Black Mirror has predicted many technological advancements in Augmented Reality (Playtest episode), robotics and more but could we be taking another step towards Black Mirror in real life as an AI clone of yourself could be just around the corner.
As early as last summer there was a huge debate on AI cloning of actors taken from you guessed it, a Black Mirror episode as The Screen Actors Guild failed to reach an agreement in the US for better protections against AI for its members.
SAG stated that AI posed a threat to creative professions as companies could take a celebrity’s likeness and vocals and dial in performances for eternity for any project they wanted with no consent needed or compensation offered.
But step away from the minefield that is AI replication when it’s applied to celebrities and IPs and let’s just imagine for a second that you were cloned.
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Yes, you, who’s reading this very article could very soon be cloned as your new AI assistant could do jobs and tasks for you online whilst the real you could be getting on with other things.
That is the whole concept behind the new tech startup Re-Me who are aiming to open the world’s first AI-powered social network.
They’re so far along with their system that their website is now allowing sign-ups to register to be notified of when this unique system goes live.
So how does RE-ME work?
We were given access to a very early beta test of RE-ME to give you the low down on what happens at this very early stage of RE-ME cloning.
Simply create your clone which includes uploading a photo of yourself to the system and within 30 seconds you will see your exact clone before your very eyes and it’s scary just how quickly an uncanny slightly smoothed-out cartoon version of yourself is staring you in the face.
So now it looks like you, it’s time to add a voice to match so you are then asked to feed the system your voice for it to be replicated. This involves speaking for 30 seconds about yourself and the system will try to match your voice.
I was told that this particular feature is a work in progress but what I spoke was captured and perfected in terms of the information spoken but as a like for like for my voice, it wasn’t all there JUST yet.
Keep in mind that currently AI software for cloning is a long process of photoshoots and video capture footage not to mention in-studio recording to perfect your voice.
All of that time taken to create an AI replica of me just took a mere 5 minutes (if that) in the RE-ME system. I even uploaded a photo that wasn’t the best quality and was taken at quite a distance for myself and look at the results. Very impressive indeed!
You are then asked to enter 400 characters about yourself and this will form your personality.
Over time you’ll be able to input information into the system daily and further allow the system to learn to speak like you, think like you and know all the information about you to relay to people who will eventually speak to you on this social network.
A system that needs user input and will only relay what you feed it and has safety measures in place to prevent anything untoward from being spoken or fed into the system to be relayed to those interacting with clone you.
Once setup is complete you can ask your clone questions via microphone and via text and watch your little mini-me come to life.
RE-ME Applications are Endless
Your clone can then be integrated into the real world via social media and could do many things that you just can’t be bothered to do.
Business promotions, social media marketing, question and answers via social media and even just regular customer service for your business are all applications that could easily be handled by RE-ME.
Feed the system enough information and you have a clone that could answer any business or personal query you desire whilst you’re doing other work.
The number of hours saved for a business, the number of hours saved for you off social media to go and do whatever you like in the real world is an exciting prospect.
Now just imagine for a second if celebrities created their clones and uploaded their personalities into RE-ME.
People across the world could speak to a celebrity on a screen and ask them about their upcoming projects, and what they’re working on next and have an interview with a movie star right in their living room.
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Get home from school one day and have a chat with Albert Einstein or other historical figures through time to help you with your homework.
Imagine cartoon characters that your children could speak to as though they’re in the room with you.
Imagine going to a theme park and interacting with the characters of each ride in some capacity with full-blown back-and-forth conversations.
The marketing applications are endless and it’s a very exciting (and scary) prospect indeed.
It’s strange knowing a clone Sean is now out there in the world just waiting for information to be fed into him to be more like, well, me.
I quite like the idea of one day being able to log onto the system and have a casual chat to Abraham Lincoln about his thoughts on the modern-day or what life was like when he was alive.
Even more so I LOVE the idea of having a clone of Tom Cruise in my house talking to me about his upcoming new movie and every question I ask him will be replied to as though Tom himself was behind the screen on a Zoom chat.
RE-ME are creating something truly special and I cannot wait to play with the system more as it develops as this piece of software has the potential to change how we work and interact forever.
