When I explain people about Somnium Space‘s plans to introduce a live forever feature, an AI powered solution that will be able to create a virtual version of you, and with whom your descendants can have real conversations, they look at me as if I just told them the earth is flat.
It’s funny how shocked people can be. Live forever in this context does not mean you will actually live forever. Rather, a digital impression or reproduction of you will live forever. Like a photograph of you on the beach on a sunny day. Or a video of you strolling along narrow winding streets in some old town. But then a thousand times more profound and intimate.
Artur Sychov, founder and CEO of Somnium Space, phrased it so beautifully on the TED Radio Hour on which he was a guest recently.
Videos are windows to how people were to people who watch those videos later. But meeting those people and being able to make a conversation with that person is next level and a natural progression of the technology
Artur Sychov
Live forever mode isn’t for you if you look at it like that, it is for those who come after you. It’s an artifact that allows people to get as close to how you were as possible. But then again, this technology is also for you, as Artur explains.
Even before I am gone, this could be a very useful feature. Imagine I run an Avatar shop in Somnium and I am busy in my real life. I can let my avatar tell everything about these products, in virtual reality, to my guests.
Artur Sychov
Yet the most amazing application would be that your descendants can meet and have a conversation with an avatar that is not just looking like you, but walks like you, talks like you, and replicates your exact biometrics. Imagine that this virtual version of you can talk about your interests, feelings, and opinions as if it was the real you.
The analogy with looking at a photograph or video of you is clear. Yet the impact of a live forever avatar with whom people can interact is way more profound.
AI technology makes it possible. In fact, all the fundamental building blocks are in place for live forever mode. There are things to solve, still, as Artur points out during the chat. AI needs data, a lot of it. Collecting that data, encrypting it and then let AI do its thing are all aspects that require a lot of experimentation. But Somnium Space is on it, and Artur is convinced it is not only doable, it is a feature that people will want to use.
I would pay anything to have a meaningful conversation with my father again
Artur Sychov
The more you think about it, the more it makes sense. One could argue that this digital version of you isn’t really you, so why would your descendants want to talk to a ‘fake’? But pictures and videos of you aren’t you either, yet they bring back memories and people hold on to such artifacts for generations. A digital representation of you in the form of a walking and talking avatar in a VR world, brought to ‘life’ by AI technology, isn’t as far fetched as many people think.
AI is only in its infancy, and people are already at awe at what it can produce. It is therefore totally imaginable that in due time, AI will be able to generate behavior that cannot be distinguished from the physical you, provided is has sufficient data to work with.
Live forever in Somnium is getting closer by the day. One great milestone is the ability to have voice conversations with AI powered NPCs. This was introduced by Oasis Meta Games, developer of the OMG Engine, the first layer two solution for the Somnium Space platform.
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