LG Uses Virtual Influencer for CES Keynote
LG brought out a virtual human to make announcements for its virtual CES 2021 press conference. Reah Keem, a ‘virtual influencer’ created by LG, served a dual purpose in highlighting some of LG’s upcoming products while serving as an advertisement for some of the company’s technology just by performing its task.
AI Influencer
Virtual influencer Reah Keem is a composer and DJ, with a single song on SoundCloud, according to LG. Keem’s non-existent body somehow lives in Seoul and has about 6,000 Instagram followers. LG spent several weeks building up the virtual human’s following and refining her look. The corporate spokesbeing designed entirely by humans to promote a brand wore a hoodie with “stay punk forever” on it, obliterating all irony.
Trained with deep learning technology, Keem is designed to express a realistic personality, including an interest in music and travel and a disappointment at how the COVID-19 pandemic limits going places. The virtual human explained that that was why it was excited for LG’s new line of CLOi UV-C robots. Keem described how the robot, first unveiled last month, can reduce the presence of germs in places with a lot of traffic by shining a UV-C light on surfaces. Keem waxed excitedly on how the robot would make it safe for it to travel again, despite being a virtual being without a body to worry about disease.
“Having said that though looks like it’s gonna be a while until we can have gigs and parties back on,” Keem said.”So until then, I’m going to call in my studio and work on my videos and stuff.”
Virtual CES
LG’s decision to have a virtual human take over part of the talk fit well with the totally virtual CES this year. The technology was already taking off in some quarters, but the COVID-19 pandemic has likely helped accelerate the trend. AI is likely to become a bigger presence in business settings. Cerence even used the cloned voices of its CEO and CFO to present its most recent earnings call. Entirely artificial personalities are still evolving, but the experiments are growing bolder. Sberbank’s new voice assistant comes with three separate personalities: ‘ Sber,’ ‘Joy,’ and ‘Athena,’ each with a thumbnail personality description. For those looking to interact with a full-on virtual being, there are opportunities like the two AI personalities created by virtual reality developer Fable Studio that can hold a conversation during a video chat.
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