In an entertainment culture that thrives off interaction and personalized experience, ObEN Inc., an Artificial Intelligence company debuted the first celebrity Personal AI (PAI) avatar at the recently held 2018 World AI Conference in Shanghai, China. Based in Idealab in Pasadena, California, ObEN used revolutionary technology to create a mimic of Aijia, a singer in the Chinese pop group SNH48, who looks and sounds like her original counterpart.
The technology used to produce the avatar is authenticated by Project PAI that ensures the creation looks, talks, and acts like its human counterpart. Since the platform is blockchain encrypted, users are promised security for their PAI and that their avatar will only belong to them. According to the PAI website, their vision is for the avatar to be an “extension of themselves operating in the digital space. The PAI can operate intelligently and independently, is not bound by time constraints or geographic location, and can develop skills that the user may not possess.”
The COO and co-founder of ObEN, Adam Zheng, validated avatar’s convenience, stating, “Aijia’s PAI can now interact with fans, sing to fans, and even have conversations with them – and we see this new type of interaction as a market with great potential.”
Proof of the PAI’s potential came when Aijia herself made a guest appearance at the conference to stand beside her avatar and they sang a duet together. By collecting a small sample of voice data, ObEN can teach the PAI to speak in multiple languages and sing in the user’s own voice.
Xiong Wei, Vice President of SNH48, stated that “SNH48 hopes to expand the virtual idol market through cooperation with ObEN, and strengthen the connection between idols and fans through AI technology, and realize the concept of cultivation and companionship through PAI.”
