**QuestIT, empathic virtual assistants â?? Interview with Ernesto Di Iorio, CEO of QuestIT**
An all-Italian reality, specialized precisely in the development of proprietary artificial intelligence technologies, QuestIT deals with improving Customer Care and optimizing the internal organization of companies. Its Artificial Humans, capable of understanding human emotions, will soon be included not only in Italian companies, but also internationally, according to CEO Ernesto Di Iorio
Artificial intelligence will be increasingly present in the digital transformation process of those companies that intend to continue to be competitive on the market. QuestIT recently landed at the WAICF, World AI Cannes Festival, to present some of its virtual assistants. QuestIT’s Artificial Humans have an exclusive peculiarity: thanks to emotion analysis technology, they are able to empathetically understand the mood of the user with whom they relate. Currently present in many Italian realities, they will soon be included in international contexts as well. Ernesto Di Iorio, CEO of QuestIT, spoke about it with Lombardia Economy.
QuestIT extends its horizons beyond the Italian borders. Recent is his participation in WAICF, the world event dedicated to artificial intelligence, with a project where physical and digital meet to create increasingly human-centered experiences. Can you explain in detail what it is?
«We have been present at the WAICF since its first edition and this year too we took part by bringing some interesting projects to show the infinite possibilities of conversational artificial intelligence. A virtual assistant that takes on the appearance and voice of a real person inside an interactive totem, through which to communicate and receive information, in multilingual. But also a humanoid Virtual Assistant to ask for a coffee or a cappuccino. We have shown how our AI can be used to benefit sectors such as healthcare, public administration, customer care, utilities and HR».
QuestIT’s Artificial Humans have an exclusive potential, empathy, which allows them to recognize human emotions. They have currently been chosen by numerous public administration bodies and companies at a national level. Is there an international development plan in this regard?
«Our Artificial Humans have technologies, such as emotion analysis, which make them empathetic and able to adjust their answers based on the mood of their interlocutor.
Their multimodality then completes the communicative act with expressions suitable for the context: the person is happy, the Artificial Human returns a smile, thus establishing a deep empathetic connection.
We have recently been working on internalisation, bringing our Algho product to Europe. In particular in France, Spain and England».
The empathetic qualities of QuestIT’s Artificial Humans open the doors to a near future in which artificial intelligence becomes a tool for inclusion. We recently met the avatar that understands LIS (Italian Sign Language). What other avatars move in the same direction? And in which areas do they aim to enter to simplify life for people with disabilities? Still on an international level, what applications will they have?
«The project created with the Santa Chiara Fab Lab of the University of Siena and the CNR is one of a kind. The avatar, in fact, is able to understand the Italian Sign Language and respond by producing the LIS in real time. It is not simply a simultaneous translator. The system has been trained on a documentation (a dataset) specially created by QuestIT engineers. The released version is aimed primarily at the Public Administration and banks, but we are already working to create a product that can adapt to all contexts. Sign language is different in all languages, as a first step we worked on the Italian one, in the near future we could integrate others, such as the French sign language (LSF, Langue des Signes Française)».
Are there already other international appointments scheduled for 2023?
«We will certainly participate in the top artificial intelligence exhibitions, globally, such as the NRF in New York and the WAICF in Cannes. The goal is to show the potential of our artificial intelligence in all sectors, both for users and for internal management by companies”.