Vidax Center: Al Buddy Project

Credits & Description:

Category: Public Interest, NGO
Media: Digital
Brand: Vidax Center
Agency: We Believers
Geo: United States
Advertising Agency: We Believers, New York, USA
Chief Creative Officer: Gustavo Lauria
Executive Creative Directors: Patricio Elfi, Leo Prat
Creative Directors: Santiago Luna Lupo, Percy Bustos
Copywriters: Gustavo Lauria, Santiago Luna Lupo
Art Directors: Patricio Elfi, Percy Bustos
Agency Producer: Rebeca Landeros
Head of Planning: Marco Vega
Head of Client Services: José Quijano
Agency Coordinator: Lupita Alvarez
Product Development / Project Architect: Clowder Tank
Head of Development: Gonzalo Alonso
API / UX/ AI: Clowder Tank / TCPIP
Product Managers: Gilberto Ruiz, Rogelio Cárdenas
Platform Ops: Edgar Carrasco
Production Company: Nunchaku
Director: Nico Kasakoff
DOP: Leandro Filloy
Executive Producers: Leda Nasio, Julian Castro
1st AD: Adrian Castagna
1st Camera Assistant: Alexander Cristofoli
2nd Camera Assistant: Támara Espinal
Art Director: Tom Criswell
Gaffer: José Jiménez
UPM: Carolina Nunez
Editors: Jorge Vallejo, Diego Panich
Executive Producer: Denisse Zeigen
Post / Online: Vapor Post
Colorist: Rudel Reyes
Flame Artist / Online: John Holzman
Assistant Editor: Greg Gershengorn
Animation Studio: Gizmo
Executive Producers: Andrea Bacigalupo, Emmanuel Verruno
Art Director: Javier Lourenco
Composer: Antoine Quairiat
Producer: Daniela Kisinovsky
Animator: Chris Granados
Shading / Lighting: Pablo Focaretta
Music / SFX: Alexis Estiz / Personal Music
Music Composers: Alberto Slezynger, Alexis Estiz
Sound Design: Luis Gomez
Executive Producer: Carolina Garcia
Published: May 2017
Outcome:
Thanks to the way we source the data to shape the personality of Ai Buddy, a promising beta version has been completed. Provisional patent has been filed for. Philanthropists are lining up to help bring Ai Buddy to the world. It tested well with our control group of 5 families.In the US alone more than ten million soldiers have been deployed to War in the last decade. The potential for positiveimpact is enormous. There’s more to it however, with large potential new applications for Ai Buddy in the future with children who have a parent suffering from a terminal illness, convicted to prison, abducted or assassinated.Ai Buddy helps us reflect on the stupidity of war, the reality of anxiety disorders in children who lose a parent and the responsibility on the engineering and creative communities to take responsibility as they unleash the potential of Ai to aid mankind in creating a more human world.This is just the beginning for Ai Buddy.
Strategy:
Ai Buddy will be trained by Psychologists and Pediatricians to interact with kids of parents deployed to or killed at war. It collects data and information to shape its personality from close relatives scanning their emails, texts, social media posts. AI Buddy is both collecting public data, and being fed with specific language and functional data so we can start testing the first adult human interactions, then move to infants. A Parallel process is being ran with professionals on both social and Psychological, to define human interactions and add an “emotion containment” data resource, to avoid stressful results in first iterations of the UX. Final data will be contained behind an API and shared by Jsn-like commands, to ensure hygienic and secure data interactions. Crowdsourcing from available human resources will become key for every ending product. 90% of code being used is being rendered in our proprietary “AI as A Service” platform, maximizing data learning and stabilizing cognitive to action problems. Expect a robust API architecture to securely manage data exchange across the board. All data complies with International laws requiring ISO, IT Frameworks and Security certificates. In all cases user permission is required and appropriately managed.
Campaign Description:
Ai Buddy is a set of interactive characters powered by Artificial Intelligence that give support to kids while their parents are deployed to war. Or if they don’t make it back. Ai Buddy collects social data from close relatives and functional data to shape its personality. A Parallel process is being ran with social and Psychological professionals, to define human interactions and add an “emotion containment” data resource, visually represented with animated characters to engage in real time with kids. Ai Buddy stays connected throughout the day sending messages to any smart device, constantly checking physical inputs to detect possible emergencies and using the information available online to help with homework. It can even read them a bedtime story, or play with them through VR. Also, it shares updates about the kids with the rest of the family to make sure they have a pulse on the emotional and physical well-being of the kid. If the parent passed away, it will help with the transition and deactivate once the child is psychologically ready to let it go.
Relevancy:
Data must start becoming part of a human solution; democratizing these phenomena to create safety net environments for future generations. Ai Buddy is relevant mainly for the sources of data that make it a more human Ai. Where the creative challenge stems from is Ai Deep Learning is by definition a black box where neither machine nor engineers behind it can explain all decisions taken. We are left to trust the Ai’s judgment, and its creative prowess is to bring the best of humanity for us to trust it with what matters most: our children.
Media Strategy:
Ai Buddy animated characters interact across multiple screens and devices all day. It sends messages to any smart device. It constantly checks physical inputs to detect possible emergencies. It uses all the information available online, to help the child with homework. A life-size version plays with them through VR or it can help put them to sleep with a bedtime story. It shares daily updates with the family to check how kids areholding up emotionally and physically. It is well documented that tracking daily simple things as heart rate aids tremendously in identifying moments of depression or diagnose anxiety disorder but not actively used. Children of the military are TWICE as likely to consider suicide, and 1 in 4 will consider suicide in their lifetime. Ai Buddy can substantially aid in identifying and preventing tragic events from happening.If the parent passed away, Ai Buddy will help with the transition. It will be set up to expire after a careful process, once the child is psychologically ready to let it go. There will be multiple versions of the prototype to accommodate the levels of technology kids have access to in different parts of the world.
Synopsis:
Since 2001 more than 3 million children in the world have had one of their parents deployed and thousands of them lost a parent because of war.These children experience high rates of mental health problems. With 1 in 4 reported to have considered suicide. Twice as likely as non-military kids. It’s a harsh reality that seems impossible to avoid because the world has been at war EVERY day for the past 100 years. Humans have only been at peace for 8% of its 3.400 years recorded history. That is 93% of the time. To make matters worse, military spending for the largest armies in the world is now the highest ever. Considering the current state of affairs, we are on the verge of a BIG WAR.