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The future is apparently here. And it's creepier than we ever imagined—even when we were playing around with tethering Teddy Ruxpin to the Internet. A Japanese company called Vinclu ("a company that makes crazy things and supports crazy people") is now taking pre-orders from Japan and the United States for a new interactive, artificial-intelligence driven home automation system. Called Gatebox, the new Internet-of-Things product takes Amazon's Alexa, Google Home, Spike Jonze's film Her , and the "holographic" anime characters of Vocaloid concerts to their unified natural conclusion.
Wait, what?
Gatebox, priced at ¥321,840 (about $2,700 US), is squarely targeted at young lonely salarymen and all brands of anime-obsessed otaku—promising the experience of "living with your favorite character." The size of a home coffee-maker, with a footprint no larger than a sheet of A4 printer paper, the device's main feature is a clear projection tube that displays a computer-animated avatar for the AI's "character." Vinclu apparently is planning multiple possible personalities for Gatebox—which, as part of the device's backstory, is a gateway to the dimension the character lives in.
A company like this could release the first strong AI product (kawaii slave?).
Beginner's definition of "waifu" for the uninitiated.
Update: Another article indicates that "[There's also] HDMI and PC inputs to allow the owner to make their own modifications and create their own characters."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 20 2016, @11:52PM
It's more that this perpetuates some really counterproductive ideas about, oh, half the human race.
You know what is actually a harmful stereotype? Assuming that half the human race is incapable of telling the difference between reality and fiction. Most people are not delusional. When they come out of the movie theater, they don't think they can bend spoons like Neo or fire Force Lightning like Palpatine.
Our brains can distinguish between a simulation and a real person. Those who don't are usually either found on the playground because they are 5, or in an asylum because they are incapable of self sufficiency.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 21 2016, @01:19AM
Maybe our brains can be trained to forget the differences, given enough VR and AI experiences and positive affirmations.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 21 2016, @10:15AM
Even then, that would apply to the VR world only.