Virtual humans, also known as digital avatars or AI personas, have rapidly emerged as a transformative technology in recent years. These computer-generated entities are designed to interact with real people in increasingly lifelike and sophisticated ways. From customer service chatbots to digital influencers on social media, virtual humans are finding applications across industries like entertainment, education, healthcare, and business. As artificial intelligence and computer graphics continue to advance, these digital beings are becoming more realistic, intelligent, and capable of nuanced communication – blurring the lines between human and machine interaction in both online and physical spaces.
As science fiction author William Gibson aptly noted, “The future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed.” This sentiment rings particularly true in the realm of virtual humans, where cutting-edge technology is steadily becoming a part of our everyday lives.
Sara Giusto is a talent manager, but not in the sense you might imagine. Her biggest client is Imma, an influencer with pink hair … who isn’t human. Giusto discusses what the rise of “virtual humans” means for the real world — and invites imma onstage to explore an important question: In an increasingly digital world, what’s really real?
Artificial intelligence is now present in many areas of our lives and has a great impact on us humans too.
Everyone is talking about AI avatar generators. They are generally very simple to use and do not require any previous experience or in-depth technical knowledge. They are powerful and can process incoming data in a short time.
Unlike “humans”, the avatars thus generated can be perfectly controlled and customized to represent an incredible variety of styles, cultures and personalities.
Of course, there are some new risks for everyone.
I think, for example, that having fun manipulating our virtual identity without realizing how much it affects our self-perception and expectations that we unconsciously create, can be very dangerous.
As always, and in this matter in particular, we must be aware that artificial intelligence systems are not always perfect and can make mistakes. That is why it is important to at least regularly keep up to date with the latest developments and familiarize ourselves with the possibilities and limitations of AI. Only in this way can we ensure that we maximize the benefits and minimize the risks.
Let us then try to live more like real people (not just ‘humans’), and above all be a point of reference for the new generations now absorbed in the web, offering something powerful that reaches their soul (perhaps the only thing that the avatar lacks?): teach them to be themselves, to relate physically with others, to know how to give themselves time, to know how to confront and learn from defeats, to live their real-digital reality with stable and lasting values and principles, if we know how to offer them.