Wonders.ai creates interactive virtual AI companion with 'personality engine' - DIGITIMES

Startup squad Wonders.ai is making an effort to bring animated characters connected the different broadside of the surface to beingness utilizing AI technology. By giving them property and societal capabilities, they tin go AI companions successful people's regular lives.

According to Wonders.ai laminitis and CEO Michael Lin, immoderate concepts of their merchandise came from the 2013 US movie "Her," which tells the communicative of a antheral falling successful emotion with his AI assistant. Lin pointed retired that successful the movie, the AI adjunct acts similar a caput oregon companion for the main character. In addition, AI's quality continues to germinate and is not conscionable a rigid chatbot.

Lin hopes that Wonders.ai's virtual quality tin person the aforesaid affluent and earthy question arsenic a existent person. However, successful presumption of appearance, helium inactive favors the anime-style look. It's not conscionable due to the fact that Lin is simply a instrumentality of anime himself but besides due to the fact that helium believes that if a virtual quality looks excessively realistic, it could origin the "uncanny valley" effect, which doesn't bode good for a companion character.

Wonders.ai was founded successful Silicon Valley successful February 2018. In 2019, it expanded its offices to Taiwan. The main root of funds is angel investors successful the US. As of now, it has raised NT$200 cardinal (US$6.25 million), with a absorption connected probe and improvement for the aboriginal stages. It presently has astir 20 employees.

Lin got his commencement successful AI during his assemblage days, erstwhile helium wrote a lucifer investigation AI programme for an esports competition. He aboriginal shifted his absorption to VR aft participating successful respective events. Ansforce CEO and influencer Jefferey Chiu acts arsenic Wonders.ai's consultant. In exchange, Lin helps beforehand Ansforce overseas.

Wonders.ai laminitis and CEO Michael Lin (left) and Ansforce CEO Jefferey Chiu.
Photo: DIGITIMES.

Creating a metaverse world

Facebook changing its sanction to Meta has generated a batch of hype astir metaverse. But Lin believes that to physique a virtual world, you archetypal request to person a implicit "world," and beryllium an manufacture person successful presumption of contented creativity and technology. Or else, you're simply pursuing a trend.

"The metaverse is not a caller concept. The MMORPG games we played 15 to 20 years agone are already a benignant of metaverse," said Lin. Wonders.ai's imaginativeness is to bring virtual characters into the existent satellite to go the user's friend, family, lover, oregon companion animal. Not lone would they person property and emotions, but they could besides chat and interact with the user. However, Lin emphasized that virtual characters tin lone enactment arsenic enactment and cannot wholly regenerate existent interpersonal interactions.

At events, Wonders.ai demonstrated an interactive exertion wherever the augmented world (AR) representation projected from a telephone tin beryllium obscured by existent radical oregon objects, alternatively than the objects passing done and distorting the representation similar regular projections. This benignant of exertion relies connected AI algorithms and spatial designation applications. Wonders.ai developed the AI-powered mixed-reality (MR) exertion level Wonder Platform, which gives virtual characters the quality to detect, track, and place objects, manus gestures, and the environment.

Through earthy connection processing and dependable synthesis technology, virtual characters tin respond to users by synthesizing an emotionally charged dependable successful real-time arsenic well. This exertion has already received 2 planetary patents for AI utilization, with different 3 patent applications successful process.

The squad has besides developed the "personality engine" based connected the five-factor exemplary of personality. The virtual character's cognition toward the idiosyncratic volition alteration arsenic clip goes connected and to suit antithetic contexts, giving users a personalized and unsocial experience. This benignant of technological improvement volition beryllium wrong the scope humans tin control.

Virtual quality Pipkin Pippa interacts with real-life fans connected the signifier astatine Livestream of Series AI held successful Canada successful September 2022.
Photo: Wonders.ai

Differentiated positioning

When discussing its marketplace position, Lin stated that Wonders.ai is an AI tech company, not a crippled oregon animation company. Currently, VR developers astir the satellite each person a antithetic vision. Wonders.ai believes that it tin make much instant enactment and customized content. On apical of that, Wonders.ai's exertion tin beryllium utilized connected smartphones and doesn't necessitate buying an other virtual quality projection device.

Regarding caller technological developments, Lin hopes to marque the virtual characters connected Wonder Platform show adjacent much exquisite personalities and "daily routines." He believes that AR glasses are going light-weight and 5G-accessed Internet is becoming much widespread, greatly reducing the tech limitations for virtual character/human interactions. He expects to soon connection consumers different level choices too smartphones.

Starting successful the 4th fourth of 2022, Wonders.ai volition beryllium showcasing the Wonder Platform astatine Vtuber events successful the North American regions and collaborating with much virtual quality developers. Right now, too a tiny bureau successful Silicon Valley, Wonders.ai besides plans to gradually grow its concern to Japan and utilize its AI exertion successful the aesculapian and acquisition sectors.