We have all seen the potential of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in today’s rapidly changing world. We witnessed how companies are creating artificial humans with Samsung’s Project Neon. Now, an app is coming to the market that aims to create a very much “alive” digital companion for you using mixed reality and with a little help of artificial intelligence (AI).
Hybri is an app, soon coming to the Kickstarter, that can create a digital companion for you. Now, a digital companion is not at all creepy, until it has the face of one of your loved ones who left you or even passed away. This feature makes Hybri one of the creepiest apps I have ever seen.
Now, first of all, the app uses AR to work in mobile devices running iOS or Android and shows your digital companion in the real world. It also works with AR and VR headsets featuring some extra perks like gesture and voice control.
Once you install the app, it will ask you a series of questions. And based on your answers, it will assign one “Hybri Model” for you. This model will come as a cyberpunk-style core skeleton that you can customize according to your preference. Once your model is ready, it can chat with you, go out on virtual dates with you, and even follow your commands. It can think on its own using artificial intelligence and can even argue with you or miss you.
Give Your Digital Companion a Face of Your Liking
Until this point, the app seems quite nice, right? Well, now comes the creepy part. One of the features of Hybri is the “Photoscan”. This essentially takes a 2D picture of a person from your library and puts it on your digital companion’s face. So, with this feature, you can make your digital companion look like anyone, whether they like it or not. You can check out the video below to understand how it will work.
So, technically, you can use a picture of a person who is not anymore in this world to create his/her digital version. This is quite creepy and reminds of an episode of “Black Mirror”, in which a wife creates a digital version of her husband who passed away in a car accident.
However, no matter how creepy Hybri is, it is quite fascinating to see what we can achieve with the technology we have right now. And I think we are slowly moving towards the sci-fi era of technology with apps like this one.
So, what do you guys think about Hybri? Will you use it to bring back one of your loved ones as a digital companion? Or is it too creepy? Let us know down in the comments.
