At the Consumer Electronics Show, Samsung’s STAR Labs unveiled Neons, virtual humans that use AI to act and speak like regular humans (Smith & Tibken, 2020). It appears on a screen as a regular human and exhibits emotions, can learn and remember information from the user, serving as a digital assistant that is more interactive than similar technologies like Alexa or Siri. It can be used as an advisor, teacher, or even companion for businesses or individuals to perform certain tasks. They are not customizable and come with a preset name, and will be obtained through a subscription service, not able to be owned. The two main technologies used are Core R3 which provides the human-like behavior and communication, and the Spectra which powers the AI of the Neons to give memory and intelligence. One aspect that is unsettling is that they will not respond kindly when they are insulted, which I believe could be a danger given that the AI could use the user’s data for malicious purposes, though the company claims they would not sell the user’s data. Also, while this technology could have innovative use, it can be viewed as unethical to create such realistic humans, as it could remove people from reality.
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After I read this post, I remembered the time that I watched a movie about “human clone” However, I didn’t know technology develops really fast, and now we have Neon. I was surprised that Neon is different than Siri or Alexa. Neon looks like human, and even it responds differently based on what you did. I think it is good that Neon can be used in many different ways (it has many abilities). As Samsung showed Neon as next step of Bixby, they have much lots of expectation about it. However, I also have some worries about this. As this article mentions that there is a possibility that the role of digital human can be more than real human, I think we need to know how to use and control technology. (so we can use them in positive way)
source: https://www.cnet.com/news/samsung-neon-heres-when-well-get-details-on-the-mysterious-ai/
The Neon project is intended to be used for entertainment purposes, and dying jobs according to the Verge. I am wondering how far these can be advanced to take over more and more complex jobs, leaving humans with a lot less options at the low skill level. This is a daunting potential future.
According to the attached article from Market Watch, 36 million jobs could be in danger. This is a large issue for the older population because they are forced to decide whether or not to seek higher education and a new set of skills, or wait out the inevitable where they are. Already in stores this is noticeable. Taking a self checkout into consideration, the majority of people prefer no interaction, including myself. This is where the money is and companies will follow that.
Back on topic of the Neon project, even more jobs than the obvious are at risk. In a Dezeen article, they claim that these lifeforms are shown as “…a yoga instructor, a baker, a K-pop star, a news anchor, and a fashion model.” These are all things I could not fathom to be done by a robot. It might be time for a lot of people to rethink their career goals.
https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2020/1/5/21050288/samsung-neon-artificial-human-digital-avatar-project-leaked-video
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ai-is-set-to-replace-36-million-us-workers-2019-01-24
https://www.dezeen.com/2020/01/15/samsung-neon-star-labs-artificial-humans/
The concept of artificial humans has been around for a long time. It is an idea that has been seen in popular culture such as movies and television shows. These stories usually portray artificial humans in a bad light, such as turning on their human creators or taking over the world. While this idea may seem unrealistic, humans are getting closer to finding out the truth. This technology is being developed all over the world, and its possibilities grow every day. It has the potential to act as companions to people who cannot care for themselves, or assist families in their busy lives. It is understandable to fear the unknown power of this technology, but programmers and inventors are working hard to create the best possible product. I look forward to seeing this technology develop overtime because I feel that it can have an immensely positive impact on our world.
https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/12/10/artificial-intelligence-and-the-future-of-humans/
Technology like this is definitely in an interesting place currently. There are plenty of benefits to the creation and utilization of this technology, but just as many detriments to go with them. This can help make digital assistants more personal and efficient with the use of Core R3 and the Spectra technologies; it will be easy to use and talk to the Neons, and they will be given intelligence to better help the user out. The obvious detriment is the fact they are specifically programmed to not respond kindly to insults. That could lead to issues since insulting the AI would literally make it mad at the user. This issue leads to another, being that because the AI has its own intelligence, it could use user information maliciously on its own. The Neon technology is very interesting and has potential, but something must be done in development to help avoid malicious actions.