The Indian avatar is on the world’s first shortlist for artificial intelligence beauty pageants, where two of the four judges also utilize artificial intelligence. Mint explores the pros and cons of the growing influence of artificial intelligence, from CEOs and AI assistants to realistic AI deepfakes and voice clones.
Who is the Miss AI candidate from India?
Zara Shatavari, who has over 7,100 followers on Instagram, promotes health and fashion. She is an AI-generated avatar, like the other nine finalists of the Miss AI World AI Creator Awards (WAICA). Jasmeet Singh, director and co-founder of Digimozo eServices, which “employs” Zara, wrote on LinkedIn that AI influencers can assist compact brands and advertising agencies promote their products “without the need for Hollywood-like budgets.” The winner, expected to be announced in delayed June, will receive $5,000. The top three will have access to AI mentoring programs and PR services.
Where are AI avatars used?
They work as virtual assistants, tutors and in video games. They act as social media influencers, offer personalized marketing interactions, assist in patient and therapy monitoring, simulate corporate training scenarios, and serve as companions for “lonely” people. AI avatars also facilitate personalized shopping experiences, participate in virtual meetings and even serve as CEOs of NetDragon Websoft, Dictador Holdings and International Holding Co., for example. in Abu Dhabi have appointed AI-powered entities to leadership positions, and Deep Knowledge Ventures uses AI to advise the CEO.
How large is the AI avatar market?
According to Market Research Future, the AI avatar (or digital human) market, valued at $4.83 billion in 2022, could reach $67.54 billion by 2032, with the entertainment segment accounting for 23.2%. Gartner predicts that text-to-video avatars powered by generative AI technology will power 70% of digital and marketing communications by 2025.
How can I create an AI avatar?
There are many free and paid 2D, 3D and humanoid avatar generators, including Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, Epic Games, etc. Miss AI pageant partner Fanvue also allows influencers to create their AI versions. Companies are using techniques such as generative adversarial networks, variational autoencoders, and natural language processing to assist the avatar understand and respond to human language. Speech recognition capabilities can be integrated using application programming interfaces.
Where does all this lead us?
AI’s lack of emotional intelligence and sophisticated decision-making skills may not make it a good CEO, but it can certainly assist CEOs gain data-driven insights. On the other hand, counterfeit videos, images and sounds make it extremely challenging for people to distinguish reality from counterfeit or synthetic reality. Moreover, if AI avatars look and sound too similar to their human counterparts, a phenomenon known as the “Uncanny Valley,” it can cause anxiety or discomfort and backfire with feelings of human distrust and frustration.
