Being a college student in the US is tough these days. The stress of studying, pandemic restrictions, overpriced college tuitions make you question if it’s even worth going to college. But never fear, AI is here to solve your problems, at least just in the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The university has created an AI-based “digital twin” of its president, Keith Whitfield, that can answer questions about the university and direct students to various resources of the college. Whitfield’s AI can answer about 1,000 questions and perform tasks such as directing students to mental health resources and discussing financial aid.
Whitfield’s voice was recorded in a recording booth and the recordings were then processed in the AI program to create his digital likeness. Then, the AI program was trained with these recordings. Costing $125,000 and developed over seven months, the AI avatar was built by the AI Media Lab, which specializes in creating AI and avatars based on real people or mascots. The company previously created a hyperreal version of President Biden for TikTok using synthetic media and AI tech.
