Back in June, google We have started a new AI experiment called “Portrait”. It provides AI-generated depictions of famous people and inspirational people, and can provide conversational advice and notes in that person's voice.
As you can see in this example, Google's current Portraits model lets you talk to life coaches and business advisors, or at least the AI versions of them that these creators helped create.
So, you don't have to read all of Kim Scott's books or memorize the main approaches, for example, and the system provides easy access to relevant sections based on Gemini's understanding of your query.
It might be helpful. It's not as useful as talking to a real person, but it's basically a way for the creators themselves to scale up their personal advice without having to talk to thousands of people.
And now Google is extending this to YouTubers as well.
According to YouTube:
“Based on feedback from our first portrait experiment, we're expanding this feature specifically to a small group of YouTube creators who choose to participate. These creators provide the content and sources on which the portraits are based. U.S. viewers age 18 and older who watch YouTube on a desktop may see the option to “Speak with Creator Portraits” on participating creators' channels. Viewers can participate in portraits of creators by asking questions and exploring topics related to the content. ”
So you may soon be able to interact with an AI version of MrBeast and ask it questions about how you built your YouTube channel, and perhaps get a customized answer based on the questions YouTube creators are likely to ask you.
So I guess who's going to interact with these bots the most, but I'm sure some fans will want to ask these bots questions. And perhaps Google's generative AI systems will be trained to respond to these types of queries, crafting answers in the author's style.
However, the same question remains: “Is it actually beneficial?”
Meta is working on a similar initiative, using AI chatbots created to resemble famous creators to allow people to interact with them without actually interacting with a real person.
These are more specifically focused on fan interaction, and my criticism here is that social media fosters real connections and allows people to actually get in touch with anyone, even big stars, through in-app interactions.
Would interacting with an AI version of that star have the same impact, or would it dilute the value of the connection in this regard?
I can see how this can be valuable in some applications in terms of providing insight into processes etc.
But in terms of connection, replacing real humans with robots in a way that simulates that engagement seems like a step backwards.
But maybe this YouTube version will provide some insight into how and why YouTube is made.
