The Emperor May Be a Bot ... But He Still Has No Clothes

SAY IT LOUDLY AND OFTEN ENOUGH AND PEOPLE MAY BELIEVE YOU

Yes, Virginia, it's time to stop taking what they say at face value and instead look closely at what they're actually presenting as examples

Autodesk, a long-standing developer of 2D and 3D drafting and design software, recently announced it plans to release a new version of its Autodesk Virtual Agent (AVA) avatar.

The company says that AVA’s CGI makeover [in 2017] turns her into a hyper-detailed, 3D-rendered character – what Soul Machines calls a "digital human". 

No doubt the Prophets (or Profits?) of Ai will herald AVA as a further step in the march to full-fledged Artificial Intelligence and the creation of robots (both physical and virtual) that display "human" characteristics. (Editor’s note: Which they did do in 2017-2018.)

But when you look closely at what is, in fact, presented, you find that the reality has once again failed to lives up to the claims being made. Indeed, when it comes, for example, to AVA, my reaction is, "Is that the best you can do?" 

Admittedly, AVA is better than an animated cartoon character. But it (not she) is still light years away from even approaching the nuanced play of human facial expressions.

Sure, a real, live AVA would be a sultry beauty. But as it (not she) stands, it's a face only her design engineers could love.

Take a look for yourself and come back to reality with me. 

―  Phil Friedman

Information and video courtesy of:   FastCompany.net

Text Copyright 2017-2024 by Phil Friedman  —  All Rights Reserved

Note: This article is one in a five-part series, first published in 2017 — at the beginning of my seven year tenure in the intellectual gulag of those who doubted the hyperbole spouted by the Prophets of Ai. To find the other four articles in the series, go to: Show Me the Intelligence.

 Note: An earlier versions of this article appeared on beBee.com in 2017.