According to the Nomura Research Institute, by the year 2035, half of all jobs in Japan could be performed by AI robots. Known for its adaptive approach to innovative technology, artificial intelligence company UNITH (ASX: UNT) is cashing in on the trend by launching their digital avatars in kiosks across the futuristic metropolis. 

Other than being the birthplace of anime and manga which have evolved from printed artform to be digitised into Japanese culture, the nation’s penchant for online anonymity and well-established love of virtual idols has also boosted adoption of digital avatars.

Determined to enter the Japan AI market, UNITH will soon commence a new artificial intelligence venture together with behavioural analytics specialist NVISO. The two companies have signed a binding agreement to integrate emotional intelligence into digital humans that will be deployed into digital kiosks in Japan. These digital humans can then interact with customers in the same way a shop attendant would, but be powered entirely by artificial intelligence to answer questions and provide information. This will be UNITH’s next major project after successfully adding one of the Big Five tech companies to its client portfolio in October 2022. 

UNITH CEO, Idan Schmorak commented: “The Japanese market is well established for automation through computer-to-human interactions with digital characters and NVISO’s presence and expertise in Japan brings significant added value to the partnership.”

“This step is consistent with UNITH’s distribution strategy to scale the reach of the Talking Head technology while developing the platform.” 

The collaboration will be assisted by BonsAPP, a Euro-based consortium focusing on AI and digital technology to solve real-world industry challenges at the deep edge that requires AI. The BonsApp program will provide a €74,000 grant to the UNITH-NVISO project. 

Initial integrations of NVISO’s facial recognition and eye tracking technology into UNITH’s digital humans are expected to be completed by April 2023. Combining this facial recognition technology with UNITH’s conversational AI functionality will provide the digital humans with cues that can alter how a conversation progresses by identifying when a human, for example, is happy with the response, or frustrated with the response. These cues will then contribute to the digital human at a kiosk to facilitate desired outcomes.

Transactional outcomes could be as simple as approaching a kiosk at the train station and asking to purchase a train ticket to a certain location, or more complex like approaching a kiosk at a restaurant and ordering your dinner with dietary requirement complexities. 

AI in Japan is set to see exponential growth. The end-user expenditure on AI systems in Japan stood at US$2.1 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24% until 2026, which would value the market at more than $6.1 billion by 2026. 

As the partnership progresses, the UNITH-NVISO’s digital human collaboration will not only be deployed in kiosks, but will very likely take over marketing, sales, customer service, and jobs that can be automated.

Upon commercialisation of the interactive digital humans in Japan, UNITH and NVISO will proceed under a 50/50 profit share agreement. 

Details on pricing and licensing arrangements are yet to be finalised.