NVIDIA AI Avatars are the new AI assistant technology that has been receiving massive tweaks in recent months, making us ready for the bigger picture. Omniverse Avatar (for 3D assistant creation) and Riva (custom AI voice creation) platforms are the new launches by the company. The combination of the two effortlessly results in astonishingly lifelike virtual personas— or, in one example, purposely unrealistic virtual personas.
One of the demos shows the creation of an Omniverse Avatar by the company from a woman’s picture. It utilized Riva to train the voice based on that woman, convert text to speech, and translate to multiple languages. Except for a few stiff-sounding translations, the virtual stand-in looks and sounds just like the real thing, and it can even tilt its head while keeping natural-looking eye contact. As you would expect, NVIDIA AI Avatars might result in more relatable virtual assistants at kiosks and websites.
Another one, NVIDIA’s Project Tokkio is a “talking kiosk” reference app, demonstrating what may happen if you constructed a completely virtual character. The tech demo included a 3D, ray-traced doll version of CEO Jensun Huang (with his distinctive costume and a Riva-trained voice) conversing with actual people about topics such as climate change and the importance of proteins in the body. His face and hands are animated by several Omniverse technologies. Of course, it’s not supposed to be particularly genuine, but it demonstrates how you can create a 3D virtual assistant that’s far more entertaining than a disembodied voice.
The majority of the Maxine development kit is already in place. Riva is now available in open beta and will be free for “small-scale” operations. Larger rollouts will be dependent on the Riva Enterprise initiative, which will debut in early 2022. But you’ll have to wait a little longer for Omniverse Avatar. While the core Omniverse platform is currently in open beta, Avatar is still “under development” with no set release date. Nonetheless, NVIDIA AI Avatars hints at a future in which an airport or favorite restaurant may give an assistant who is (ideally) useful without appearing overly robotic.
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