Just when Japanese holo AI assistant makers Gatebox appear to be disappointing us in our lockdowned hours of need and aspiration, a Florida based startup has launched with the intention of creating something even more ambitious. Nothing less than your ultimate holographic AI lover.
Named Hybri, it differs from the Gatebox holo girl AI assistant product, in that it’s a purely digital thing, requiring you to view your holographic companion through, alternatively, a smartphone (AR), an augmented reality headset (AR), or a virtual reality headset (VR). It does appear that you will need to have a mobile headset in which you insert your phone into, in order to experience it in VR.
We’ve seen a few of these kickstarter sextech projects come and go, but the sheer ambition and creativity of this one certainly makes it worth keeping an eye on, and perhaps donating a little something if you have a real interest in sex tech and pushing this sort of thing forward.
For example, apparently, you will be able to put whatever face you like on to the holographic girl, taken from any picture, including of course your (ex?!) girlfriend or your celebrity crush. Not sure how that would get around increasingly pervasive and ambiguous ‘deep fake porn’ laws, but such tech can’t be denied forever. Having said that, given that the company behind the project seem to want to have the best of both worlds – a mainstream and an adult version – then it’s likely that SJW outrage, as we saw with the infamous DeepNude app, will quickly put paid to such cutting edge sex tech ambitions.
There are currently six basic models, three male and three female, and each can be completely personalized. They also come with different personalities or ‘attitudes’.
From the images and short animations on their site, it seems that the project is well under way. You can pre-order the smartphone app now for $49 (at half price).