An English-speaking AI mayor has been appointed to the city that is home to Japan's largest U.S. naval base.
There has been much discussion about AI and the potential dangers it poses to global society, but for one Japanese mayor, this new technology is embraced as a way to become a full-fledged member of the international community. Because, he can speak English fluently without learning a single word of English..
This new technology is Press Conference Video Mayor of Yokosuka City, Katsuaki Uechi It was created for the purpose of disseminating information to the local community. Japan's largest US naval baseThe city is keen to strengthen its English-language communications and has added AI to its arsenal, using it to create an avatar of the mayor who speaks fluent English.
▼ The results are astounding: the first video, released in April, shows how closely the robot mimics the mayor, matching both appearance and voice and with its mouth perfectly matching the shapes of the English words being spoken.
When the video was first shown at a press conference at Yokosuka City Hall on April 23, Mayor Uechi, who speaks little English, told reporters he was impressed that the avatar made him appear to speak fluent English. The mayor also expressed hope that the video would be useful to society, conveying important information about disaster prevention measures and helping people in times of disaster, as well as planning to send it out to the world as a “message of peace.”
Do not be afraid, I come for peace.
According to Yokosuka City, the AI will study the mayor's appearance, movements and voice quality to create a mayoral avatar, and once the mayor's speech is translated and input into the AI's generative learning, it will be able to speak English.
The AI mayor mainly holds monthly press conferences, with his most recent appearance coming in May, when his avatar helped introduce events taking place in the city.
The AI Mayor will continue to appear on the City's official YouTube channel about 10 days after the Mayor's monthly Japan press conference, providing information about Yokosuka as well as information we will be keeping a close eye on this avatar to make sure it doesn't fall to the dark side. However, if the avatar gets angry, there is an AI filter to counter that… but this could lead to AI-to-AI wars.
Source: Asahi, PR Times, YouTube/Yokosuka City Official Channel
Top image: PR Times
Image credit: PR Times
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