![]() When asked a question, Virtual Barry finds the best answer in the knowledge graph, but then if the user doesn’t quickly respond he gives a fact formed by a neighbouring triple in the graph, and then keeps responding with more information gradually drifting away from the original topic and onto related information. That’s how “Virtual Barry”, our prototype Virtual Persona (and based on a real person called Barry), works. They then proceed to talk until they come to the end of what they have to say on the subject, or, based on verbal or non-verbal cues, recognises you have heard enough and either want to move on or refocus the conversation on something more interesting that you’ve mentioned. ![]() Very few human conversations are like that! In human conversation, you typically ask someone something, or make a statement, then they reply. A typical chatbot receives a question, gives an answer (and maybe suggestions for further questions), then waits for another question. We discovered a key advantage of this approach was the ability to create far more human-like conversations than most chatbots. Those subjects and objects then sit in a vast graph linked by the verbs to each other, creating rich and complex paths between topics. In semantic triples, every piece of information is encoded as a subject (e.g. These core architecture areas of a VH are shown below, and are all described in more detail in my book on Virtual Humans ( Knowledge graph A long-term meta-management/meta-cognition function (which is also linked to personality).Memory (semantic, procedural and episodic).Needs, Goal and Task Management – possibly with a broad base like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.natural language recognition, understanding and generation) ![]() The ability to sense and attend (including digital as well as “physical” senses).For me, the key functional areas needed are: To what extent such software needs to copy or mirror the way the brain and human mind work is one of active debate. The mind is the software that drives the VH. This area of research seems to be developing more slowly than the pre-recorded and avatar aspects, although there is some neat work being done by applications such as Lyrebird.ai, in support of those who have lost the power of speech to progress this, and in “sandbox” type games. Speech is a key component of many forms of manifestation, and whilst Virtual Influencers can leverage pre-generated speech if necessary (and also make use of pre-generated animations), the VH’s I’m interested in need to be capable of dynamic real-time speech (and animation, gesture and expression) on any topic. Of course, there is no reason a VH should be limited to any one representation at a time. ![]() possibly just as lines of text on Facebook Messenger, or WhatsApp, or, at the other extreme, as a Sophia-type robot or android. The body is the manifestation of that VH in the “real” world, most probably as a digital avatar (such as most of the virtual influencers featured here on, but probably not quite as pretty!). In considering a virtual human (VH) I typically think about two elements: the body and the mind. If the software could be developed to create such a persona, then, in many ways, that persona becomes little more than a hosting plan! Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just have a quick chat with the previous people to do your job, asking for their views and opinions, mining their knowledge and experience, even if they were now working elsewhere, or for someone else, or retired-or you’re just too embarrassed to call them?ĭigital Immortals are what happens when a virtual persona is under the control of its Subject (the person it is based on) and doesn’t just encompass their knowledge and experience from one job, but from their whole life. The reasons for wanting to create such a persona are driven by really mundane needs, such as how to keep corporate memory within an organisation, particularly if people are leaving or retiring early, or the nature of the job makes it hard to get in contact with previous post-holders. Whilst that person could be an artificial person, such as a virtual influencer, my real interest, and probably the more challenging task, is the creation of personas based on real, living (not historical) people. ![]() Virtual personas are virtual humans based around a specific person and are increasingly being referred to as Digital Twins. Ver the last few years, two, linked aspects of the virtual human concept have been of particular interest to me: virtual personas and digital immortals. ![]()
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