“Third Thumb” Augmentation Changes the Way we Think of Prosthetics
Have you ever wanted to strike a conversation with your favorite celebrity? Of course you have. You’re only human, after all. And there’s nothing to be ashamed about that either. We as a species have an innate desire to look up to those we deem “superior,” celebritizing them as a result.
Though because of them being a celebrity, it’s difficult to have meaningful conversations with them. To counter this problem, Josh Bocanegra, who is the CEO of a robotics company called Humai, decided to create SelenaBot – an AI-powered chatbot of the female pop star Selena Gomez.
“As a marketer-turned-developer, I knew the main challenge for building a chatbot wasn’t going to be technical, it was more about creating a chatbot that people will care about. So I thought, why not build a chatbot my daughter would use? […] So I didn’t hesitate to create SelenaBot, “an AI-powered chatbot of Selena Gomez”. What I created wasn’t a breakthrough in AI, but one feature within it helped me see how chatbots can gain more popularity.”
– Josh Bocanegra
Photo Credit: Josh Bocanegra
Unlike other chatbots which (haphazardly) rely on natural language processing, the SelenaBot instead relies on pre-written questions for you to ask. The chatbot’s responses are based on previous interviews that the real Selena Gomez had participated in.
Anticipating your reservations to this method of communication, Josh noted some valid reasons behind it. First of all, a lot of us aren’t very good in asking the right question to a chatbot – let alone a celebrity. Secondly, by suggesting questions to ask, you’re guaranteed an answer that is both relevant and potentially valuable. With time, there could arise more suggested questions, increasing the complexity of the conversation at hand.
Watch a video demo of SelenaBot in action here.
Photo Credit: Josh Bocanegra
FUTURE IMPLICATIONS
Although the SelenaBot was specifically created for Josh Bocanegra’s daughter, Josh soon realized how much potential it really has for the future of AI-powered chatbots. It doesn’t have to stop with Selena Gomez. Chatbots of the future could potentially be anyone you want. It could be another celebrity of your choosing, the President of the United States, or even a deceased family member.
Eventually these chatbots will be integrated into both Virtual and Mixed Reality. They could become these holographic projections which reveal themselves, no matter where you are, at your own behest. Think of the holographic librarian Vox 114 from the 2002 sci-fi film The Time Machine. With the right question, Dr. Hartdegen’s conversation with Vox appeared as seamless and fluid as any other normal conversation you might have with another human being. Only instead of being located in a future New York Public Library, your own personal Vox 114 will be anywhere (at anytime) you want it to be.
About the author
B.J. Murphy is the Editor and Social Media Manager of Serious Wonder. He is a futurist, philosopher, activist, author and poet. B.J. is an Affiliate Scholar for the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET) and an Ambassador for the robotics company Humai.
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