TED Talks Daily - The rise of virtual humans — and what they mean for the future | Sara Giusto

Episode Date: September 17, 2024

Sara Giusto is a talent manager, but not in the sense you might imagine. Her biggest client is imma, an influencer with pink hair ... who isn't human. Giusto discusses what the rise of "virtual humans" means for the real world — and invites imma onstage to explore an important question: In an increasingly digital world, what's really real?

TED Audio Collective this more and more these days as we enter a new way of living that blends with augmented and virtual realities. And there's no place like social media to bring that tension front and center. Scroll through Instagram and you might run across some of virtual human producer, Sarah Giusto's influencer clients. She works with them to help amplify

and pitch brands to followers. That's normal, right? But her influencers aren't human. Inside how virtual influencers work and how they fuse with AI is after the break. Support for this show comes from Airbnb. If you know me, you know I love staying in Airbnbs when I travel. They make my family feel most at home when we're away from home. As we settled down at our Airbnb during a recent vacation to Palm Springs, I pictured my own home sitting empty.

Wouldn't it be smart and better put to use welcoming a family like mine by hosting it on Airbnb? It feels like the practical thing to do, and with the extra income, I could save up for renovations to make the space even more inviting for ourselves and for future guests. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.ca slash host. And now, our TED Talk of the day. Hi, everyone. I'm Sarah, and I'm a talent manager.

Who do I manage? A girl named Ima. She's a fashionista that lives in Tokyo. She posts about her life and her outfits on social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok and X. She has a younger brother named Zen that she always gets in a fight with, a little dog named Einstein that she takes for walks. Her favorite food is yakitori,

and she sits first row of fashion shows and dances to TikTok videos. Yep, just a normal girl online. Except, she doesn't exist. She's a virtual human, made from CGI, born in 2017. In other words, she's a fictional character made from 3D softwares, a unique blend of softwares like Amaya and Unreal Engine, and a bit more. She's not a mimic or a copy of anyone that's existing in real life.

She's a complete original character. Oh, and that brother that she has? Yep, you guessed it. He's not real either. I wish he was, though. We manage him and dozens other virtual humans around the world. And in the near future, we're integrating them with AI, so that they become autonomous virtual humans

that you can have a conversation with. Yes, they exist in the virtual world, but these virtual humans have an impact in our real world, too. Ima has repeatedly shared her opinions on real-world issues, including climate change and Black Lives Matter. She initiated a community get-together in the virtual world during COVID for people who are feeling lonely and isolated. She also shares about her Japanese culture and subculture

to her global audience. For these actions, she was actually chosen as one of a Forbes Woman of the Year, right beside the likes of climate change activist Greta Thunberg and former U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama. She's also been featured in Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, in the closing ceremony, and has been awarded an award from the government of Japan

for her actions in going to Cambodia and voicing about its domestic violence issues. She's also in Rio campaigns. She's worked with brands from Amazon, Porsche, BMW, skincare brand SK-II, IKEA, and more. Right now, you can actually see an ad of her all over the world with her campaign with coach, Ripe Side co-star Lil Nas X. She's also in real magazines, on the covers from Harper's Bazaar, Vogue and Wonderland. Yes, she doesn't technically exist,

but the younger generation of Gen Z don't care. Gen Zs love her because they feel a real connection to her. For them, there's not much of a difference between someone that is real-life breathing that's doing Instagram and a virtual human like Ima. For example, I know a lot of Gen Zs love Kylie Jenner. And even if they've never met her before, they feel like they know everything

about her, from where she takes her family to vacation, her aspirations, and to even what she eats for breakfast. Why? Because she posts these things online, and people feel a real connection to her. Same thing with Ima. She posts about her life online, and people feel a real connection. She posts an outfit picture, and people would ask, where's that dress from? She gets a lot of questions about her perfectly cut bob hair, too. People want to know who's the famous hairstylist that's keeping it perfectly cut. He or she doesn't exist, because the hair is not real. Like this, people love interacting with her, sharing about their life to her,

and even giving her real-life advice when she needs it. And I mean, I think we've all caught up by now, scrolling through Instagram, TikTok, or our lives. What's really real in the virtual world anyways? And now, back to the episode. Now, does all of this scare any of you? Maybe it does. But I promise,

I'm not a scary, AI, evil virtual human scientist. I'm actually quite the opposite. I'm a human lover. And I truly believe that this virtual human technology will better our world and make the treasures that we have as humans, our love, our connection and our self-expressions, way better. Before all of this, I used to be an artist. I still am at heart, but like most artists, all my life I've been searching

for something beautiful and meaningful. I felt like I found it, the beautiful and meaningful, in Ima, when I first laid eyes on her. Well, actually, not going to lie, when I first, first saw her, I was like, what the heck is this? But the more I thought about it, and thought about the real connections that people are having with this piece of technology, I was amazed. I thought it was revolutionary, It's not about the real connections that people are having with this piece of technology.

I was amazed. I thought it was revolutionary, because all my life, technology to me has been something useful, something I use every day, but it was never personal to me. For example, I would ask Siri, what's the weather like? And it would say, it's 11 Celsius today.

And that was it. I didn't really have a connection or relationship with it. But humans are innately emotional creatures, and our world moves with what moves our hearts. So what if we can get that same feeling from technology? What if we can create relationships like we do with friends, family, coworkers and even with our alternative selves through virtual humans? What if we can have a positive impact in different industries from medical, educational and entertainment, all leveraging on the deep connection between humans and technology. IMA is the first example of so much more to come.

If there was a book of virtual human history, we're barely on page one. We shouldn't get caught up in the topic of what's real and what's not real, because, I mean, what's really real anyways? We should get away from the dystopian narrative of the virtual world that we have and seize possibilities for human connection

and possibilities for human expression. Because human possibility is the same as technology. It's limitless. Thank you. Arigato. It's limitless. Thank you. Thank you. Settled down at our Airbnb during a recent vacation to Palm Springs, I pictured my own home sitting empty. Wouldn't it be smart and better put to use welcoming a family like mine by hosting it on Airbnb? It feels like the practical thing to do. And with the extra income, I could save up for renovations to make the space even more inviting for ourselves and for future guests.

Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.ca slash host. That was Sarah Giusto at TED 2024. If you're curious about TED's curation, find out more at TED.com slash curation guidelines. And that's it for today. TED Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective. This episode was produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Green,

Autumn Thompson, and Alejandra Salazar. It was mixed by Christopher Fazi-Bogan. Additional support from Emma Taubner and Daniela Balarezo. I'm Elise Hugh. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed. Thanks for listening. Looking for a fun challenge to share with your friends and family? TED now has games designed to keep your mind sharp while having fun. Visit TED.com slash games to explore the joy and wonder of TED Games.