Albert Einstein was reborn under digital form and can answer your questions. Thanks to the initiative of UneeQ, a New Zealand company specializing in the creation of digital human beings, it is possible to speak with the artificially recreated voice of the famous physicist and scientist, or by typing questions (in English) to get answers from a chatbot. But don’t expect a perfect conversation with Einstein’s digital version, not least because his skills are still developing and improving.
Voice cloning
The voice of the genius of modern physics has been reproduced, 100 years after the awarding of the Nobel Prize, through artificial intelligence-based cloning technology. On this aspect, UneeQ, which oversaw the creation of the replica of the virtual figure, worked in collaboration with the start-up Aflorithmic.
The result was obtained from Einstein’s available historical audio recordings. As explained in the company blog founded in 2019, it was possible to clone the voice of the German scientist even if the sound material from which it was drawn was not of optimal quality. The voice was however modeled making it similar to its original character but it was necessary to update it in order to be usable for listening.
The product tries to mirror the traits of the Einstein person who has a pronounced German accent in his English, speaks friendly and thoughtful, and possesses a detached sense of humor. And building a digital clone capable of near real-time conversations with users, with a response time from the initial 12 seconds to less than 3, was a challenging challenge.
Digital human beings
Albert Einstein’s version of UneeQ is the expression of the potential of conversational artificial intelligence. It is a new field of activity and research that redesigns the interaction with users also through interface and avatar with human features.
The effects are high-impact and quite disturbing too. Aware of the risks in this area, the European Union has just new rules passed introducing obligations of greater transparency for companies that use artificial intelligence systems, including chatbot e deepfake audio e video.
However, such platforms are permitted and subsidized and many new companies and start-ups are betting in the sector. UneeQ, together with Soul Machine, is one of these realities. His team, which operates in multiple countries, considers the development of digital humans, such as Mel and Aimee, the new frontier of customer service and chat interaction. However, with the creation of digital Einstein the prospects for innovation could be broader. By projecting conversational AI into applications that include branches such as education, teaching, and health.