- General
- October 18, 2018
- 5 minutes read
Daimler takes stake in neural network company Soul Machines
Daimler Auto giant Daimler has invested in Soul Machines, A New Zealand based company with a team of AI researchers, neuroscientists,…
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| Daimler |
Auto giant Daimler has invested in Soul Machines, A New Zealand based company with a team of AI researchers, neuroscientists, psychologists and artists who work on the use of neural networks that “combine biologically inspired models of the human brain and key sensory networks to create a virtual central nervous system” it dubs as the “Human Computing Engine”.
Daimler is notably a partner with Soul Machines having worked on a digital avatar “Sarah” which was presented at the Mobile World Congress which held this February in Barcelona. “Sarah” had success in providing answers to frequently asked customer questions during an internal pilot which held at one of Daimler’s call centers in the U.S.
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| image : Soul Machines |
Daimler plans for the digital avatar to be able to support customers like a personal concierge and also be able to recognize the most diverse individual customer needs while offering the right information at the right time.
Soul Machines cater for this through creation of what it terms as “life-like, emotionally responsive, artificial humans with personality and character” which enable machines and humans to talk face to face.
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| Soul Machines |
“As we continue to lead the world in advanced AI technology and development of digital humans across a broad spectrum of industries, this strategic investment from Daimler Financial Services puts us in an even better position to quickly develop and test our disruptive technology in the automotive sector together with our great partner,” The New Zealand based company’s chief business officer Greg Cross stated.
“Emotional intelligence will play a crucial role in adapting services, such as car financing, leasing and insurance, car-sharing or ride-hailing to customers. Different from today’s voice-based, assistance technology, “Sarah” will be programmed to recognize non-verbal behavior in real-time using face recognition.” The company’s CIO also added.
The terms or exact amount invested as part of this deal isn’t disclosed. Daimler announced the investment at the Gartner Symposium event in Orlando, Florida which rounded up this Thursday. Daimler stands as the first premium brand in the automotive sector to develop what it dubs as “emotional intelligence” use cases based on Soul Machines technology.
