Have you ever had a conversation with a digital human? Now is your chance! 🚀
As of last week, Digiderius, our digital human, is located in the Bibliotheek Rotterdam at Blaak, where citizens of Rotterdam are invited to interact with it. Digiderius is an advanced form of artificial intelligence that uses a large language model (LLM), deep learning, and realistic visuals to understand and respond to questions in a natural way. It can interact in both written and spoken language and has a human-like appearance, being modeled after our famous patron, Desiderius Erasmus. Digiderius shows a wide range of facial expressions and even shifts its head and body. In other words, it feels like you’re talking to a real person!
This initiative is part of a research project by researchers from the Erasmus University Rotterdam for the Rotterdam Social AI Lab in collaboration with the Bibliotheek Rotterdam and the Erasmus Data Collaboratory. It aims to explore how AI could be used to help Rotterdammers.
Together with our Academic Director, Rebecca Moody, and Robbin M., the researcher on-site to support and observe, we’re trying to find out what factors influence how willing citizens are to talk to a digital human about issues related to public service and why.
Our takeaways from interactions with Digiderius will also be used to develop a digital librarian, which will be introduced after the summer in the new (temporary) location together with RAUWcc.
If you are in Rotterdam, stop by the Blaak library before May 2nd, meet Digiderius, and be part of shaping the future of human-AI interaction!
Thank you to our collaborators, Gemeente Rotterdam, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, Techniek College Rotterdam, Mascotte Labs Reblika Labs, @Future Society Lab, Bibliotheek Rotterdam for making this project possible. Together we are exploring what the future of human-AI interaction can look like, right here in the heart of Rotterdam.
