Digital Echoes: The Rise of AI-Generated Humans and the Future of Engagement

Gnani.ai's launch of self-cloned digital humans for banking and customer engagement in India truly captures my imagination. It's a significant leap towards a future that I've often contemplated and discussed in my own writings, a future where our interactions with technology become deeply immersive and remarkably human-like.

I remember back in July 2020, amidst the global shift brought by the pandemic, I penned my thoughts on the "Future of Tourism". I questioned the very definition of the tourism industry, suggesting it wasn't merely about physical transport but about "enabling people to enjoy these scenic / beautiful places, from the comforts of their homes." I spoke about Jio Glass enabling "Holographic 3D meetings" and the potential of technologies like Roomality to bring "photorealistic beach, jungle, forest, and field landscapes" into our homes. This vision of bringing experiences and interactions to people through advanced digital avatars and immersive environments feels incredibly prescient now. The very idea of having "TOURISM GUIDES (humans)" streaming live video, virtually transporting audiences, is a conceptual twin to the digital humans Gnani.ai is now deploying. It’s striking how relevant that earlier insight still is; I envisioned a world where engagement transcends physical boundaries, and these digital humans are a clear step in that direction.

More recently, in October 2023, I delved into how DeepMind aimed to make "chatbots safer". I reflected on the aspiration for "superintelligent AI systems that people will be able to have conversations with." While the focus then was on the safety and reliability of conversational AI, the underlying theme was the creation of intelligent, interactive digital entities. Gnani.ai's digital humans take this a step further by adding a visual, self-cloned dimension, enriching the engagement beyond just text or voice. The challenges of ensuring these digital entities are helpful, safe, and robust, which I discussed regarding DeepMind's Sparrow, remain critical as we embrace self-cloned digital humans in sensitive sectors like banking.

And of course, in September 2023, my reflections on "IoT, IoV, Cars Stealing Your Data" explored the burgeoning trend of devices, like voice assistants in cars, collecting vast amounts of personal data. The deployment of digital humans in customer engagement inevitably brings these data privacy and security considerations to the forefront. These "digital echoes" of ourselves and our interactions will generate immense data, requiring the same vigilance and thoughtful design that I emphasized in that piece regarding privacy and control.

Looking back at these perspectives now, I feel a profound sense of validation. I had often envisioned a shift from purely physical interaction to digitally immersive engagement, whether in tourism or through advanced conversational AI. I had anticipated the societal and technological readiness for such innovations, and even the critical need for safety and privacy considerations alongside their deployment. Seeing Gnani.ai bring self-cloned digital humans to the forefront of banking and customer engagement in India underscores how these earlier insights were not just theoretical musings but blueprints for the future we are now living. There's a renewed urgency for us to revisit those foundational ideas, especially concerning the ethical and practical frameworks for managing these new digital forms of interaction.

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Regards,
Hemen Parekh