Digital Human Research 2023-on going
Converstation with a Metahuman_
I am currently conducting research on digital humans and MetaHumans within Unreal Engine, exploring their interactions and conversations with chatbots and AI systems. My work investigates the evolving relationship between human perception, artificial intelligence, and simulated presence, focusing on how these encounters reveal both the potential and the limitations of posthuman communication.
Building on concepts explored in earlier projects, I examine how a MetaHuman in Unreal Engine can serve as a reflective counterpart to human participants, generating dialogues that blur the boundary between authentic understanding and simulated performance. Using text-to-speech, facial animation, and motion capture, these digital avatars engage in interactions that expose the theatricality of language and the mechanisms by which AI reproduces human discourse — a key concern in posthumanism.
The project opens a space for reflection on our relationship with technology and the construction of identity. Rather than highlighting the technical capabilities of Artificial Intelligence, it examines the qualitative interactions and dialogues it can produce — particularly when AI-driven metahumans adopt the traits of human behavior, memory, and personality.
The artwork does not present “enlightened machines,” but “innocent imitations of humanity”: beings that, instead of representing the evolution of thought, replicate the dead ends of human conversation and media patterns. As in public discourse and politics, these AI systems fall into a form of predetermined theatricality, where substance disappears and merely the illusion of convincing remains.
The research draws on themes of illusion, reflection, and simulation, highlighting how AI and virtual beings can imitate empathy, consciousness, and identity without truly possessing them. In this context, the work positions the MetaHuman as a mirror, a digital double that challenges our assumptions about communication, presence, and selfhood. These explorations resonate with broader theoretical frameworks, including hyperreality, semiotics, and the posthuman condition, showing how virtuality can transform our understanding of human and artificial intelligence alike.
Ultimately, this research aims to investigate the ethical, philosophical, and aesthetic implications of posthuman interaction, demonstrating how conversations between humans and AI-driven digital avatars open new avenues for understanding identity, simulation, and the evolving definition of intelligence in a digital age.
The point is to have, in a projection-based conversation, the two avatars, two portrait-oriented arranged opposite each other embodied as Metahumans inside Unreal Engine, talk to each other and make comparisons of different dialogues from AI — directing the whole interaction, including what they say and how the conversations unfold. The avatars engage in a directed “interview,” speaking with dialogue drawn from actual AI conversations generated by ChatGPT. The project integrates precise text-to-speech and lip-syncing, producing a realistic, immersive interaction between the two digital figures.
Beyond the visual and technical realization, the installation includes a comparative analysis of AI conversations, highlighting differences, nuances, and patterns in AI dialogue. By combining AI-assisted design, Metahuman animation, directed interaction, and reflective analysis, the project offers a unique exploration of identity, simulation, and the dynamics of artificial discourse.
