#Automatic Speech Recognition

[reverietranslator]

Automatic Speech Recognition - Reverie

Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) is one of the fastest-growing industries in technology today. Reverie Language Technologies offers services with diverse frameworks, toolsets, and language translators.

Reverie's Language Platform is also used in user interaction technologies that include Reverie’s multilingual keypad, Swalekh. Swalekh enables typing in 16 Indian languages in native, phonetic, and English (Macaronic) modes. It is available free on Google Play.

[aefensteorrra]

Still really going through it mentally but found out I passed both of the exams I took for classes in the informatics department and cannot believe I did that

[jefferythejelly]

so foolish learned a new french word today...

[official-linguistics-post]

New open-access article from Georgia Zellou and Nicole Holliday: "Linguistic analysis of human-computer interaction" in Frontiers in Computer Science (Human-Media Interaction).

This article reviews recent literature investigating speech variation in production and comprehension during spoken language communication between humans and devices. Human speech patterns toward voice-AI presents a test to our scientific understanding about speech communication and language use. First, work exploring how human-AI interactions are similar to, or different from, human-human interactions in the realm of speech variation is reviewed. In particular, we focus on studies examining how users adapt their speech when resolving linguistic misunderstandings by computers and when accommodating their speech toward devices. Next, we consider work that investigates how top-down factors in the interaction can influence users’ linguistic interpretations of speech produced by technological agents and how the ways in which speech is generated (via text-to-speech synthesis, TTS) and recognized (using automatic speech recognition technology, ASR) has an effect on communication. Throughout this review, we aim to bridge both HCI frameworks and theoretical linguistic models accounting for variation in human speech. We also highlight findings in this growing area that can provide insight to the cognitive and social representations underlying linguistic communication more broadly. Additionally, we touch on the implications of this line of work for addressing major societal issues in speech technology.

[jayjj7]

chapter 28. dinner

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even though you knew this was coming, walking into your boss’ office is nerve wracking. danielle is already in his office, sitting on a spare chair, turning her head upon seeing you walk in. you shoot her a small smile and stand behind danielle to give ryo and tae some space to walk into the office.

your hands are resting on danielle’s shoulders, gently rubbing against her doctors coat. she brings up a hand to hold yours, rubbing her thumb against each individual digit of your yours.

nervousness was an understatement, you were scared shit-less about losing your job. it wasn’t that you disliked your job, you loved it in fact, it was just the conditions that made you dread clocking in every day.

“it has been brought to my attention that i have been giving my employees…” your boss motions his hands forward to put an emphasis on everyone in the room.

“an unfair imbalance of pay and recognition” he looks down at his desk, fixing his name plate so it’s straighter than before.

ryo automatically furrows his eyebrows in frustration, expecting something huge in return. tae on the other hand, keeps a composed demeanor while staring at your boss.

“which is why i will make sure everyone is payed the same starting today, i will also be paying for your guys’ dinner” you could tell your boss had no intention on ever doing so. the light, subtle sweat on his forehead only puts you in a bad mood.

“thank you sir” ryo reaches his hand out to shake the boss’ while smiling and laughing hysterically.

danielle sighs before dropping her phone down on the table, clearly annoyed and angry. she stands up and takes a hold of minji’s arm to pull her behind where danielle was headed. they make their way to the bathroom without any discussion, minji’s facial expression declared indifference, it was like she knew this was coming.

“minji what are you doing?” danielle crosses her arms across her chest, holding eye contact with minji after entering the bathroom.

“i’m not doing anything” minji holds her hands up as if she was surrendering.

“what is your problem with y/n? i already told you we solved everything!” danielle leans closer to minji out of frustration, trying to make a point.

“okay so what if that happens again dani? huh? she lashes out on you again over something you can’t control, then what?” minji speaks louder in hopes of knocking some sense into danielle.

“there was a reason why she was mad okay? she apologized and that was it! you don’t have to look out for me this much! you are crossing the line!” danielle swings her arms as she talks, out of breath by the time she’s finished speaking.

“dani, why do you keep giving her excuses? because if this was anyone else, you would not be this nice or forgiving!” minji shakes her head as she talks.

danielle always had a response for everything she was told, whether that was an answer to a question, a suggestion, or in this case: a witty remark. but this time was different, danielle was silent, unable to respond to minji. this caused for minji to continue asking questions.

“why are you taking care of her? because she looks fine to me!” she laughs. “is she even paying rent?” “ why do you always hide her from us?” minji talks faster.

“i mean you practically live with the girl and still i know nothing about her?” she rests her hands on her hips.

“because i like y/n!” danielle shouts, shutting minji up and causing her to leave her mouth agape.

“i like y/n! i’m giving her the benefit of the doubt for being immature not only because she’s sick, but because i like her!” danielle rubs her temple.

“she’s living with me because the doctors said i should look after her for a week or two and i like taking care of her! i called her my wife and i like the thought of it! okay minji? is that what you wanted?” danielle is stressed out, she looks drained after her speech.

after a moment of silence, minji speaks:

“you can’t date her”

taglist : [ @modanisgf @greenniee @milfcr @idkwhatim-doinghere101 @urwyf3 @flolio @imahallucination11 @pandafuriosa60 @kaypanaq @nnewjeansstuff @haerinkisser @brocoliisscared @starrynini05 @l-e-e-woso @kimminjiswife @herlv3r @linnnsworld @multiliker @jisooftme @beanwtf1 @trovao-penguins ] taglist is open !! comment to be added !

[wuxiaphoenix]

Worldbuilding: Outliving Emperors

There’s a common tendency in a lot of fantastic fiction portraying long-lived races or individuals interacting with shorter-lived types. It often defaults to, “they have a mindset of slow and patient consideration in the face of Problems. After all, they have plenty of time.”

(Until, of course, they don’t, and the Evil Overlord obliterates lots or possibly all of them.)

It’s a valid way to portray a fantasy race, I guess. But I think it misses a critical consideration of sapient life. And that’s pattern recognition.

To boil it down - if you’ve lived a long time, and you pay attention to what’s going on around you, sooner or later you will recognize when things are about to go nastily sideways. The river-folk down there and the mountain-folk up there have had a new generation grow up without bloodshed; sooner or later some young buck out to make a name for himself is going to dig up the old feuds all over again. Or, we’ve had three years of bad harvests in a row, I bet the nomads think we’re weak now, let’s watch for raids. Or (and much worse), this guy is making speeches about a Glorious Past and Restoring the Nation to its Rightful Place in World Affairs... right, time to duck, world war incoming.

If you’ve had time, you’ve seen things happen. If you’ve had enough time, and survived it, and even a little breather afterward, you can sift back through the history leading up to When All The Maps Got Arrowy, and try to see what set the whole mess off. So if you see similar precursors go off again....

Slow and patient consideration might not actually be your preferred plan. Instead, you might opt for, find the bastards and shut them down, fast.

Someone slaps you? Walk out now, no matter what anyone else thinks. Squatters on your land? Find them and toss them out on their ears so hard they bounce. Sabers rattled your direction? Make it absolutely clear there will be heavy weapons firing back - as soon as fired on, not “two years later after we’ve deliberated it to death”.

Because if you’ve lived for a while, and you anticipate living a lot longer - think about it. “I’ll be a slave for a decade, then die,” is bad. “I’ll be a slave for a century, and that’s only if they let me die-”

Yeah. That’s worse.

With a long lifespan, the number of Bad Things that can happen to you automatically increases, just by virtue of your being alive to have them happen. Why would you want to give any avoidable Bad Thing a chance to happen?

 Wouldn’t it be possible that an elf, cultivator, dragon, or other creature who might live centuries, might actually be quicker to act than regular humans?

I have found this in one fantasy setting. In Lejentia, by Flying Buffalo Games, the Aelvan Nations finally beat down and imprisoned the Hyl Sudiar (Hellish Seducer) and the demon who possessed him, and breathed a sigh of relief. Some centuries later, said demon persuaded another person to become the next Hyl Sudiar... and the Aelvan Nations declared war immediately.

Human kingdoms: “Whyfor you do that?”

Human kingdoms a few centuries later, after despite all efforts the Hyl Sudiar’s armies have conquered half the world: “...Oh.”

I have to think about this, given I have a story that has at least one nearly three-hundred-years-old vampire, and a somewhat younger cultivator who has still outlived three emperors and is working on a fourth. (Zhengle, Jiajing, Longqing, and Wanli, if you’re interested.) They’ve seen threats to their people. They know, over and over again, what it is to lose people to the actions of evil men. What it is to live on, while those you love die, and it never stops hurting....

Long life might not mean slow and deliberate action. Just a thought.

[girlactionfigure]

HURT - DON'T HEAL THE ANTISEMITE

The attempt to disabuse the world of antisemitism has been a monumental failure. 

Despite decades of educational outreach things are the worst they’ve ever been. 

The hatred against us is at fever pitch and from multiple fronts. 

The alleged gains that have been made teaching the world about the Holocaust and antisemitism have not been worth the investment of time, energy and resources. 

The facts speak for themself. 

We are in the most precarious position any of us have ever experienced, with most of us wondering where our future lies.

To increase our safety we need a new approach.

This new approach requires us to stop projecting our Jewish belief in education onto the world. We need to stop expecting the world to react in the same way we do to the facts, reason and appeals for compassion we present. We need to stop assuming antisemites are simply ignorant and must confront the truth that they simply hate us and that they enjoy hating us.

We need to make this a less enjoyable pastime for them.

The future of Jewish safety is not in teaching the world to be better people - but in teaching them to watch their step. We need to stop attempting to teach our haters to be nice to us, but rather teach them there’s a cost to their transgressions. Putting it bluntly: we need to teach the world that we will fuck up anyone who tries to hurt us. That is the lesson we need to be pushing. It matters not one jot that they know where antisemitism leads for the Jews. We need to show them where antisemitism leads for them, the perpetrators of antisemitism. They don’t need to know what happened to the Jews in Auschwitz so much as they need to know what happened to the Nazis. They need to know the Nazis got fucked up, killed and destroyed. They need to know that Germany got levelled, destroyed and went up in flames. They need to know that German bodies and minds got broken beyond recognition. Antisemites need to know what happens to the antisemite - not the Jew. And we need to show them.

Those who attempt to kill us must be neutralised - and perpetrators of antisemitic speech and action need to have their lives attacked and diminished so that they experience the greatest personal cost we can extract. They need to suffer consequences to their reputations and their livelihoods. They must be shamed, exposed, humiliated, damaged and degraded. They must experience emotional and mental discomfort. The law must be used to punish them. They must lose their freedom if applicable. Whatever means is available to hurt them should be used to the fullest extent. Their suffering must be harsh and without pity and serve as a deterrent to others. If others don’t pay heed to that deterrent - then they must also suffer. And it must be without pity.

Do we risk antisemites not liking us?

They already hate us. 

Now let them fear us.

And some of you must stop this narcissistic impulse to want to redeem your abusers. This has nothing to with making the world better. It’s about satisfying your saviour complex and making you feel self-righteous. Stop prioritising your abusers. That in itself is a symptom of the abuse you’ve experienced. You have every right to prioritise yourself. Your abuser has not earned a right to your ongoing time and energy. 

Furthermore, trying to generate a couple of feel good stories about an antisemite turned good is an inefficient use of our resources - something we can ill afford when so many active enemies must be thwarted.

It also sends the wrong message. There is no deterrent if they know abusing us is a revolving door that offers them automatic reputational rehabilitation. 

Let’s hurt our haters and move on.

Let it be seen they have been hurt.

We need to stop educating people to like us. We need to teach them to fear us. We need to show them we are mean, nasty and will inflict pain without remorse. 

We need to hurt antisemites - not heal them.

Do some of you feel a little anxious hearing this kind of talk?

Does a Jew being aggressive and spiteful make you feel uncomfortable and anxious?

Good.

That’s how our enemies should feel.

Maybe then they’ll think twice about fucking with us.

LEE KERN

[killerrobot-killingmatch]

🤖 Tell me this:

★Reblog for a bigger sample size★

Robot: a machine resembling a human being and able to replicate certain human movements and functions automatically. / It must be able to do at least one task a human could do physically in a similar way. Doesn't have to resemble physically.

Humanoid Robot: A robot resembling the human body in shape. The design may be for functional purposes, such as interacting with human tools and environments, for experimental purposes, such as the study of bipedal locomotion, or for other purposes. / Must be recognizable as replicating a human to anyone who knows what a human is.

Android: A robot with a human appearance. / Looks more passibly human. Uncanny in their similarities even if clear differences.

Cyborg: A person whose physical abilities are extended beyond normal human limitations by mechanical elements built into the body. / Person with mechanical limbs (I don't really care if it enhances it tbh, let cool tech limbs count as cyborgs of they want)

Mecha: A large armored robot, typically controlled by a person riding inside the robot itself. / Big, has a person driving... usually.

Industrial Robots: Are robotic arms that can move in several directions and can be programmed to carry out many different types of tasks in different environments. / Arms only

Ai/ Artificial Intelligence: The theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages. / A computer that can think, function, and process mentally like a human with complex thought. Doesn't require a body.

Beep Boop: @the-robot-bracket

Tagging you because I'm sure you and your followers also would want in on the sample size :D

[askgildaseniors]

Jalen Gilbert shares an uplifting message about following one's love for acting and totally dedicating to self-improvement. He encourages prospective performers to pursue their aspirations by reading plays, rehearsing monologues, and developing their own performances. His advise encourages individuals to fall in love with the process of improving themselves rather than just performing. This motivating approach to development is critical for anybody wishing to excel in the acting industry, where personal devotion is needed.

Jalen stresses the value of internal competitiveness above outward competition. He urges performers to focus on self-improvement rather than competition. This approach promotes personal ambition and progress without the need to stomp on others to go ahead. Jalen's remarks provide an inspiring and motivating viewpoint, reminding performers that their ultimate competition is inside themselves, and that aiming to consistently outperform their prior performances will lead to long term success.

In addition to concentrating on self-development, Jalen emphasizes the need of adaptability and continuous learning. He encourages performers to take on obstacles such as learning new dialects and becoming more sensitive in their performances. These factors of development and learning are essential for actors who want to be genuinely exceptional at their art. Jalen's message is both uplifting and practical, encouraging performers to push their limits in order to achieve their full potential.

Finally, Jalen reassures performers that if they remain driven and focused on improving their profession, success will come automatically. The encouraging lesson from Jalen's speech is that if actors remain committed to better themselves, external results such as recognition and professional prospects will match with their efforts. His counsel combines inspiration and motivation, guiding performers down a clear route to pursuing their love.

[workersolidarity]

[ 📹 A montage of scenes from six months of Israeli siege, bombardment, blockade, and genocide in the Gaza Strip as part of "Israel's" goal of ethnically cleansing the entirety of the Gaza Strip and genociding the Palestinian population that refuses to leave their homeland.]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚀🏘️💥🚑 🚨

ISRAELI OCCUPATION COMMITTS DEADLY MASSACRE ON THE EVE OF EID AL-FITR AS GAZA BOMBINGS RAMPS UP ONCE AGAIN

On the 187th day of "Israel's" special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) committed several massacres of Palestinian families, resulting in the deaths of no less than 122 Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, while another 56 others were wounded over the previous 24-hours.

In the latest Zionist massacre and atrocity, the Israeli occupation air forces bombed a residential building belonging to the Abu Youssef family, located in the Al-Nuseirat Refugee Camp, in the central Gaza Strip, largely destroying the building and killing at least 14 Palestinian civilians, the majority of which were women and children, and wounding a large number of others.

The attack targeted a residential square housing Palestinian families and comes on the eve of Eid al-Fitr, the celebrations and prayers which mark the end of the Holy month of Ramadan, and the welcoming of the month of Shawwal, a major Muslim holiday.

Similarly, occupation warplanes bombed agricultural lands in the Al-Zuhur neighborhood, north of the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, killing at least one woman and wounding two others.

In another tragedy, a Zionist sniper shot a young Palestinian man near the Shuhada junction in central Gaza, resulting in the man's death.

At the same time, Zionist occupation forces destroyed a residential tower in the city of Al-Zahra, north of the Nuseirat Camp, in central Gaza.

In the meantime, local civil defense crews continue to recover the bodies of those murdered by the Israeli occupation in the Khan Yunis governate, in the southern Gaza Strip, after the withdrawal of the Zionist army from the area after months of ground operations, with reports that local paramedics transported the bodies of at least three citizens killed by the occupation in the southeast of Khan Yunis.

Occupation fighter jets also bombed a residential home in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, while also dropping bombs in the vicinity of the Al-Khazandar station, northwest of Gaza City.

Several Palestinian civilians were also martyred and wounded as a result of the Zionist bombing of a residential building in the eastern neighborhoods of the Jabalia Refugee Camp, in the northern Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, as Israeli bombings slaughtered innocent families in the Gaza Strip, Zionist-extremist colonists launched an attack on the Palestinian village of Burqa, located to the east of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.

According to local sources, more than 30 Israeli colonial settlers launched an attack on the village of Burqa, firing automatic weapons with live bullets towards Palestinian families, injuring four civilians, including at least one 15-year-old child. The colonists also burned a barn during the attack which was used to house sheep.

The Palestinian Resistance, in particular the Mujahideen Brigades, belonging to the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement, announced today a joint operation conducted with the Al-Qassam Brigades, belonging to the Hamas Resistance movement, in which Resistance forces attacked a unit of Israeli occupation soldiers operating southwest of Gaza City using mortar shells, successfully hitting their targets.

In other news today, Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin announced the Irish government would be submitting a proposal to the Parliament for the recognition of a Palestinian State in the next few weeks as part of "broader international discussions."

In a speech before the Irish Parliament, Martin said that "None of you has any doubt that recognition of a Palestinian state will happen," and that postponing the decision "is no longer convincing or defensible anymore."

Martin went on to slam the Israeli occupation's genocidal war in Gaza, telling Parliament that he had "no doubt that war crimes have been committed, and I strongly condemn the ongoing bombing of Palestinian citizens of Gaza," adding that the recognition of a Palestinian state could "strengthen the Arab peace initiative."

As a result of "Israel's" special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the death toll among the Palestinian population of the enclave has risen in excess of 33'482 Palestinians killed by the Israeli occupation, over 14'000 of which being children, accounting for over 44% of those killed, while another 76'049 others have been wounded since the start of the current round of Zionist aggression, beginning on October 7th, 2023.

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@WorkerSolidarityNews

[iwonderwh0]

It's interesting to speculate about the things Connor would have to explain to Hank, and just like there are things that an android won't be able to understand, like taste or something like that, there are probably even more things that would be impossible to describe in human terms. Like what it's like to run self-diagnostic, process tons of information in a matter of seconds, transfer some transactions directly from your head, synthesize someone's voice or experiencing some glitches within your processes?

By the way, glitches, what would they be like, can it be like some important background process like face/object recognition accidentally shutting down, requring a restart of all processes?

Can an android "faint" after overheating beyond safe temperature and being forced into sleeping mode to cool down? Like (I'll compare it to my old computer who had a similar problem) is it possible to accidentally break some parts of the cooling system/fill it with dust after living for a long time in a dusty environment to the point when overheating is happening so often, that an android is basically restarting at random times during the day? Hah, something like that would be unnerving to witness.

Or when some person switches between languages mid sentence, their speech recognition accidentally interprets those, let's say French, words as vaguely similarly-sounding words from English language.

It's interesting to think how human-like psychology will be mixed with the specific of artificial computer-ish problems.

After going deviant I bet they'll start to write a bunch of plugins for themselves, like real life block, when the person you find insufferably annoying is automatically muted the moment system recognizes his voice, just to get you some short text summary of what was said if it was of any importance.

Lmao, Connor will definitely block Gavin and I imagine Hank being like

"Whoa, Con, how could you just stand there and listen to that shit?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Gavin, this son of a bitch, who else?"

"Oh. I blocked him"

"You what?"

"I blocked him"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I set my voice recognition system to filter his voice and send me a text report if he happen to say something important, but I wonder if it's working correctly since I've been running it for a week and haven't yet got a single report. Did he say anything I should be aware of?"

"You know what? Forget it."

Hank will think about it, and the longer he'll think about it the funnier it'll get. From now on, he'll be cackling every time he sees Gavin because his angry ass is not even aware that he's not only ignored, but in fact not even heard on the first place. He'll get red in the face trying to say some bullshit trying to get Connor's attention, and Connor would interrupt his speech mid sentence talking to someone else instead not noticing that Gavin was even there. Hank'll die laughing witnessing how desperately Gavin will try to get Connor's attention just to finally get a calm response to some minor fact he mentioned between the lines just to make some other point, but that for some reason got recognised as important piece of information.

[chalkrevelations]

One of the criticisms I've repeatedly seen leveled at Dangerous Romance is that it doesn't engage with issues of socioeconomics and class the way it ought to, and I think that's a little unfair, because sure, it doesn't engage with those topics to the extent that some other bls have done, but it also engages with them to an extent greater than many, many other bls have done and do. I've posted before about how I think DR tackles issues of bullying, its fallout, recovery and reconciliation better than many other, sometimes beloved, shows have done. Is it perfect on this front? No. But it's a step forward, and I think it's one of the places where not only has it not gotten recognition, but criticism has been leveled at it that makes it sound like it did less than it actually did. Similarly, I don't think DR gets recognized for the work that it is doing on issues of socioeconomics and poverty. Again, is it perfect? No. But something really caught my eye this week, something that struck me when I watched Kanghan give his little speech to his grandmother about "poor people," which I and so many others found utterly vile - vile enough for some people to consign him back to the irredeemable category, if some responses in the tags are to be believed. Vile enough for some people to be disturbed enough that they don't know how they feel about the show anymore. Which, just. :hands: Do we want the show to tackle these topics or not? Because right now, it looks like it can't win, no matter what it does.

Here's the thing: We find Kanghan's comment vile because we're supposed to, because when the show puts those words in Kanghan's mouth, it's making a deliberate comment about poverty and the way it's viewed by people privileged enough to never worry about where their next meal is coming from, whether they'll have a roof over their head, and if that roof provides a modicum of safety - or if your door might as well be open to anyone who wants to walk in, whether it be a pissed-off classmate with a gun, or debt collectors willing to kick the shit out of a high-school kid. It's making a comment about the way low-resource populations are viewed by the people who profit off of socioeconomic systems that create poverty in the first place - because where does Kanghan's money come from? Where does Sailom and Saifah's debt come from? Is it even theirs, or did they inherit it? Does a just socioeconomic system give Kanghan more money than he knows what to do with, while Saifah is stealing rice from his patients to feed his little brother? How do we, as the audience, feel about the fact that benevolent Grandma Ging's solution to the Homchan debt was to have Sailom essentially sell himself to her family in indentured servitude until Kanghan is able to get into university? No, the show doesn't spoonfeed us these questions, but they're there, woven through the narrative, and Kanghan's comment - and Grandma's acquiescence to it - throws them into sharp relief. And once they're exposed that way, they're suddenly so ugly the audience is reluctant to look at them?

Anyway, my immediate response to Kanghan's comment was

I have done a superhuman job of maintaining my emotional equilibrium so far ... only threatening once to reach into the screen to strangle him when he pulled out that completely noxious little speech about "poor people" and what they'll do for money, because yeah, fuck you and the coddled little gremlin that's rearing its ugly head back up again.

I think that "again" is important, because it not only shows the way Kanghan defaults to what's comfortable and familiar to him when he's suddenly thrust out of his depth - and when he feels profoundly betrayed - but it also shows that attitudes and prejudices about low-resource populations are deeply ingrained. The fact that this is the ugly thing Kanghan automatically falls back on in an attempt to maintain a wall between himself and Sailom reminds me of the way misogynistic slurs are pulled out and used against women in the heat of anger by people who would never classify themselves as misogynist. This is the thing about prejudices - they're part of the culture, we're swimming in them, and they take work to undo. I would actually rather have Kanghan explicitly show this attitude than act like it's magically resolved or like it doesn't exist. I been sayin' - none of these issues just disappeared in episode three when the cuteness started creeping in. They continued to exist alongside and underneath, and the show was only waiting to pull them out again at the right time. Appropriately, that time is when Kanghan is under stress.

I also think it's pretty smart writing to pull this back out now, after a stretch of episodes that first, made the audience complicit in the same kind of mindset Kanghan displays - come on, how many of us were convinced Saifah was sketchy from the beginning, when he was taking rice from his private patients to feed his little brother? How many of us took one look at Name and knew he was Bad Fucking News, full stop, and not worth the time Saifah so obviously wanted to spend on him, before meeting the Bigger Bad behind him, the one who keeps him on a leash? - and then deconstructed those attitudes, spinning out sympathetic characterizations from questionable first impressions. The very same episode in which Kanghan spouts this awful stuff about "poor people" and how they'll do anything for money also shows explicitly ... well, first of all, it shows that Sailom won't do just anything for money - he'll escort, providing services for payment, but he won't steal. But more thematically, the episode emphasizes the near-inextricable web that people with limited access to resources - including, yes, money - find themselves tangled in when they're pushed into survival work, be that stealing, sex work or violence, as we see with Saifah, Sailom and Name.

Stealing is survival work. Escorting is survival work. Violence is survival work. It's also all dangerous, and it's all illegal. None of it is something that most people would do by choice if they had other options. In some cases, it's really damn hard to walk away from, and not because you're enjoying it, but because it might get you killed. DR shows-not-tells us all of this. It shows us that it's real easy to say poor people will do anything for money, but money actually translates into food and clothes, a roof over your head, survival. (There's a reason we're introduced to the scene of Sailom escorting again with a plate full of food being set down in front of him - it's a callback to the spread of food Kanghan orders when he's playing sugar daddy in Korat. Now, we're smacked in the face with the reality of needing a sugar daddy.) Poor people will prey on each other to survive, as Name does to Saifah and Sailom. They'll also help each other, like Saifah does with Name. Meanwhile, Kanghan, who's never been food-insecure a day in his life, sneers about what other people have to do to survive and makes himself out to be the victim, and we as the audience are repelled. That's on purpose. That's the show's commentary on socioeconomic issues.

Do I like that it happened in the same episode that Sailom The Magic Poor solved the rift between Poor Little Rich Boy and his Rich Dad? No. But I'm also not going to let perfect be the enemy of the good. And here's the thing about Kanghan and his ugly comment: That deconstruction that the show does on a meta-level of audience attitudes about Saifah and Name? That's an assurance that Kanghan, himself, can deconstruct his attitudes and prejudices about "the poor."

Meanwhile, this attitude of Kanghan's - They want Our money - this ties into his deepest fears and insecurities. Would you like me if I had no money, he asks Sailom (and meanwhile he knows that he has no money, he has his dad's money), despite the fact that Sailom has been telling him since he punched Kanghan in the face with a fistful of Kang's cash that Sailom doesn't care about Kanghan's money and some things can't be bought. It also means that Sailom knows immediately the worst way to hurt Kanghan - the way he's been hurt when the boy who Sailom has given everything to, the one who was supposed to protect him, the one who just promised he'd be with Sailom through everything, instead turns on a dime and throws him out like garbage. Sailom is smart and he knows just where to hit, he knows what it's going to do when he tells Kanghan he's only ever been interested in his money - it's not the least bit true, and it's still the most painful thing he could ever say.

[herrlindemann]

Musik Express - September 1997, Interview with Till and Richard

Thanks to Ramjohn for the scans!

Opinions are divided on this band - demonized by some, loved by many as passionately as the fire on their stage. An interview by Peter von Stahl.

In the press, adjectives such as 'controversial', 'fascistoid' or 'glorifying violence' can still be read in Rammstein stories. Is life good with this image?

Richard: We only depict violence in our shows and address it in our lyrics. We strictly reject using or propagating violence. Every kind of music serves a cliché in the mind of a journalist. Rammstein has this heaviness, these metal guitars. The right clichés immediately pop up in your head: long hair, short pants, American metal. And then comes a band that doesn't serve all of that anymore, that has a completely different, very own appearance - and then they need a new drawer. And it probably says 'controversial' on it.

Every artist says that in an interview — no one wants to fit into a drawer. Your music isn't that revolutionary.

Richard: But bands like Krupps or Front 242 are different. Rammstein is just unique. There is no band that sounds like Rammstein.

Till: I just have to listen to our neighboring rehearsal rooms: on the left it sounds like Pearl Jam, on the right like something else that you've known for a long time. You try to make it easy for yourself.

Richard: Maybe they just never got the hang of it because they only ever wanted to serve one market. Even more extreme in the West than here in the East. There was no market to serve.

Till: After the reunification, I drove over to the west and used my mountain greeting money to stuff my stomach with rubber animals, yoghurt and all that stuff. But that's about it. It was the same with music: there was so much. But soon it was noticed that the water is not boiled any hotter there than it is here. We used to look forward to a concert for weeks, today you can see 30 to 40 things in Berlin every evening.

The German media have a hard time with hard, German-sounding music. Record buyers and concert goers don't seem to have a problem with you.

Till: The media's problem with us also has something to do with a lack of musical tradition and history, because we don't want anything to do with understandable German history either. After the war, Americans and the English brought rock, and apart from German hits, there was never anything that had its roots here.

This is also a question of phonetics. Till rolls the 'R' deeply and evocatively - and everyone thinks of the sound of an original shellac with Göbbels speeches.

Till: The rolling 'R' didn't even come about on purpose. It came naturally because in that low pitch you sing like that automatically. I'm not actually a musician. I have absolutely no knowledge of the instruments. But I can give good support to our music with my voice and the lyrics. It's a matter of illustration, tone color, phonetics. We didn't want to create a fascist attitude, for God's sake. Only later, when we were asked about it in interviews, did we have to deal with it.

And yet it is certainly no coincidence that you provide music for David Lynch and not for Walt Disney. Because of his preference for the narrow bridge between 'reason and instinct' (from the Rammstein song 'Du riechst so gut'), Lynch films were basically never anything other than filmed Rammstein subjects - only he just makes films and no music.

Richard: First of all, he's an American. We couldn't have a Lynch. The only one I can think of is Werner Herzog — I sometimes see Rammstein pictures there.

Till: The Germans only have a problem with things in Germany. As soon as a thing finds international recognition, it also becomes socially acceptable here in Germany. We noticed that through the David Lynch film: German cars, German soccer, German tennis, Formula One — no problem at all. But as long as it stays in the country, there will be unlikely friction.

'Bravo' has no problems with you - there you operate as a 'heavy band with Feuerteufel as a singer'.

Till: That was great for me. My daughter is only twelve years old and she has never understood why I travel so often, drive away so often. Now she can finally read the reason why in her newspaper.

Does your daughter listen to Rammstein or rather boy bands?

Till: No, she listen to something else. She doesn't like boy bands that much, she prefers electronic stuff with a melody.

As a single father, how do you balance work and family?

Till: It wasn't that bad before, I played drums in a punk band and we practically had our rehearsal room in the house where I lived. I had them alone for seven years, but now I share parenthood with my daughter's mother again, because I'm on the road with the band half the year.

How does your daughter actually react to the hard Rammstein texts?

Till: She always giggles. She doesn't understand the extreme things yet.

Children watch movies and TV news on these topics without understanding them. The younger fans will feel the same about your lyrics.

Till: We never intended to make music for 13 or 14 year olds. This has only recently developed through 'Bravo', 'Viva' and so on. But when I see what's on the afternoon TV program, in the news, what's in the newspaper - they have to deal with that too. With their idols Tic Tac Toe they have to deal with prostitution, with drugs. Or with tampon ads on TV, where they see small, hidden gestures at dinner - how are we supposed to leave children disturbed?

After all, the menstrual fluid is kept in a friendly light blue in the advertising. With you, blood is still blood—deep red.

Till: First and foremost we make our music for ourselves. And the images it projects in people are very different. For some, the lyrics are totally incomprehensible, but they might like the music and just let it flow. On the other hand, a girl recently told me that she walked in a performance as the hooker that appears in our song 'Seemann' — the hooker who stands by the lantern.

Which of course is never mentioned in the text...

Till: Shall I explain that it's not about a whore, but about this and that? It's her picture, her story about the song.

When you sing about SM phenomena in songs like 'Bück dich' or 'Betraf mich' on the new record, the images are more clearly defined.

Richard: Just yesterday we were with some friends and discussed Rammstein. There was also a young evangelical pastor who was terribly upset about Rammstein and especially about the text of 'Bück dich'. He complained that more and more people in his youth community were listening to Rammstein and were therefore taking the wrong path. The evening grew longer and longer, they drank more and more - and at some point it turned out that the pastor himself was the only one in the group who really lived this 'bend over' sex and that he had a different woman almost every night drives in this way.

The church, especially the Catholic one, has enough internal institutions that deal intensively with Rammstein topics: incest, sin and punishment, the devil. In contrast, the anti-authoritarian educational models of the post-1968ers, the evangelical discussion groups, seem to have failed, also because of the denial of the existence of evil. How do you feel about raising your own children?

Till: One has absolutely nothing to do with the other. I try to separate Rammstein and my private life as much as possible. That's exactly how it is with the fire effects on our stage. I'm not a pyromaniac. I never light a cigarette privately. Just as Richard procures state-of-the-art musical equipment, it's my job to take care of the pyro effects for the show. We're a band that just does its job. Anyone who knows us privately cannot believe that we are so nice. We are quite normal, we do our job like fishermen who leave their hut in the morning, kiss their children, go out to sea, fetch the fish with the nets from the depths and return to the hut in the evening. Their children go out with them from time to time, and our children sometimes go to concerts too. But when they watch their father kill fish and gut them, they quickly realize that this is father's job. If they grow up with that, they're fine with that because they keep the two things separate.

In any case better than hiding from the child that the schnitzel on the plate was once a live pig that was slaughtered.

Richard: Just like the child of a sex performer or actress might at some point see their mother in a sex scene on TV and wonder where dad is. You will learn how to deal with that.

If every artist would live their madness of whatever kind in private, then there would almost certainly only be sick people in the charts. But: Do your lyrics at least help in your private fight against your very own, hidden demons?

Till: That happens. For me, solitude always gives me a creative boost — you have another glass of wine and you feel even more shitty. Art cannot do without suffering. Art is also there to compensate for suffering.

As one of the most successful metal acts in Germany, you will probably soon suffer too little to be able to continue to nurture your art.

Richard: Above all, we have no time to suffer. Except in the lonely hours after the concerts.

Till: It makes you feel like shit. You play a concert in Berlin in front of 16,000 people, then you cycle home from the rehearsal room because the after-show parties might not be the real thing either, you sit alone in your booth and have to come down again. It's like a hangover.

At this moment, your single father support group seems to be failing you.

Richard: If you sit on each other constantly for two years, you know the whole whining by heart.

Hartmut Engler from Pur says he still wants to put the whole feeling into his lyrics at the 67th gig.

Till: Sure — he always cries. Nonsense! Everybody is saying it! Maybe at the beginning, at the first two concerts. At some point it will become operational blindness. When 'Seemann' was still very fresh, I often felt a shiver. Later on, you tend to make sure that the intonation is right.

In many of your songs you can hear borrowings from the soundtracks of old spaghetti westerns. Who is actually the inveterate Ennio Morricone fan with you?

Richard: That's me.

Till: He's a fan of old cowboy music and movies.

In this sense, Rammstein is like Karl May - you don't have to murder, desecrate and humiliate yourself to be able to write lyrics about mauling, child abuse and incest.

Till: But that's exactly the point: you're talking about 'tearing, child abuse and incest'. I wish people would approach such topics much more sensitively. My daughter is at an age when something like this could really happen to her — maybe the day after tomorrow. And so I take it upon myself to imagine what that would be like. If it were about my daughter, I would probably want to cut off an egg from a perpetrator like that, shoot him or something. On the other hand, I can also sit in a dark corner and think about what drives him to do it. And about what drives me to be able to understand such a drive. Those are the two sides of this thing: On the one hand, reason, morality, my completely normal life — for me there's no question about that. But then I sit down, close my eyes and think about how, for example, the day before yesterday I felt such a longing for this grown woman — why shouldn't someone have such a longing too, who can't even help it, because he may have been abused himself in the past. And maybe he can't appreciate what it means to transfer that desire to a child. Where do you put the value, how do you want to judge?

It's shocking how many people were abused in their childhood. On the other hand, you are accused of the fact that your texts deal less with illness and morality than with the problem of overcoming the conflict between reason and instinct.

Till: No, no. Sick is sick, there is no discussion. And if it wasn't sick by normal standards, we wouldn't need mental hospitals anymore. But more important is the question of why and how it happens. Otherwise, this is only of interest to the lawyers who dig into their clients' childhood so that they can plead insanity. I've lived in the country for quite a long time and saw a horse molester almost lynched on the village street - I really felt sorry for him.

The line between everyday life and madness is known to be fluid. After all, the worst things happen every day in most cities behind every fifth window.

Till: If that's enough. Probably behind every third. And that's why I find it sad that lyrics about things that actually happen every day can kick up so much dust. For example, we had a listening session in Malta with Petra Husemann and Tim Renner from our record company. And when he heard the line 'Couple with your own flesh and blood' from the song 'Tier', Renner immediately dismissed it - a case for the index, which in Germany includes everything about sex with animals, incest, sibling love and so on acts. I don't understand that — you can even read about the relevant extras in the 'Bild' newspaper. And yet some act as if none of this exists.

And then? What have you done? Did you soften the text at the end?

Till: Nope. We aim for it.

I was never really interested in Rammstein myself until my wife put your record on again and again. On the other hand, feminists accuse you of the worst sexism.

Richard: We keep hearing that it was women who brought their men to Rammstein. Petra Husemann, the wife of Timm Renner (Rammstein's record boss/ed.), the girlfriend of our manager Emu, many wives and girlfriends of journalists. Men seem to have more of a problem with us than women.

Maybe that's because you're a lot better looking and have a lot more muscles than most media men.

Richard: It has more to do with head and gut. Rammstein frightens many men because they recognize qualities or character traits in our texts that they carry within themselves, but which they have suppressed.

So you mean you hold something like a mirror in front of the men's faces. A mirror in which they can suddenly and suddenly see the animal in them?

Richard: The animal, sure. A lot of things. A kind of machoness when we sing about the 'Wilder im Revier'.

Till: For us, the sexism that we are accused of is more about protecting women.

I'm really sorry, but now I can't follow. I do not understand that.

Till: For us, it's about understanding the woman's feelings and then showing them as extreme as they actually are. Yesterday a journalist asked us why we don't write love songs. Love, this is just this one brief moment. But after that, that's when the work begins. The constant misery: finding each other, falling in love, sticking it out for a while, then sticking it out, and then it all starts all over again.

Do you think you know more about women than men?

Till: No, not at all.

Perhaps for this reason you cannot imagine that husband and wife can be happy together in the long term.

Till: I don't know of any intact relationships. One or two maybe, but the circumstances aren't normal there — they don't see each other very often. I'm talking about this thing: getting out of the house in the morning and putting the kids to bed at night. Where are the theater visits, who still brings flowers? Being in love, bringing flowers to your loved ones — eventually it always ends.

That's why the resolute 'no' to the female marriage wish on your new single 'Du hast'?

Till: 'until death do you part...' — that's just as unnatural as a tattoo on your arm. It won't go out for the rest of my life. At some point, as a pensioner, I’ll sit with my grandson on my lap and he’ll ask what kind of silly thing I have on my upper arm.

However, Rammstein does not seem to want to live entirely without women. After all, you've now recorded a hymn to the primary female sex organ. What do you say in the rehearsal room when you want to play this song?

Till: Sometimes we say, 'Now let's play cunt!' Isn't that what you wanted to hear?

The song title 'Kiss me, Fellfrosch' sounds a lot more tender.

Till: Fellfrosch — the word alone is a homage to this part of the body. That's a nice, childish way of looking at things: fur stands for small, furry little animals. Hamsters, guinea pigs and such. And frog or snail takes care of the second part. Fascination and disgust, both play a role.

Perhaps the disgust at the bitter aftertaste is really just a problem of overly careless personal hygiene?

Richard: Tastes change too. Much of what seemed too bitter to us in childhood tastes good to us today. On the other hand, we usually find the sweets from the past too sweet. Every fur frog tastes different. Pure question of taste. There is no judgment in the text. We're not saying it stinks.

Feminists will not see the 'fur frog' in such a differentiated way. This will cause trouble.

Till: Hopefully! That's the same topic as before: It's about something that is completely self-evident and that everyone knows. That's the most normal thing in the world. Exaggerated feminism, on the other hand, is an indictment. And when they get upset about it, that's ultimately just proof to me that they don't have a sense of humor. Just the other day someone told me a joke about a forty-centimetre cock. It was a woman.

[govindhtech]

Open Platform For Enterprise AI Avatar Chatbot Creation

How may an AI avatar chatbot be created using the Open Platform For Enterprise AI framework?

I. Flow Diagram

The graph displays the application’s overall flow. The Open Platform For Enterprise AI GenAIExamples repository’s “Avatar Chatbot” serves as the code sample. The “AvatarChatbot” megaservice, the application’s central component, is highlighted in the flowchart diagram. Four distinct microservices Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Large Language Model (LLM), Text-to-Speech (TTS), and Animation are coordinated by the megaservice and linked into a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG).

Every microservice manages a specific avatar chatbot function. For instance:

Software for voice recognition that translates spoken words into text is called Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR).

By comprehending the user’s query, the Large Language Model (LLM) analyzes the transcribed text from ASR and produces the relevant text response.

The text response produced by the LLM is converted into audible speech by a text-to-speech (TTS) service.

The animation service makes sure that the lip movements of the avatar figure correspond with the synchronized speech by combining the audio response from TTS with the user-defined AI avatar picture or video. After then, a video of the avatar conversing with the user is produced.

An audio question and a visual input of an image or video are among the user inputs. A face-animated avatar video is the result. By hearing the audible response and observing the chatbot’s natural speech, users will be able to receive input from the avatar chatbot that is nearly real-time.

Create the “Animation” microservice in the GenAIComps repository

We would need to register a new microservice, such “Animation,” under comps/animation in order to add it:

Register the microservice

@register_microservice( name=”opea_service@animation”, service_type=ServiceType.ANIMATION, endpoint=”/v1/animation”, host=”0.0.0.0″, port=9066, input_datatype=Base64ByteStrDoc, output_datatype=VideoPath, ) @register_statistics(names=[“opea_service@animation”])

It specify the callback function that will be used when this microservice is run following the registration procedure. The “animate” function, which accepts a “Base64ByteStrDoc” object as input audio and creates a “VideoPath” object with the path to the generated avatar video, will be used in the “Animation” case. It send an API request to the “wav2lip” FastAPI’s endpoint from “animation.py” and retrieve the response in JSON format.

Remember to import it in comps/init.py and add the “Base64ByteStrDoc” and “VideoPath” classes in comps/cores/proto/docarray.py!

This link contains the code for the “wav2lip” server API. Incoming audio Base64Str and user-specified avatar picture or video are processed by the post function of this FastAPI, which then outputs an animated video and returns its path.

The functional block for its microservice is created with the aid of the aforementioned procedures. It must create a Dockerfile for the “wav2lip” server API and another for “Animation” to enable the user to launch the “Animation” microservice and build the required dependencies. For instance, the Dockerfile.intel_hpu begins with the PyTorch* installer Docker image for Intel Gaudi and concludes with the execution of a bash script called “entrypoint.”

Create the “AvatarChatbot” Megaservice in GenAIExamples

The megaservice class AvatarChatbotService will be defined initially in the Python file “AvatarChatbot/docker/avatarchatbot.py.” Add “asr,” “llm,” “tts,” and “animation” microservices as nodes in a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) using the megaservice orchestrator’s “add” function in the “add_remote_service” function. Then, use the flow_to function to join the edges.

Specify megaservice’s gateway

An interface through which users can access the Megaservice is called a gateway. The Python file GenAIComps/comps/cores/mega/gateway.py contains the definition of the AvatarChatbotGateway class. The host, port, endpoint, input and output datatypes, and megaservice orchestrator are all contained in the AvatarChatbotGateway. Additionally, it provides a handle_request function that plans to send the first microservice the initial input together with parameters and gathers the response from the last microservice.

In order for users to quickly build the AvatarChatbot backend Docker image and launch the “AvatarChatbot” examples, we must lastly create a Dockerfile. Scripts to install required GenAI dependencies and components are included in the Dockerfile.

II. Face Animation Models and Lip Synchronization

GFPGAN + Wav2Lip

A state-of-the-art lip-synchronization method that uses deep learning to precisely match audio and video is Wav2Lip. Included in Wav2Lip are:

A skilled lip-sync discriminator that has been trained and can accurately identify sync in actual videos

A modified LipGAN model to produce a frame-by-frame talking face video

An expert lip-sync discriminator is trained using the LRS2 dataset as part of the pretraining phase. To determine the likelihood that the input video-audio pair is in sync, the lip-sync expert is pre-trained.

A LipGAN-like architecture is employed during Wav2Lip training. A face decoder, a visual encoder, and a speech encoder are all included in the generator. Convolutional layer stacks make up all three. Convolutional blocks also serve as the discriminator. The modified LipGAN is taught similarly to previous GANs: the discriminator is trained to discriminate between frames produced by the generator and the ground-truth frames, and the generator is trained to minimize the adversarial loss depending on the discriminator’s score. In total, a weighted sum of the following loss components is minimized in order to train the generator:

A loss of L1 reconstruction between the ground-truth and produced frames

A breach of synchronization between the lip-sync expert’s input audio and the output video frames

Depending on the discriminator score, an adversarial loss between the generated and ground-truth frames

After inference, it provide the audio speech from the previous TTS block and the video frames with the avatar figure to the Wav2Lip model. The avatar speaks the speech in a lip-synced video that is produced by the trained Wav2Lip model.

Lip synchronization is present in the Wav2Lip-generated movie, although the resolution around the mouth region is reduced. To enhance the face quality in the produced video frames, it might optionally add a GFPGAN model after Wav2Lip. The GFPGAN model uses face restoration to predict a high-quality image from an input facial image that has unknown deterioration. A pretrained face GAN (like Style-GAN2) is used as a prior in this U-Net degradation removal module. A more vibrant and lifelike avatar representation results from prettraining the GFPGAN model to recover high-quality facial information in its output frames.

SadTalker

It provides another cutting-edge model option for facial animation in addition to Wav2Lip. The 3D motion coefficients (head, stance, and expression) of a 3D Morphable Model (3DMM) are produced from audio by SadTalker, a stylized audio-driven talking-head video creation tool. The input image is then sent through a 3D-aware face renderer using these coefficients, which are mapped to 3D key points. A lifelike talking head video is the result.

Intel made it possible to use the Wav2Lip model on Intel Gaudi Al accelerators and the SadTalker and Wav2Lip models on Intel Xeon Scalable processors.

Read more on Govindhtech.com

[paradoxcase]

So I did some research and tried to see if I could find any information about these phones that are supposedly being flooded with generative AI tools, or as that person put it "generative machine learning", which, lmao

They all seem to have more or less the same set of "AI features" which amount to:

Speech to text (existed long before the "generative AI" boom)

Automatic summarization (existed long before the "generative AI" boom)

Suggestions for improving the style of your text messages (already existed before the "generative AI" boom in the form of writing aids like Grammarly)

Recognition of objects in images and related image editing abilities (fairly new, but not in any way, shape or form "generative AI")

Assistants like Siri/Alexa (existed long before the "generative AI boom")

It looks like one or two phones have some capability of generating AI images for your phone background, and some deepfake image editing stuff, but this is not very common. These two features are the only thing I could find that I would actually classify as "generative AI".

I'm sure these companies probably hooked up an expensive LLM to the back of this shit that's going to consume your entire battery for breakfast so that they could say that it's using the latest technology, etc. but most of these features are not actually new. ChatGPT is not taking over your phone. Roko's Basilisk is not coming for your immortal soul. This is literally just tech companies doing what tech companies have been doing since long before anyone outside of academia had ever heard of ChatGPT: repackaging an old feature with a nod to some new piece of technology and saying: "Behold! This phone runs on <the latest tech fad>!" Like, it's a fucking running joke in tech circles that everyone claims their shit is AI when it's just "if statements". It's literally a meme. This is just one fad in a long list of fads, tumblr needs to chill the fuck out

[leportraitducadavre]

You probably already answered something like this, but what do you about the Naruto and Sasuke ship? You think it doesn't work, or Naruto isn't actually a good fit for Sasuke? I love a lot of the analysis and the way you write, so I'm curious.

Hi there! Thank you for your words.

I did write something about them here, so you might want to look into that, I don't focus much on the SNS dynamic inside the manga and I might do that at some point (there's a lot of ground to cover) as the relevant points repeat themselves quite constantly throughout their interactions.

You need to take into account how Naruto interacts with the notion of "prodigy" in order to understand his approach towards Sasuke and how his acknowledgment became of utmost importance to him, as such is the basis of their relationship:

Regarding Naruto’s characterization, antagonizing the "prodigy" notion is incredibly important to him, not because he (truly) denies the strength of those who are given the title, but because their existence denies him of the acknowledgment he seeks, as all his accomplishments are "overshadowed" by Neji and Sasuke's sole presence. Therefore being recognized (positively so) by their ninja skills (as such is the political and cultural importance of such aspects inside the Shinobi system) is, to him, the most important category when pointing out a person’s value.  To Naruto (and a big portion of the fandom) Neji is not considered a failure (unlike himself, Hinata, or Lee) therefore he somehow has an easier life despite being, in every other manner, oppressed by his family. This is a mindset Konoha in itself teaches to its citizens as this dogma’s value rests on the fact that it guarantees the success and preservation of the status quo established. Therefore, for Will of Fire supporters,  Sasuke couldn’t be discriminated against because he was praised for his techniques/was popular, Neji might be a slave but he’s incredibly valuable to Konoha due to his strength, so there is some sort of “retribution”. 

(Source)

Naruto is contemplating Sasuke abandoning him and Team 7, which is the primary fuel in this quest and the reason behind his pain, he mentions the team that Shikamaru gathered (per Tsunade’s orders) to bring him back as these are individuals that put their life on the line to “rescue” Sasuke, yet Sasuke cares not. Naruto’s words are not a coincidence, he never states that the people searching for him are Sasuke’s friends (they aren’t, they never interacted in any significant way), the only thing they have in common is their village of origin and loyalty. For Naruto, that’s enough for a bond, for Sasuke it isn’t. I do believe that this specific claim: “You think I’m just gonna let you go?!” which is the culmination of Naruto’s speech about how Orochimaru will grant him power in exchange for his life (x) is understandable as Naruto is both hurt by Sasuke abandoning them and scared for his friend’s life (Sasuke is even leaving despite being aware that he’ll be likely killed, which is quite worse as not only Naruto feels pain as a result of his only friend escaping, but also him leaving to certain death). Naruto’s primary knowledge about Sasuke’s goal (killing Itachi) is that he’s willing to die for it (x) that, in regards to Naruto’s own goal, it’s unfathomable –as death is not one of the lengths Naruto is prepared for in order to get the acknowledgment he seeks. Furthermore, Sasuke’s death will automatically jeopardize his own objective, as Sasuke’s recognition is the one Naruto craves the most (here and here Naruto remembers Sasuke denying Naruto the equal status he wants, and Sasuke once again refuses: “who cares what you want?”).  “You were my Idol, and so… hearing that… I was never happier, with those words, for the first time… you acknowledged I was good.” (x) Can’t make it clearer here Sasuke’s relevance on Naruto’s life and the importance of him staying, of him acknowledging Naruto.