What do you get when you cross a 1990s AIM-bot with the Black Lodge from Twin Peaks?
By Dan Nosowitz Posted 10.20.2010 at 10:02 am 15 Comments

Intellitar Intellitar CEO Don Davidson's Intellitar

Today, a company called Intellitar is set to release Virtual Eternity, a bit of software that purports to create a digital clone of a person for posterity's sake. Theoretically, you'll be able to create an interactive video of yourself that can answer questions and respond to conversation with an AI-powered personality based on your own.

Intellitar spends a few hours capturing both your image and various vocal cues. It doesn't regurgitate canned responses, but instead generates responses from those captured sounds. That can result in an awkward conversation, sort of like talking to those 'bots that infiltrated AOL Instant Messenger back in the '90s, but what's interesting about Intellitar is that you can train it to respond in certain ways, making the avatar seem more and more like you.

The software will capture a backlog of questions, and you can browse through them, answering them in your own voice. Intellitar uses a blend of artificial intelligence systems to come up with a distinct personality of sorts from that input (though undoubtedly less charming than the naive Twitter-bot NELL). Less successful is the video itself, which has that almost-real-but-not-actually-real look that plagued movies like The Polar Express (and which made the backwards-talk of Twin Peaks so unnerving).

You can interact with the "Intellitar" of the company's CEO at their website, to get a sense of how the service works. Spoiler: He has no particular insight on the finale of Mad Men.


There are a few interesting applications for the software, though I actually think the stated purpose is least promising. Intellitar doesn't really capture your personality in any kind of enduring or flexible way; the AI is a bit too clumsy to really distinguish a distinct "voice." But for education or reference, it's kind of cool: Famous professors could make themselves available online to answer questions, and trips to the DMV could be made both more uncomfortable and more informative.

We note that back in 1987, the sinisterly profiteering Vu-Age Church pioneered this technology in an episode of Max Headroom.


[Intellitar via Huntsville Times]

15 Comments

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basildave
10/20/10 at 10:19 am

I guess they were inspired by the device portraying in the Will Smith I-Robot movie (the hologram of the Dr. which provided the "bread crumbs").

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basildave
10/20/10 at 10:21 am

Watching the video I'm not sure this will be passing the Turing test anytime soon.

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Kiser
10/20/10 at 11:47 am

I am working on a similar branch of this I call “Virtual Immortality”. Where we create a world and an avatar so that the simulated copy personality can live in a virtual heaven created personally by the Human host, the only limit is the virtual memory and size you want your world to be. But this way we don’t have to stop learning. We could continue with the growth of learning by keeping them connect through social networks and live internet connection. So yes even after death you can still update your face book.

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Kiser
10/20/10 at 11:48 am

We still need funding. lol

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CoolHand032
10/20/10 at 12:36 pm

I liked the polar express.. :(

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nebulation
10/20/10 at 2:42 pm

Yo, whatup Chuck. I love watchin your fights. I'm a bit of a fighter myself. Hey, you should give me your email and we could hang out sometime. You won't regret it.

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RangerDave
10/20/10 at 3:42 pm

Heh. Maybe I'm showing my age but the first thing I thought of was Max Headroom

RangerDave

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nebulation
10/20/10 at 7:25 pm

Oh, it's cool, don't worry about it. I'm pretty busy myself and I can only imagine how busy you would be bein the Iceman and all. lol. Good luck though with your upcoming matches. I'll be watchin as I'm a major fan! Later.

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El Guapo
10/23/10 at 1:13 pm

Reminds me of a time when I experiemented with hallucinogens.

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El Guapo
10/26/10 at 9:40 pm

Never mind. I am on hallucinogens.

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El Guapo
10/28/10 at 12:10 pm

For five day's now.

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holmok
10/31/10 at 1:23 pm

that is kinda weird, but i like the idea. thats neat how how it can imitate a persons personality

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brittab84
11/01/10 at 8:59 pm

i think that this is genius, it can capture a person's digital personality! personally, i wouldn't want to see myself digitalized

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El Guapo
11/24/10 at 6:22 pm

I'm still on hallucinogens. I think I'm just now peaking.

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0161LABOTOMY
04/28/13 at 10:43 am

I see nothing interesting about a simulated intelligent Hologram . Try cloning yourself, making age adjustments, so that you may be the same age, (also installing a digital hard drive in each cadaver) & Put yourself in a state of Cryo sleep , Every time you die, have some of your lab team members put the sim card that contains your memories , life, & Personality, Now that's science ....

0161Labotomy



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