[jasode]

The demonstration videos on Soul Machine's website (and also on youtube) show the level of realism is closer to artificial video games (compare to Unreal Engine 4 demo[1]) rather than the advanced and almost-undetectable "deep fakes".

But it doesn't matter that the fake digital personas are not "perfect" and has an "uncanny valley" look to them.

There's various research[2] that says that avatars with "eye contact" or "eye gaze" helps some children learn better. It seems plausible that avatars can also affect mood of customer service interactions or advertising.

If one looks at their technology page[3], it's like taking the Unreal Engine for synthesizing facial expressions combined with A.I. for understanding speech and responding in natural language. I.e. It's like adding a realtime digital face with emotional affectations to Apple Siri or Amazon Alexa.

[1] deep link: https://youtu.be/Vh9msqaoJZw?t=194

[2] https://www.google.com/search?q=avatars+virtual+teacher+lear...

[3] https://www.soulmachines.com/technology/