I Was Going to Blog an Uncanny Valley Think Piece About Samsung's NEON "Intelligent" Avatars But Then Laughed My Ass Off Instead

Samsung's NEON! It's getting much buzz at this year's CES, so much so that I planned to write a thought provoking think piece about them with a mandatory Uncanny Valley reference, but then I watched this video and got to 4:20 (no I'm not high) and just laughed. Does any human in the history of the world say "pizza" like that, unless they have a gun pointed to their head?

Anyway, more on the official homepage:

NEON, our first artificial human is here. NEON is a computationally created virtual being that looks and behaves like a real human, with the ability to show emotions and intelligence.

Virtually, Real.

100% visually real, like you and me. Existing among us from all walks of life.

Frank, Natasha, Hana. Not ‘Hey NEON.’

Not an AI assistant. Not an interface to the Internet. Not a music player. Simply, a friend.

Hola! नमस्ते 안녕하세요

From Spanish to Hindi, from Japanese to English, NEONs can speak it all.

Friends, collaborators, and companions.

They can connect and learn more about us, gain new skills, and evolve.

I mean maybe someday? Right now I guess the best you can say is the NEON avatars at CES appear more lifelike and human than Ivanka Trump at CES.

Comments

[Pulsar]

Another AI listened at that "pizza", the Youtube automatic subtitler.
"neon what's your favorite food[?]"
"people"
They have a plan...

[Wagner James Au]

OMG LOL

[sirhc desantis]

+several million to ser Pulsar there.
Mind you I would sooner trust the artifact than the 'hume' rabbiting on in the vid - what language was that?

[Joey1058]

The hype train leaves me decidedly unimpressed with the actual product. And right now, there is no "companion". Just "product". Personally, I don't need to speak with a "real" humanoid. Any one of the hundreds of thousands of cartoon/anime avatars that have been produced over the years, ranging from early VRML, through VRChat, will work for me. Perhaps it's from being conditioned within 3D/VR since 1998. If I'm chatting with an AI, I want to know that it's artificial. An anime head can't be any better than that.