An evolution of the selfie, far beyond the emoji and the memoji. In the near future, they say, we will be like this: virtual clones of ourselves. Avatar. Wandering around the metaverse nebula, hoping it is rosier than the real world out there. It will take years, but there are those who have moved in time. The avatar factory, for example, that create digital twins with ultra-realistic features, perfect copies of the human original. There are a handful of them in the world, one is in Italy. It’s called IGoodi, it was co-founded by Billy Berlusconi, Paolo’s son and Silvio’s grandson. After a degree from Bocconi and his apprenticeship in family businesses, he decided to pursue a passion for technology.
“We started five years ago, when no one knew what the metaverse was. In the digital there was everything but the central element was missing, our body. And so we started doing research. Today we got a mature technology that creates smart body photo-realistic, with our physical uniqueness and our anthropometric measurements “, explains the founder in the Milan showroom (the other is in Turin), in the building that houses the editorial office of The newspaper (owned by the father).
At the entrance it stands out The Gate, the gigantic egg-womb from which the pixel alter ego is born. You download the app, you get a Qr code (with 69 euros of expenditure) and by scanning it you can enter the egg. Let’s try. You have to undress, put on a gray jumpsuit, remove glasses, watches, jewelry and collect your hair. Inside everything is white and bright, the walls dotted with 180 high-resolution cameras. The first attempt fails (“they are doing some work on the network”), the second is successful. Just follow the video tutorial, on how to position yourself. One of the cameras takes two images of the visa, we choose the preferred one and then in a few seconds the body scanner simultaneously and automatically activates the other cameras to reproduce every inch of the body. Nothing invasive.
“The scanning technology comes directly from Hollywood – continues Berlusconi – We have shaped it and developed a system of artificial intelligence algorithms and proprietary software that creates the 3D model absolutely identical to the original”.
“Your avatar is ready”, an e-mail announces us a few hours later. And there it is, our double, inside the cell phone. A little creepy looking at yourself like that, but it’s undeniably me. Nothing to do with the puppet avatars seen so far. The mini me rotates 360 degrees, you can observe yourself from every angle. He can dance the Gangnam Style or the twist, say hello and even fly. The software gets my size, height, weight right. Measure not only waist and hips, but also neck, ankle, thighs, calves, plus a dozen other parameters, including body mass index, lean mass and fat mass. It is a merciless mirror.
Fun, unique, sure. Nice to post on social media. But what is it for?
“Our smart body it will help us in practical things – replies the founder – For example, it can be used in tele-tailoring, to have a tailor made a tailor thousands of kilometers away. Or for online shopping, with the certainty of buying a dress in our size, thus avoiding returns. We can send our avatar to a nutritionist or a personal trainer to be prescribed diet and training and with subsequent scans to see if our body has changed and how. In the medical field it can be used in orthopedics, for the mapping of moles or in the field of posturology. We have just signed an agreement with the Italian company QuestIT to give virtual assistants a human face through artificial intelligence. We happened to create the avatar of a CEO, who wanted to speak remotely to his employees, to do a fashion show entirely with digital bodies and a dance performance after scanning the entire ballet company. With the pandemic it became clear that ubiquity is precious. “
The ambition is to bring the avatar to the masses, but for now Igoodi has only made a thousand scans and is not yet able to offer any services that use it. smart body: “It will take a few more months, we are talking to various companies, potential partners,” promises the entrepreneur. But he admits it will take years, at least five, to hit the mainstream.
Another important issue concerns data, given that digital twins contain very sensitive information: “All data and avatars are owned by the customer but are managed by our platform. Obviously, users’ authorization is required before sharing them with third parties. . In the future, the blockchain could be used to make one’s clone traceable and certified “.
The avatar economy is already a reality, although the metaverse is still an embryonic idea, and second Forbes it could be worth $ 400 billion by 2025. Big brands already produce avatar clothes and shoes, and there are solo brands digital clothing. The market is all to be created, thehype is setting the stage and Mark Zuckerberg made it all the more plausible when he changed the Facebook name to Meta. In 2021, however, Fb’s Reality Labs lost 10 billion dollars. The (meta) revolution can wait.