Miscellaneous

[Airicist]

Who is your avatar? (https://www.eofire.com/defining-your-avatar)

by Kate Erickson

[Airicist]

2045 Strategic Social Initiative (https://pr.ai/showthread.php?2331), nonprofit organization, life extension, Moscow, Russia

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/ZtP3gl_2kBM

AI Creates Facial Animation From Audio | Two Minute Papers #185

Published on Sep 4, 2017


The paper "Audio-Driven Facial Animation by Joint End-to-End Learning of Pose and Emotion (https://research.nvidia.com/publication/2017-07_Audio-Driven-Facial-Animation)"

by Tero Karras, Timo Aila, Samuli Laine, Antti Herva, Jaakko Lehtinen
July 30, 2017

Our Patreon page and the newest post on empowering research projects:
https://www.patreon.com/TwoMinutePapers
https://www.patreon.com/posts/14199475

We would like to thank our generous Patreon supporters who make Two Minute Papers possible:
Andrew Melnychuk, Dave Rushton-Smith, Dennis Abts, Eric Swenson, Esa Turkulainen, Kaben Gabriel Nanlohy, Michael Albrecht, Michael Jensen, Michael Orenstein, Steef, Sunil Kim, Torsten Reil.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/pC724RpBtAo

How digital avatars could be the future of fake news

Published on Oct 24, 2017


Digital avatars may be how we all soon communicate with tools like Apple's new Animoji and Facebook's Spaces. But the technology that makes it possible could have profound implications for the spread of fake news.

[Airicist]

Article "Dressing You, Or Your Digital Self? – The Evolution Of Avatars In Fashion (https://wtvox.com/fashion-innovation/the-evolution-of-avatars-in-fashion)"

by Laurenti Arnault
January 20, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "Stress management: Virtual support by "human" avatars works just as well as face-to-face support (https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-03-stress-virtual-human-avatars-face-to-face.html)"

March 4, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "Three avatars take the lead in new Landmark brand campaign (https://www.marketing-interactive.com/three-avatars-take-the-lead-in-new-landmark-brand-campaign)"

by Sharon Kwok
March 8, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "Baloise to Insure the Avatars (https://www.finews.com/news/english-news/35769-baloise-e-gaming-insurninja-esports-e-sports-insurance-2)"

by Claude Baumann
March 19, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "How to Become a 3D Avatar Meme (https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/7xn3kx/how-to-become-a-3d-avatar-meme)"
Once you’ve translated your physical self to polygons, the potential is limitless.

by Manuel Palou
March 22, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "CamSoda’s Camoji lets cam models hide behind animated avatars (https://venturebeat.com/2019/03/27/camsodas-camoji-lets-cam-models-hide-behind-animated-avatars)"

by Dean Takanashi
March 27, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "A YouTuber Finds Wholesome, Heartbreaking Stories Behind Silly VRChat Avatars (https://kotaku.com/a-youtuber-finds-wholesome-heartbreaking-stories-behin-1833615961)"

by Luke Winkie
March 28, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "Adobe envisions an AR shopping future (https://www.cnet.com/news/adobe-envisions-an-ar-shopping-future)"
The software company is creating augmented-reality models for retailers.

by Ben Fox Rubin
March 27, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "I rode with Nissan’s AR and 5G-powered virtual passengers (https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/26/18282003/nissan-i2v-ar-vr-5g-connected-car-test)"
Invisible-to-Visible tech brings AR avatars to your car

by Sam Byford
March 26, 2019

[Airicist]

Avatar (https://pr.ai/showthread.php?t=19838), telepresence space robot, GITAI Inc., Tokyo, Japan

[Airicist]

Article "Avatars will be our guides in immersive AR worlds — and brands need to be ready (https://venturebeat.com/2019/04/04/avatars-will-be-our-guides-in-immersive-ar-worlds-and-brands-need-to-be-ready)"

by Amir Bozorgzaden
April 4, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "Virtual Personality: How Sean Lee-Davies Is Pioneering Avatar Technology (https://hk.asiatatler.com/style/sean-lee-davies-awethentic-studios)"

by Rachel Duffel
April 8, 2019

[Airicist]

"Virtual Humans: Today and Tomorrow (https://www.amazon.com/Virtual-Humans-Tomorrow-Artificial-Intelligence/dp/113855801X)" (Chapman & Hall/CRC Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Series)

by David Burden (https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-burden-7553681), Maggi Savin-Baden (https://www.linkedin.com/in/maggi-savin-baden-992ba514a)
February 4, 2019

virtualhumansbook.blogspot.com (https://virtualhumansbook.blogspot.com)

virtualhumans.ai (http://virtualhumans.ai)

[Airicist]

Article "Sony files new VR patents centred around spectating live esports events and friends’ games (https://www.vg247.com/2019/04/14/sony-vr-patent-spectating-esports)"

by Shabana Arif
April 14, 2019

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/xAxNaLAR2to

Madonna, Maluma - Medellín (Billboard Music Awards Performance)

Published on May 1, 2019


You’re watching Madonna and Maluma’s performance of “Medellín” from the Billboard Music Awards.

Article "How augmented reality put five Madonnas on stage at once (https://www.engadget.com/2019/05/02/madonna-billboard-music-awards-augmented-reality)"
The pop icon danced with digital versions of herself at the Billboard Music Awards.

by Kris Holt
May 2, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "AI avatars could be the next generation’s favorite entertainers (https://thenextweb.com/artificial-intelligence/2019/05/10/ai-avatars-could-be-the-next-generations-favorite-entertainers)"

by Ivan Mehta
May 10, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "GSE developing innovative ‘avatar-guided’ teacher training (http://www.buffalo.edu/ubnow/stories/2019/05/lamb-avatars.html)"
The new avatar-guided technology is much more versatile and flexible than the current technology, and can be used with a cellphone, iPad and computer.

by Charles Anzalone
May 13, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "The Whitney Houston of the 3D Hologram Tour Will Be Neither 3D nor a Hologram (https://slate.com/technology/2019/05/whitney-houston-3d-hologram-tour-technology.html)"
A look at the latest dead-singer hologram tour technology.

by Jane C. Hu
May 22, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "Samsung’s new AI can create talking avatars with a single photo (https://thenextweb.com/artificial-intelligence/2019/05/23/samsungs-new-ai-can-create-talking-avatars-with-a-single-photo)"

by Ivan Mehta
May 23, 2019

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/p1b5aiTrGzY

Few-shot adversarial learning of realistic neural talking head models (https://arxiv.org/abs/1905.08233v1)

Published on May 21, 2019


Statement regarding the purpose and effect of the technology
(NB: this statement reflects personal opinions of the authors and not of their organizations)

We believe that telepresence technologies in AR, VR and other media are to transform the world in the not-so-distant future. Shifting a part of human life-like communication to the virtual and augmented worlds will have several positive effects. It will lead to a reduction in long-distance travel and short-distance commute. It will democratize education, and improve the quality of life for people with disabilities. It will distribute jobs more fairly and uniformly around the World. It will better connect relatives and friends separated by distance. To achieve all these effects, we need to make human communication in AR and VR as realistic and compelling as possible, and the creation of photorealistic avatars is one (small) step towards this future. In other words, in future telepresence systems, people will need to be represented by the realistic semblances of themselves, and creating such avatars should be easy for the users. This application and scientific curiosity is what drives the research in our group, including the project presented in this video.

We realize that our technology can have a negative use for the so-called “deepfake” videos. However, it is important to realize, that Hollywood has been making fake videos (aka “special effects”) for a century, and deep networks with similar capabilities have been available for the past several years (see links in the paper). Our work (and quite a few parallel works) will lead to the democratization of the certain special effects technologies. And the democratization of the technologies has always had negative effects. Democratizing sound editing tools lead to the rise of pranksters and fake audios, democratizing video recording lead to the appearance of footage taken without consent. In each of the past cases, the net effect of democratization on the World has been positive, and mechanisms for stemming the negative effects have been developed. We believe that the case of neural avatar technology will be no different. Our belief is supported by the ongoing development of tools for fake video detection and face spoof detection alongside with the ongoing shift for privacy and data security in major IT companies.

Authors:
Egor Zakharov, Aliaksandra Shysheya, Egor Burkov, Victor Lempitsky


Article "GANs Create Talking Avatars From One Photo (https://www.i-programmer.info/news/105-artificial-intelligence/12802-gans-create-talking-avatars-from-one-photo.html)"

by Mike James
May 25, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "New Balance is using digital avatars to court Gen Z (https://www.glossy.co/fashion/new-balance-is-using-digital-avatars-to-court-gen-z)"

by Katie Richards
May 31, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "Xiaomi’s new Mimoji look awfully familiar, huh (https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/2/20679241/xiaomi-mimoji-apple-memoji-clone-copying-smartphone-ar-avatar)"
Good artists borrow, great artists steal Memoji

by Nick Statt
July 2, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "Using virtual reality could make you a better person in real life (https://theconversation.com/using-virtual-reality-could-make-you-a-better-person-in-real-life-119301)"

by Thuong Hoang, Guy Wood-Bradley
July 3, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "Trashy Muse put on the world’s first virtual avatar fashion show (https://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/45206/1/trashy-muse-virtual-avatar-fashion-show-augmented-reality-lil-miquela-paris)"
It’s just like your average runway – except the clothes are digital and so are the ‘people’ wearing them

July 11, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "How Robotic Avatars Will Become Ubiquitous in the Future (https://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/events/how-robotic-avatars-will-become-ubiquitous-in-the-future)"
Avatar XPRIZE advisor speaks with us about how robotic avatars will allow humans to do experience more activities, but also fix our dishwasher.

by Neal Weinberg
July 16, 2019

Jacquelyn (Jacki) Morie (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackimorie26)

[Airicist]

Article "Meet The Man Behind The World’s First Digital Supermodel (https://www.elle.com/uk/fashion/a28394357/man-behind-worlds-first-digital-supermodel)"
Move over Lil Miquela, newcomer Shudu is here to stay.

by Sara Semic
July 15, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "Digital Doubles: The Deepfake Tech Nourishing New Wave Retail (https://www.forbes.com/sites/katiebaron/2019/07/29/digital-doubles-the-deepfake-tech-nourishing-new-wave-retail)"

by Katie Baron
July 29, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "Young Innovators: Better apps might improve health, U of S research finds (https://thestarphoenix.com/news/local-news/young-innovators-better-apps-might-improve-health-u-of-s-research-finds)"
People in the study who had customized avatars got more engaged with the tasks they were assigned to do online as part of the experiment.

by Federica Giannelli
August 1, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "VR Beyond Entertainment: How Avatar Embodiment Increases Our Cognitive Performance (https://journal.binarydistrict.com/vr-beyond-entertainment-how-avatar-embodiment-increases-our-cognitive-performance)"
The next stage of virtual reality’s development is avatar embodiment experiences
By making VR experiences more realistic, avatar embodiment has the capacity to even change a user’s behaviour

by Laura Aymerich-Franch
July 15, 2019

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/hkSfHCtpnHU

AI learns to animate your face in VR

Published on Aug 24, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "Chinese Gaming Giant NetEase Leverages AI to Create 3D Game Characters from Selfies (https://syncedreview.com/2019/09/10/chinese-gaming-giant-netease-leverages-ai-to-create-3d-game-characters-from-selfies)"
A team of researchers from the Chinese gaming giant NetEase have developed a method to automatically create players’ in-game characters from a standard portrait photo.

September 10, 2019

[Airicist]

"Avatars: Are we ready for our digital twins? (https://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-50188819/avatars-are-we-ready-for-our-digital-twins)"

October 28, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "Yoox Evolves Its Mirror Functionality to Create Customized Digital Avatars (https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/yoox-evolves-mirror-functionality-create-160505568.html)"

by Alessandra Turra
November 4, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "Hike launches avatars with HikeMoji stickers (https://www.gadgetsnow.com/apps/hike-launches-avatars-with-hikemoji-stickers/articleshow/72075436.cms)"

November 15, 2019

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/fSWD9sQe78g

Rise of the Virtual Beings - KDA, Lil Miquela, Hatsune Miku, VTubers

Nov 18, 2019


In case you haven't realized, virtual humans are taking over the entertainment industry. Whether it be musicians, YouTubers, social media influencers, Twitch Streamers, or Instagram models, nearly all forms of media are currently being infiltrated by artificial personalities. Who knows, your next favorite celebrity may not even be real.

"The Rise Of Virtual Beings – K/DA, Lil Miquela, Hatsune Miku, VTubers (https://vrscout.com/news/the-rise-of-virtual-beings)"

by Kyle Melnick
November 20, 2019

[Airicist]

"The Relightables: Volumetric Performance Capture of Humans with Realistic Relighting (https://augmentedperception.github.io/therelightables)"

Kaiwen Guo, Peter Lincoln, Philip Davidson, Jay Busch, Xueming Yu, Matt Whalen,
Geoff Harvey, Sergio Orts-Escolano, Rohit Pandey, Jason Dourgarian, Matthew DuVall,
Danhang Tang, Anastasia Tkach, Adarsh Kowdle, Emily Cooper, Mingsong Dou,
Sean Fanello, Graham Fyffe, Christoph Rhemann, Jonathan Taylor,
Paul Debevec, and Shahram Izadi

[Airicist]

Article "Inside ‘The Irishman’: How VFX Supervisor Pablo Helman Brought Young Robert De Niro to Life (https://decider.com/2019/12/06/the-irishman-pablo-helman-interview-how-the-deaging-works)"

by Anna Menta
December 6, 2019

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/nRyM52GQ7Ks

Rise of the digital human | WSJ

Nov 27, 2019


The technological innovations that helped make a younger version of Robert De Niro for “The Irishman” are becoming more widely available to people who want their own digital twin. WSJ’s R.T. Watson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/r-t-watson-a4795587) created his own digital avatar to learn more about the appeal and some of the risk involved.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/NlZJlFCh8MU

This AI creates a moving digital avatar of you

Dec 11, 2019


The paper "Neural Volumes: Learning Dynamic Renderable Volumes from Images" is available here:

"Neural Volumes: Learning Dynamic Renderable Volumes from Images (https://research.fb.com/publications/neural-volumes-learning-dynamic-renderable-volumes-from-images)"

by Stephen Lombardi, Tomas Simon, Jason Saragih, Gabriel Schwartz, Andreas Lehrmann, Yaser Sheikh
July 31, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "Check out these Top 5 Tektek alternatives For the best Avatar Creation (https://newbulletins.com/tektek-alternatives/4174)"

by Chris Mitchell
December 29, 2019

[Airicist]

Article "What are the ethics of CGI actors – and will they replace real ones? (https://www.newscientist.com/article/2230205-what-are-the-ethics-of-cgi-actors-and-will-they-replace-real-ones)"
James Dean is set to be the latest actor to star in a film long after his death, but the rise of true Hollywood immortality raises big ethical questions

by Donna Lu
January 15, 2020

[Airicist]

Article "‘We can’t scale humans’: Why startups are raising millions to build AI avatars (https://www.fastcompany.com/90456164/silicon-valleys-hot-new-commodity-creepy-ai-powered-avatars)"
Startups are creating unsettling human-like avatars to take over customer service jobs—or even act as a stand-in for celebrities.

by Jared Newman
January 28, 2020

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/zzU99G269Gc

The Digital Human Project - LIVESTREAM Accelerate 2019

Jan 29, 2020


Introducing the Digital Human Project at ACCELERATE 2019 LIVE STREAM Edition.

Samuel Williams (https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuelmwilliams)

[Airicist]

Article "Digital humans, virtual humans, digital doubles… what’s the difference? Mapping an emerging technology (https://virtuals.co/digital-humans-virtual-humans-differences-overview)"

by Alvaro Lamarche-Toloza
February 12, 2020

[Airicist]

Article "Artificial Human Beings: The Amazing Examples Of Robotic Humanoids And Digital Humans (https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2020/02/17/artificial-human-beings-the-amazing-examples-of-robotic-humanoids-and-digital-humans)"

by Bernard Marr
February 17, 2020

[Airicist]

Article "The Rise of AI Avatars: Why Startups Are Raising Millions to Build Our Digital Counterparts (https://www.dogtownmedia.com/the-rise-of-ai-avatars-why-startups-are-raising-millions-to-build-our-digital-counterparts)"

by Benjamin McDermott (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bmcde)
February 17, 2020

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/fqye4Cw0EF0

Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk Star Trek deepfake

Feb 18, 2020


In the not too distant future Elon Musk will save us from the captivity of Jeff Bezos' Amazon illusion.

Elon Musk and Talosian Jeff Bezos in Star Trek's pilot episode 'The Cage' deepfake.

"Deepfake Video Of Elon Musk And Jeff Bezos Goes Viral, Netizens Call It 'gold' (https://www.republicworld.com/entertainment-news/whats-viral/deepfake-video-of-elon-musk-and-jeff-bezos-goes-viral-fans-call-it-g.html)"
Deepfake video featuring tech billionaires, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk is doing rounds of the internet. The video which was shared by YouTube channel The Faking.

by Riya Baibhawi
February 23, 2020

[Airicist]

Article "10 Best Avatar Creator Websites To Make Free Avatars Online (https://www.techworm.net/2020/04/best-avatar-creator.html)"

by Amaan Rizwan
April 2, 2020

[Airicist]

Article "AI-Powered Digital People (https://syncedreview.com/2020/04/11/ai-powered-digital-people)"
Synced has identified some interesting AI-powered virtual humans to introduce to our readers.

April 4, 2020

[Airicist]

Article "Edward Saatchi on virtual beings: AI is the next great art form (https://venturebeat.com/2020/05/17/edward-saatchi-on-virtual-beings-ai-is-the-next-great-art-form/3)"

by Dean Takahashi
May 17, 2020

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/D_exWItjVTI

Maschinenmensch Avatar

Jul 27. 2020


A robot avatar, controlled by a VR or AR headset in the image of the robot Maschinenmensch from Metropolis (1927). The robot was designed for thefilm by the great Walter Schulze-Mittendorff who was the costume designer for Fritz Lang.

[Airicist]

Article "Spotify Created an AI-Powered Avatar of The Weeknd for a Personalized Listening Experience (https://www.adweek.com/retail/spotify-created-an-ai-powered-avatar-of-the-weeknd-for-a-personalized-listening-experience)"
The microsite uses deep learning and user data to personalize the artist's dialogue

by Patrick Kulp
August 19, 2020

The Weeknd (https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weeknd) on Wikipedia

[Airicist]

"Hyprsense Debuts Hyprmeet, Immersive Avatars for Video Calls (https://www.prweb.com/releases/hyprsense_debuts_hyprmeet_immersive_avatars_for_video_calls/prweb17360492.htm)"
Users can design a “digital self” to represent themselves online

September 1, 2020

Article "Epic Games Acquires Real-Time Facial Animation Company Hyprsense (https://uploadvr.com/epic-games-hyprsense)"

by Harry Baker
November 17, 2020

[Airicist]

Article "Tech University Creates 2,000 Avatars For Students To Attend Virtual Graduation And Roam The Campus Like A Video Game (https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/graduation-ceremony-vr-with-avatars-iit-bombay)"

September 4, 2020

[Airicist]

Article "Anime Avatars Are Going Mainstream on Twitch (https://www.wired.com/story/vtube-streaming-twitch-pokimane)"
Vtubers have racked up millions of subscribers—and even established stars like Pokimane have given the motion-capture medium a try.

by Cecilia D'Anastasio
September 15, 2020

[Airicist]

Article "Oporto-based Didimo, a creator of high-fidelity digital humans, announces €1 million funding (https://www.eu-startups.com/2020/10/oporto-based-didimo-a-creator-of-high-fidelity-digital-humans-announces-e1-million-funding)"

by Charlotte Tucker
October 14, 2020

Article "Didimo: The Next Breakthrough in Digital Humans (https://startup.info/veronica-orvalho-didimo)"

by Kossi Adzo
January 15, 2021

"Didimo’s digital clones come to games, stores and the metaverse (https://venturebeat.com/games/didimo-digital-clones-come-to-games-store-and-the-metaverse)"

by Erron Kelly
October 11, 2022


didimo.co (https://www.didimo.co)

youtube.com/@didimo5486 (https://www.youtube.com/@didimo5486)

vimeo.com/user54078122 (https://vimeo.com/user54078122)

facebook.com/DidimoInc (https://www.facebook.com/DidimoInc)

twitter.com/didimo_co (https://twitter.com/didimo_co)

linkedin.com/company/didimo (https://www.linkedin.com/company/didimo)

Founder and CEO - Veronica Costa Orvalho (https://www.linkedin.com/in/veronica-costa-orvalho-b6a8812)

[Airicist]

Article "Personal Avatars Are Here to Save Virtual Events (https://hackernoon.com/personal-avatars-are-here-to-save-virtual-events-ej383tva)"

by Timmu Tõke
October 19, 2020

[Airicist]

Article "AI Halloween Avatars! StyleGAN2 Generator Reveals Your Inner Zombie (https://syncedreview.com/2020/10/27/ai-halloween-avatars-stylegan2-generator-reveals-your-inner-zombie)"
Now, just in time for costume season, another indie developer has taken facial image transfer tech to the opposite end of the cuteness spectrum, building a zombie generator.

October 27, 2020

makemeazombie.com (https://makemeazombie.com)

Josh Brown Kramer (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshbrownkramer)

[Airicist]

Article "Virtual Influencers Make Real Money While Covid Locks Down Human Stars (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-10-29/lil-miquela-lol-s-seraphine-virtual-influencers-make-more-real-money-than-ever)"
The pandemic isn’t a problem when you’re computer-generated.

by Thuy Ong
October 29, 2020

[Airicist]

Article "Big Tech Snags Hollywood Talent to Pursue Enhanced Reality (https://www.wsj.com/articles/big-tech-enlists-hollywood-to-boost-adoption-of-enhanced-reality-11604399401)"
From ‘Star Wars’ to Animoji, visual effects gurus create digital worlds meant to advance computing

by R.T. Watson
November 3, 2020

[Airicist]

Article "Avatar idols take center stage (https://www.thejakartapost.com/life/2020/11/18/avatar-idols-take-center-stage.html)"

November 18, 2020

[Airicist]

Digital DNA Summit (https://pr.ai/showthread.php?t=22636)

[Airicist]

Article "The Vtuber takeover of 2020 (https://www.polygon.com/2020/11/30/21726800/hololive-vtuber-projekt-melody-kizuna-ai-calliope-mori-vshojo-youtube-earnings)"
3D anime girls are everywhere now — and they’re making big bucks

by James Chen
November 30, 2020

[Airicist]

Article "China’s virtual idols with digital avatars and human voices: meet the live-stream kings and queens of Bilibili (https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3111890/chinas-virtual-idols-digital-avatars-and-human-voices-meet)"
China is seeing a rise in popularity of virtual idols – real people who live-stream behind an animated face
Bilibili plans to stage a concert of virtual idols in Shanghai on December 19. The event will feature 16 Chinese and 14 Japanese virtual entertainers

by Elaine Yau
November 30, 2020

[Airicist]

Article "Within a decade you may be working with an avatar or a digital twin (https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/10/within-a-decade-you-may-be-working-with-an-avatar-or-digital-twin.html)"

by Lori Ioannou
December 10, 2020

[Airicist]

Article "The Rise of VTubers as Social Media Influencers, Explained"
“If It Quacks Like A Duck...”

by Devin Mancuso (https://pr.ai/showthread.php?t=22707)
December 15, 2020

[Airicist]

Article "Meet the Humans of the Future: Holograms, Digital Humans, and Deep Fakes (https://medium.com/demagsign/meet-the-humans-of-the-future-holograms-digital-humans-and-deep-fakes-35024b881545)"
With AI and 5G developing increasingly faster, we will soon experience reality in new ways — literally and figuratively — through technologies that will make us question what “real” is.

by Giorgia Lombardo
December 14, 2020

[Airicist]

"Microsoft files patent to create chatbots from your dead loved ones (https://www.inputmag.com/culture/microsoft-files-patent-to-create-chatbots-from-your-dead-loved-ones)"

December 7, 2020

[Airicist]

Article "Microsoft wants to use AI to turn your friends and family into 3D chatbots (https://www.techrepublic.com/article/microsoft-wants-to-use-ai-to-turn-your-friends-and-family-into-3d-chatbots)"
A patent published by Microsoft describes the process of creating an AI chatbot based on a real-life person using their social data, photos, and even voice recordings.


by Owen Hughes
January 5, 2021

[Airicist]

Article "Virtual Human Influencers Are Taking Over (https://medium.com/better-marketing/virtual-human-influencers-are-taking-over-13d61dbd7ce7)"
The Lil Miquela phenomenon

by Ana Writes
January 6, 2021

[Airicist]

"Can Virtual Humans Provide Real Connection? (https://www.mediamonks.com/blog/2020/12/can-virtual-humans-provide-real-connection)"

by MediaMonks
December 2020

[Airicist]

Article "LG used a virtual influencer to announce new products during its CES keynote (https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/11/22224601/lg-ces-virtual-influencer-dj-reah-keem-uvc-robot)"
Meet Reah Keem, a DJ and travel aficionado

by Julia Alexander
January 11, 2021

instagram.com/reahkeem (https://www.instagram.com/reahkeem)

[Airicist]

Article "Rise of the Avatars: Their Future in Gaming, Fashion and Music (https://musebycl.io/music/rise-avatars-their-future-gaming-fashion-and-music)"
Our virtual selves are just getting warmed up

by Doug Scott (https://www.linkedin.com/in/doscott)
February 1, 2021

[Airicist]

Article "Finding the right balance between realistic and abstract 3D avatars (https://readyplayer.me/blog/abstract-realistic-3d-avatars-balance)"

by Daniel Marcinkowski (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmarcinkowskipl)
February 4, 2021

[Airicist]

Article "VTubing Is More Than Just Livestreaming With Cute Anime Avatars (https://gizmodo.com/vtubing-is-more-than-just-livestreaming-with-cute-anime-1846237827)"

by Sam Rutherford (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-rutherford-95598b36)
February 10, 2021

[Airicist]

"Avatar Creators Need to Better Understand How to Enhance Virtual Body Ownership, finds Strategy Analytics (https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210225005999/en/Avatar-Creators-Need-to-Better-Understand-How-to-Enhance-Virtual-Body-Ownership-finds-Strategy-Analytics)"
Requirements for Avatars are Very Different Depending on Use Case

February 25, 2021

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/mDEDqlSbkqk

Avatars: finding a sense of self and others in the virtual world

Mar 29, 2021


Advancements in virtual reality and augmented reality are moving us from experiences in which digital content is confined to screens toward experiences in which users are surrounded by the digital content. However, anyone who’s entered a VR platform realizes that while they may encounter hand renderings that enable content interactions, they’re missing a key aspect of their interaction with the real world: a body. Additionally, these virtual worlds are often underpopulated with other people, or avatars, the main representations of people in these virtual scenarios.

In this webinar, Microsoft Senior Researcher Dr. Mar Gonzalez-Franco (https://www.linkedin.com/in/margonzalez) explores rigged avatars—those with internal skeletons for easier, more realistic animations—and the potential for avatars to serve not only as opportunities for user engagement but also as a substitute for the user’s own body. Such a substitution could essentially provide the user with a sense of “self” in the virtual world. Gonzalez-Franco will walk through her experiments with avatars and embodiment illusion, users’ feelings of ownership of their virtual bodies. She’ll also discuss the open-source releases of Microsoft Rocketbox avatars and Movebox toolbox, resources for creating and animating avatars in more humanlike ways.

Together, you’ll learn:

■ The fundamentals of body perception and how body perception ultimately changes user behavior
■ The utility of using rigged avatars to replace users’ bodies inside VR
■ Applications of avatars, focusing on the wide range of experiments that can be done for the study of neuroscience, sociology, and psychology
■ The importance of tools to animate avatars for use in simulations and even to train AI systems

[Airicist]

Article "China is tempting customers with its flawless AI idols — virtual influencers who don't gain weight, never age, and keep their computer-generated noses out of controversy (https://www.insider.com/chinas-flawless-ai-influencers-the-hot-new-queens-of-advertising-2021-8)"

by Cheryl Teh (https://www.linkedin.com/in/cheryltehtienli)
August 13, 2021

[Airicist]

Article "Thailand's First Virtual Influencer is Here: AI Ailynn (https://www.virtualhumans.org/article/who-is-ai-ailynn-thailands-first-ai-influencer-is-finally-here)"
Asia's significance in the virtual influencer industry continues to grow.

by Makena Rasmussen (https://www.linkedin.com/in/marasmus)
October 4, 2021

instagram.com/ai_ailynn (https://www.instagram.com/ai_ailynn)

siabangkok.com (http://www.siabangkok.com)

[Airicist2]

Article "You will have a digital avatar sooner than you think (https://www.utahbusiness.com/digital-avatars-are-going-mainstream)"

by Jennifer Alsever (https://www.jenniferalsever.com)
November 11, 2021

[Airicist2]

Article "Avatars, digital humans and the new ‘faces’ of educational media (https://cdrg.blog/2021/11/08/avatars-digital-humans-and-the-new-faces-of-educational-media)"

by Boyd Britton (https://www.linkedin.com/in/boyd-britton-76255718), Jessica Tyrrell (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicatyrrell) and Mike Seymour (https://pr.ai/showthread.php?t=21404)
November 8, 2021

[Airicist2]

Article "The metaverse is the next venue for body dysmorphia online (https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/11/16/1040174/facebook-metaverse-body-dysmorphia)"
Some people are excited to see realistic avatars that look like them. Others worry it might make body image issues even worse.

By Tanya Basu (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tbasu)
November 16, 2021

[Airicist2]

"Videos with Virtual Humans, Made Easy: Nikkei Innovation Lab Develops New Production System (https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/553735299/videos-with-virtual-humans-made-easy-nikkei-innovation-lab-develops-new-production-system)"
Nikkei Innovation Lab and DATAGRID Inc. have worked together to develop a system that produces videos using AI-generated images of human beings.

October 13, 2021

[Airicist2]

Article "What Are Digital Humans? Conversational “Bots” Like You’ve Never Seen Before (https://www.xrtoday.com/virtual-reality/what-are-digital-humans-conversational-bots-like-youve-never-seen-before)"
Virtual humans are soon on the way

by Anwesha Roy (https://www.linkedin.com/in/anwesha-roy-5883017)
December 23, 2021

[Airicist2]

Article "Why can’t we have legs in the metaverse? (https://qz.com/why-can-t-we-have-legs-in-the-metaverse-1849344172)"

by Nicolas Rivero (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicol%C3%A1s-rivero-415a12a6)
July 29, 2022

[Airicist2]

Article "China’s livestream shopping is booming, fueling new tech such as avatars and AI (https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/11/chinas-livestream-shopping-booms-fueling-new-tech-like-avatars-and-ai.html)"

by Evelyn Cheng (https://www.linkedin.com/in/evelyn-cheng-53b23624)
December 10, 2023

[Airicist2]

Article "From Niche to Necessary: The Rise of AI-Powered Virtual Avatars in Chinese E-Commerce (https://www.alizila.com/ai-virtual-avatars-chinese-ecommerce-retail-2024)"
Animated chatbots are helping brands connect with shoppers in China’s vast consumer market
The global market for digital avatars will be worth over $682 billion by 2032 – research report

by Elizabeth Utley (https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-utley-758475a4)
February 27, 2024

[Airicist2]

"VLOGGER: Multimodal Diffusion for Embodied Avatar Synthesis (https://arxiv.org/html/2403.08764v1)"

by Enric Corona (https://www.linkedin.com/in/enric-corona-751802b6), Andrei Zanfir (https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrei-zanfir-397948106), Eduard Gabriel Bazavan (https://www.linkedin.com/in/eduard-gabriel-bazavan-137598bb), Nikos Kolotouros (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikos-kolotouros), Thiemo Alldieck (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thiemoalldieck), Cristian Sminchisescu (https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristian-sminchisescu-626b7b144)
March 13, 2024

Google Inc. (https://pr.ai/showthread.php?4281)

enriccorona.github.io/vlogger (https://enriccorona.github.io/vlogger)

[Airicist2]

"The Rise of AI Influencers: Exploring the Future of Social Media (https://autogpt.net/the-rise-of-ai-influencers-exploring-the-future-of-social-media)"

April 28, 2024

[Airicist2]

Article "Why AI-created virtual avatars are the future of digital selling (https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2024/05/03/why-ai-created-virtual-avatars-are-the-future-digital-selling)"

by Iva Filipović (https://www.linkedin.com/in/iva-filipovic)
May 3, 2024