AI avatars to attend work meetings on behalf of employees, says Otter CEO

Sam Liang, founder and CEO of Otter.ai, a provider of speech-to-text transcription applications using artificial intelligence and machine learning, mentioned that AI avatars will soon be capable of attending meetings on behalf of individuals. According to him, this possibility could become a reality in the near future.

According to Liang, a prototype for AI avatars capable of attending meetings may be developed later this year. Liang stated to Business Insider that Otter.ai has already made progress toward achieving this goal. He explained that AI models are typically trained using datasets to emulate human behaviour. For AI avatars to accurately mimic individuals, they must be trained using recorded meeting notes and voice data specific to those individuals. This training enables the avatars to interact and converse in a manner identical to the individuals they represent. “Once they have enough information, the avatars (in theory) will be able to speak in the cadence of individual workers, participate in conversations, and answer questions based on the worker's unique perspectives,” he added.

As per to Liang, Otter’s AI avatars will be able to respond to 90 percent of the queries asked during meetings. If it gets stuck and is unable to provide an answer, a scenario having a 10 percent chance, the questions will be forwarded to the human worker with a message stating, “Hey, I don't know how to answer this question- can you help me?”

Liang believes that these AI work personas will optimise one’s time and increase an employee’s efficiency. Due to the bots, an employee will have additional time to dedicate to creative activities, ultimately generating more money for the corporation. Employees can send their AI version to attend meetings on their behalf while they are on vacation.

However, Liang admitted that the journey in this field is difficult. He pointed out the challenging task of installing emotions in an AI avatar to make it aware about human sentiments, such as staying calm or knowing when to speak up during meetings.

Liang emphasised the significant challenge in training a model to navigate appropriate interactions within a group setting. This difficulty stems from the need to discern when to contribute, patiently await an opportunity, or interject. “That's because meeting etiquette varies based on what's being discussed. It needs to have the knowledge and emotional intelligence to participate in a productive way." Liang quoted further