‘We can’t scale humans’: Why startups are raising millions to build AI avatars

guest · Jan 29, 2020

‘We can’t scale humans’: Why startups are raising millions to build AI avatars
Startups are creating unsettling human-like avatars to take over customer service jobs
January 28, 2020
https://www.fastcompany.com/90456164/silicon-valleys-hot-new-commodity-creepy-ai-powered-avatars

Silly as it may seem, the race to build lifelike digital avatars has become serious business.

The Royal Bank of Scotland among its clients. Samsung revealed that it’s incubating an AI avatar effort called Neon.
Another digital human startup called Uneeq has a client list that includes BMW and Vodafone, and is now seeking a Series B round after raising $10 million in 2018. The AI Foundation also raised $10 million in 2018 as it works on making interactive avatars out of celebrities.

[...] I’ve at least started to understand why these startups persist: At stake is the ability to replace (or at least replicate) the work of actual people on a grand scale.
Click to expand...

DOING WHAT HUMANS DON’T
Danny Tomsett, the CEO of Uneeq, sees digital humans as a kind of middle ground between chatbots and live support, offering the scale of the former with the empathy and body language of the latter.

“The human touch is really one of the key factors that creates emotional connection with brands,” Tomsett says. “We can’t scale humans in a way that addresses all those needs in society.”
He points out, for instance, that over 90% of people who converse with one of the company’s digital humans smile at some point, and that in itself creates a dopamine release, even when they know the interaction is fake.

Tomsett also points out that by giving people a human-like avatar to converse with, they might be less guarded than they would with an actual person.
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

‘We can’t scale humans’: Why startups are raising millions to build AI avatars

guest Guest

Log in or Sign up

‘We can’t scale humans’: Why startups are raising millions to build AI avatars

guest Guest

Useful Searches