| Highlights for October 2024
Healthcare Context The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), in collaboration with the University of Maryland, College Park, has developed Holocamera, a medical education tool that employs digital human technology for immersive training scenarios. This initiative leverages digital avatars to simulate clinical environments, aiming to improve the quality of medical education through enhanced interactivity and realism. Additionally, Capgemini is advancing AI digital human use in health coaching, as demonstrated in The AI Digital Human Cardiac Coach, authored by Marie and Allan Johnson. This project utilizes Trulience’s AI avatars to guide patients in cardiac health management, integrating conversational AI into personalized wellness programs. Entertainment Context Aww launched the ANOME Vhuman Streamer Project as part of its broader digital personality initiative. This project aims to create lifelike virtual human streamers capable of real-time interaction, signaling Aww’s move toward interactive digital entertainment experiences. Another example includes TELYUKA’s digital avatar Saya, featured in an update by NEC, which continues to serve as a prominent synthetic character model known for high fidelity and humanlike responsiveness in performance settings. Marketing Context Spanish fashion retailer Mango has integrated AI-generated avatars into its advertising strategy. By using advanced facial recognition and AI-powered lip-syncing tools, users can animate pets by inputting text or uploading audio, effectively transforming pets into expressive marketing agents. This campaign demonstrates the use of synthetic characters in consumer engagement, where AI avatars are designed to deliver brand messaging in emotionally compelling and novel ways. Enterprise and Technology Development Context DeepBrain AI, under CEO Seyoung Jang, is a South Korean company specializing in the development of AI human technology. The firm focuses on creating virtual humans for a variety of applications, emphasizing real-time responsiveness and naturalistic interactions. In parallel, Capgemini is developing a digital human avatar ecosystem, including AI-based virtual agents used in enterprise applications such as customer service and coaching. Furthermore, Reallusion hosted the 2024 Taipei Conference, sponsored by HP, which focused on virtual character creation, affordable virtual world development, and strategies for building synthetic personas as business assets. These efforts underscore a growing enterprise interest in virtual beings as tools for communication, brand representation, and employee training. Cultural and Educational Context The digital human Saya, developed by TELYUKA and featured by NEC, exemplifies the use of virtual beings in educational and cultural storytelling. Saya is known for participating in public events and educational content delivery, combining realistic modeling with AI-driven interactivity to engage audiences. Reallusion’s emphasis on cost-effective virtual world development and character rigging at their conference also speaks to educational applications, particularly for creators developing synthetic characters with distinct identities. Ethical and Governmental Context The United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is actively exploring the use of deepfake technology to create convincingly realistic digital personas for use in online operations. This raises ethical concerns around identity simulation, misinformation, and the role of AI avatars in psychological operations. Their interest signals a shift in government-level applications of synthetic characters, where the boundary between digital humans and real-world influence is increasingly complex and strategically significant. |
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