The other day when I was doing all of my 2019 recap articles about the Coolest, Weirdest, and Greatest Ideas of the past year, one trend in particular really stood out to me. A trend that is likely going to become even more prevalent in 2020: Technological Personalization i.e. the idea that technological advancements seem to be connecting with humans in more direct and tangible ways. Instead of AI (Artificial Intelligence) this is IA (Intelligence Augmented).
For instance, there were remarkably life-like holograms that you can hear and feel and personalized AI avatars that take your place in uncomfortable social situations. Translation services that let you speak in a foreign language with your original voice and apps that give you the ability to insert yourself into your favorite movies. There were even devices capable of reading your emotions to provide recommendations catered to your individual needs.
Around every corner, a new twist on a familiar idea. At each turn, a new variation on the same overarching trend. Technology geared up to make our lives easier. In very unique and specific ways.
It’s a trend that is likely to continue into 2020 considering Samsung’s plans for CES 2020 where they are supposed to be unveiling The Next Big Thing, Neon. As of now, no one knows for sure exactly what Neon is. But that hasn’t stopped the rumor mill from going into overdrive with visions of an eerily life-like AI powered virtual assistant that would dwarf anything we’ve seen so far from Bixby and all the rest.
According to BGR, “From the looks of it, Samsung is imagining a future where it would be able to create an artificial being much smarter than the Bixby assistant that comes pre-loaded on its phones. This artificial human project sounds like it would require its own operating system, which would combine a variety of elements to create a virtual reality persona. It’s unclear whether this artificial human would have AI brains, or would become an avatar of the user.”
In other words, it’s very likely that Sumsung has found a way to create “artificial humans” i.e. computer generated “people” who would visually appear to be indistinguishable from their real world counterparts when viewed on screen. These fake people, presumably based on someone real such as a paid actor, would then be able to fully interact with you as a virtual personal assistant. They may even serve as broadcasters that deliver the news to us.
Since they would be so incredibly life-like, with precise facial expressions and proper voice inflections, they would, in theory, surpass the Uncanny Valley, that strange moment in time when humanoid objects start to become repulsive thanks to the weirdness associated with their almost-but-not-quite-humanness. It doesn’t get quite as much attention but surpassing the Uncanny Valley is almost as important of a measuring stick as passing the Turing Test, when you can’t tell if you’re interacting with a human or a machine. Or at least it should be.
In fact, if this virtual personal assistant technology takes off it may one day be possible to use this technology in other meaningful ways aside from just getting help looking up information and scheduling appointments. Especially, if these AI powered people are fully capable of carrying unique conversations in natural language.
For instance, could we get to the point, where in true Black Mirror fashion we create virtual versions of deceased loved ones that maintain a semblance of their original personality thereby allowing us to continue carrying on conversations with them? Or could we enable people to create new friends to interact with? Either better versions of the ones they already have or new ones all together. A more modern twist on the idea of creating your own video game character. If this is possible what would the social ramifications be? Would we shun real-world connections in favor of virtual ones that an algorithm has fine-tuned to perfectly mesh with our personalities?!
I don’t know for sure, but if all this is true, if Samsung really has invented code capable of generating incredibly life-like artificial people then we’re looking at a total game-changer. And a great way to kick-off a new decade of technological innovation.
Is Neon the Greatest Idea Ever?
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