosystems are. We are thrilled to honor them and this epic film for being ‘Voices for the Earth’ to millions of movie fans across the world."
The film re-acquaints viewers with the magical wonders of nature and, through its engaging story of intense environmental and cultural preservation, imparts to viewers the urgency of caring for and preserving the wonders of our natural world now–before it’s too late. The film’s incredible artistry in creating lush jungle landscapes and vibrant oceans teeming with colorful sea life also imparts a profound sense of awe and reverence for the beauty and treasures of our shared natural world. The film highlights–in its gripping character journeys–the vital need to organize against any threats to the vibrant, sentient, and astonishing interconnectedness of our shared planet.
The Voices For The Earth Award celebrates innovation and inspiration in environmental storytelling and acknowledges creatives who have found a unique approach to strengthen the audience’s appreciation for nature and illustrate the importance of taking care of our shared planet. Academy Award®-nominated writer/director Adam McKay received in 2022 the inaugural Voices for the Earth Award for his film Don’t Look Up.
Presenting the award to Cameron and Landau will be Kathleen Rogers, president of EARTHDAY.ORG. Rogers said, “James Cameron’s first Avatar is a testament to extraordinary filmmaking, human ingenuity, and technology. It is also a tribute to nature and ecology. Avatar wasn’t just about our relationship with trees, it was about our utter dependence on them. In 2010 EARTHDAY.ORG joined forces with James Cameron to plant over 1 million trees in vulnerable areas around the world in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day and the release of Avatar. Now more than a decade later, the world is experiencing Avatar: The Way of Water, another extraordinary film focused on our deep and spiritual connections with nature. This extraordinary experience will inspire millions of people to support the protection of water, the very basis of life to all species. We are proud to present this award to a dedicated filmmaking genius who also shares a deep love for our planet and its species.”
The Lumiere Awards have been presented over the last decade to the industry’s most respected creative and technical leaders. In addition to awards for motion pictures, episodic and new media content, the society will bestow awards for best musical motion picture, best musical scene or performance, and best immersive audio.
Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died
Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26.
Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI's strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products.
"We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time," said a statement from OpenAI.
Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26 in what police said "appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation." The city's chief medical examiner's office confirmed the manner of death to be suicide.
His parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy said they are still seeking answers, describing their son as a "happy, smart and brave young man" who loved to hike and recently returned from a trip with friends.
Balaji grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and first arrived at the fledgling AI research lab for a 2018 summer internship while studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned a few years later to work at OpenAI, where one of his first projects, called WebGPT, helped pave the way for ChatGPT.
"Suchir's contributions to this project were essential, and it wouldn't have succeeded without him," said OpenAI co-founder John Schulman in a social media post memorializing Balaji. Schulman, who recruited Balaji to his team, said what... Read More