Kiwi firm that’s cheating death
Through machine learning, she gets smarter with every interaction.
Soul Machines chief business officer Greg Cross says after creating the likeness of a person, they must then create ‘‘the personality and the knowledge base that drives the digital human behind it’’.
‘‘Our virtual nervous system will be what brings it to life in an incredibly accurate version of yourself.’’
The company has spent years creating freakishly realistic digital avatars that react and respond like humans.
For now, they sell them to companies to hire as digital employees and ambassadors. But the business case for digital humans extends far beyond the corporate world.
Cross says they are already working with a handful of confidential celebrities who want a digital double to preach their philanthropic message and keep their legacy alive forever.
‘‘Imagine being able to build a digital version of that person for the purpose of continuing the story of that philanthropic foundation.
‘‘Or you could take an iconic entrepreneur like Richard Branson and say what would it be like to start building a Branson now, so he can continue to have an influence and his stories and his journeys can continue to be told for generations to come.’’
Cross says they are already working on a project to bring back to live ‘‘a very, very famous person’’ who lived in an era before photography and video. He is not, however, revealing who the returnee will be.
Soul Machines’ latest technological advancement is a motor control system in their Baby X 5.0 infant digital human, which has limbs, a pumping heart and lungs.
Cross says having a ‘humanised’ digital copy of yourself living in the cloud will be mainstream in five to 10 years.
‘‘We see a world in the future where there will be populations, millions, of these digital humans. We believe that will create a pool of what we call digital DNA to recreate just about any face in the world.’’
In his opinion, everyone should have the option to exist forever in the virtual world. It will empower the general population, he says.