Samsung looks beyond AI with artificial humans

Samsung Electronics Co.’s experimental research arm has brought to CES 2020 a demonstration of what it calls the world’s first artificial human, a virtual simulation of a human intelligence that learns, converses and sympathizes like a regular person.

Each simulated human – which would exist only on screens, not in the real world – would be called NEON, and Samsung’s concept is that they would grow to develop believable personalities that would eventually make them friendly companions, yoga instructors, TV anchors and spokespeople.

“NEON is like a new kind of life,” said Pranav Mistry, chief executive officer of STAR Labs, short for Samsung Technology & Advanced Research. “There are millions of species on our planet and we hope to add one more. NEONs will be our friends, collaborators, and companions, continually learning, evolving, and forming memories from their interactions.”

Mistry has tweeted one example of a NEON that is dressed in the signature look of the late Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs.

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Underpinning Samsung’s big promises is a proprietary technology platform the company is developing that’s called CORE R3, standing for Reality, Realtime and Responsive. Using neural networks and other artificial intelligence techniques, CORE R3 has been trained up with information about how humans look, behave and interact and “can computationally create lifelike reality that is beyond normal perception to distinguish,” according to STAR Labs.

Samsung will be giving in-person demonstrations to CES 2020 attendees in Las Vegas this week.