An Australian start-up, McCyber Twin, with offices in Sydney and New York, has specialized in software that provides virtual assistants. Not just those who answer the phone and give automated responses. Not just those like 'Siri', the human-voiced assistant that answers various questions about the Apple iPhone. But also virtual robots that take the form of friends or mentors or even boy(girl)friends.
Do you need some emotional comfort? There is an avatar who sends you loving messages on your mobile. Liesl Capper, the creator of the McCyber Twin, says that “everyone should have the possibility of using a virtual assistant, a 'slave' if you like”: he can handle the practical problems of life, or act as a personal coach for your gymnastics, or simply stimulate you with jokes and fizz when you're bored. Liesl knows that people hate speaking to a computerized voice, but she says her "conversational software" is so advanced that it feels like a real person is speaking. Liesl offers various models of 'chat robots' with different personalities and conversation styles, and 'digital brains' that interact with the answers given by the human person using them, and refine the conversation. Her degree in psychology helps her, but she was nonetheless blown away by the user response: "When we make these digital characters available, the average user spends 20 minutes having a conversation, and then often comes back and builds a rapport." Liesl Capper predicts that in ten years time 15-20% of human interaction will take place with 'chat-robots'. (Let's hope not).
