Creating Real People with Artificial Intelligence today is not possible. We are very far from a physical realization, which from a certain point of view will never happen. But today it already happens from a perceptual point of view. And it is perception that creates much of reality.
They currently exist two technologies already able to create digital representations that simulate behaviors, emotions and distinctive traits of a real personWe are not just talking about programs or software that respond mechanically to commands, but about increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligences that give the perception of being talking to a person.
Perception, felt most by who is more alone or less technologically educated.
On the one hand we have the smart avatars, used for immediate and specific interactions. On the other hand we have the digital twins: detailed representations of real people updated in real time.
What exactly are they and why are these technologies gaining traction?
Content index
Intelligent Avatars and Digital Twins: People Created with AI
- smart avatars are digital representations, usually of a graphic or animated type, designed for interact in real time with users.
Powered by natural language models and algorithms machine learning algorithm , these avatars can potentially:
- understand the context of a question,
- understand the question even if expressed in a colloquial or complex form,
- provide precise assistance with respect to the request,
- speak by simulating human behavior.
I digital twins instead they are virtual replicas highly detailed of objects, processes or of people created for monitor and simulate real conditions in real time. They are often used in AR and VR.
In the case of human digital twins, these representations are continuously updated with biometric, behavioral and environmental data, allowing to replicate the state of health or to study the responses to specific stimuli. They are mainly used in medical field.
Interesting prospects and worrying scenarios
In the healthcare field, Human digital twins enable detailed patient simulations to test personalized treatments and therapies. In training and work, they can replicate behavioral responses, improving the routes of training.
Smart Avatars Applied to Video Game PNGs would take the gaming experience to new heights. Or a company could provide personalized customer support services investing only in one AI model. An artificial intelligence model that he is clearly not a person, but which listens and speaks as such even if only in the contexts for which it is programmed. A “person” who is easy to talk to because you know he has no conscience. So he doesn't judge you, he doesn't have the perception of time like you, he never gets tired and he has no needs.
So he answers you and listens to you every day, as long as you want, at any time.
On the one hand, it may seem convenient for everyone and efficient. On the other hand, there are people who already isolate themselves and maintain relationships with intelligent avatars, perhaps even paying a company to which they have given all their personal data. Or the company has bought that data.
But how much personal data is out there?
It has been estimated for years now is By 2025, the volume of digital data generated globally will reach 175 zettabytes. Each zettabyte is a trillion gigabytes. There are no precise estimates as to how much of this data is personal data.
This is also because we do not have direct access and total control over all the data that is out there and that concerns us… and that, even if we don't have precise numbers, we can count on thousands of billions of data considering the collective use of sets of digital services on a daily basis.
Are regulatory bodies, regulations and sanctions capable of completely stemming the spread of digitally intelligent avatars that are increasingly similar to human beings?
The risk of fraud and manipulation of public opinion is real and concrete. And precisely regarding public opinion:
Are people widely able to perceive the difference between a digital reproduction made with artificial intelligence or a video of a real person filming themselves in person?
The answer to both questions is often no, because these technologies are catching on faster than bureaucracy and everyone’s awareness.
But why create people with artificial intelligence?
There are many answers, some of them philosophical. But, as is done in marketing, here we look at desires and intimate needs related to the market: everyone wants to save time, energy and money.
The uses of technologies artificial intelligence which are very tempting so they are the ones who they automate long, laborious and expensive processes…how can it be the relationship with the public. Let's face it: among the most stressful jobs there are those where you interact with the public all day.
For example, someone who works in customer service for any honest company can be dehumanized in many ways by the aggressiveness and ignorance of some customers. But not all are uncivilized. In fact, beyond specific extreme cases, it is right that a companies have the perception that something is owed to him why it payment. Why us invests, especially in terms of expectationsExpectations that are created even those who have to decide whether to invest or not.
So, understandably, a customer expects something different or more than what the company can offer in terms of performance, services and conditions.
On gray areas, the game of misaligned perceptions generates complaints and unjustified complaints, extra requests and demands or unnecessary questions because you may find detailed written answers in a dedicated FAQ section.
A system that slows down production, stresses staff and costs money: a cycle with no resolution other than a compromise in favor of the customer.
Is the customer always right?
A maxim that has been said for over a century and that in part continues to be valid even in 2024, in complex times where we have technologies that were previously science fiction. Yesterday as today, the company depends on its customers.
But today, less than yesterday, it is easier to predict the obsolescence of this statement.
With the Global push of services and products towards personalization we can already glimpse a near future in which individuals will feel increasingly valued as such by digital solutions based on AI. This is because they are modeled on a lot of data that directly concerns them.
In this way the customer will continue to have always reason, because they will only have to believe it. This changes the balance in the relationship of dependence between customer and company, as well as the customer's perception of it. If a customer, for example, interacts with a digital avatar that has an appearance that he likes and that interacts in ways that are familiar to him, he will be willing to accept what he is told and like it. Or, more simply, to get lost in the interaction with the avatar.
So the possibility of creating people with artificial intelligence may depend on everyone
On the one hand, companies may have production needs that are easier to satisfy through automation. Automation that in this case leads to representations of people to recreate the perception of human contact. But a company can still automate some processes without creating illusions, just as it can from these same AI technologies, generate revenue opportunities through staff training and transparency with customers.
Customers who are different people and who can choose. There are those who are willing and have the tools to understand what they give, what they receive, what they see and what happens, helping to maintain a balance in the market. There are those who do not have the tools and therefore could mistake an intelligent avatar for a real person, effectively contributing to creating a person with artificial intelligence, because they perceive it as real.
And there are those who would let him believe it just to always have what he wants, how he wants it, and when he wants it.
