Samsung is working on an artificial intelligence project that involves creating realistic digital human avatars. Samsung’s artificial intelligence project is called Neon, and a number of videos have been leaked recently. The company is starting to talk about it publicly, but it’s still too early to tell how great Samsung’s digital human avatars will be.
Details about Samsung’s artificial intelligence project
Samsung is planning to unveil its AI project at CES this week. The company has set up a website for Neon, although for now, the website merely has a swirl of moving color and a clock at the bottom counting down to the big reveal. Neon also has a Twitter account that merely describes it as an “artificial human.” Samsung’s artificial intelligence project also has Facebook and Instagram accounts.
So far, what Samsung has said about Neon on social media suggest that Neon will be a realistic digital human avatar that can handle various interactions. The use cases for such technology include anything from digital customer service representatives and receptionists to entertainment purposes.
The social media posts also state things like, “Have you ever met an ‘artificial’?” and refer to something called “Core R3,” which is “reality, realtime, responsive.” Samsung has also emphasized that Neon doesn’t have anything to do with Bixby, its digital assistant.
Update on the Neon digital human avatar
Pranav Mistry is leading Samsung’s artificial intelligence project. He tweeted an update about his flight to CES, adding that the code for their digital human avatar is “finally working” and that they are “ready to demo CORE R3.” He also gave a list of what types of things the avatar is capable of and included an image of what it will look like:
Flying to CES tomorrow, and the code is finally working :) Ready to demo CORE R3. It can now autonomously create new expressions, new movements, new dialog (even in Hindi), completely different from the original captured data. pic.twitter.com/EPAJJrLyjd
— Pranav Mistry (@pranavmistry) January 5, 2020
Although the Neon website doesn’t have much official website, The Verge spotted some videos shared on Reddit, which came from the source code of the Neon site. One of the videos is merely the looping color that already appears on the site. That video is still live but the other videos have been removed. Clearly, Samsung wants to keep details about its AI and digital human avatar under wraps until the big announcement at CES, which is scheduled for Tuesday.
The videos have been uploaded to YouTube, however. We’ve embedded the video here:
Trademark applications on Neon
Let’s Go Digital did spot some trademark applications about Neon and Core R3 that were submitted by Samsung to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Based on the description from the trademark application, it sounds like Neon is more than just a digital human avatar.
It describes Neon as “entertainment services, namely, production of special effects including model-making services, computer-generated imagery and computer-generated graphics.” The description goes on to state that the imagery and graphics could be used in movies, videos and trailers. Neon also includes production of augmented reality videos and “development of computer-modeled versions of human beings using computer animation.”
It’s possible that Samsung’s artificial intelligence project could even allow users to generate digital human avatars of themselves. The creator of the YouTube video above was able to track down real people whose digital avatars were apparently created using Neon.
The emphasis is clearly on graphics and computer-generated images rather than voice or text, which is Bixby’s focus.
