Meet Tong Tong: The Emotionally Engaged Humanoid Pioneering Artificial General Intelligence
Last January, at the Frontiers of General Artificial Intelligence Technology conference in Beijing, the Beijing Institute for General Artificial Intelligence (BIGAI) presented a humanoid named Tong Tong. This “first little girl powered by artificial intelligence” was designed to replicate the behavior of a three to four-year-old person and continuously improve through learning and interactions with humans.
Researchers working on the project claim that Tong Tong is unique in its ability to display a level of emotional engagement never before seen in other AI models. It can interpret, identify, and communicate emotions like happiness, anger, and sadness, and respond appropriately to these emotions expressed by others.
Tong Tong possesses a mind and desires to understand common sense taught by humans, discern right from wrong, express attitudes in various situations, and have the power to shape the future through the TongOS2.AGI operating system and the TONGOL2.0 language learning program.
Zhu Shongchun, director of BIGAI, emphasizes the importance of creating entities with a wide range of abilities in advancing artificial general intelligence. He sees General AI as a powerful force for new quality productive forces. The mentality and value system of Tong Tong are similar to that of a three or four-year-old child, making it constantly being updated to integrate into different aspects of society.
The potential applications of Tong Tong seem to extend beyond personal use into broader societal benefits such as aid for people without company or applications in home automation, healthcare education. The product could be particularly beneficial in countries facing demographic decline and increasing loneliness as it provides companionship and emotional support which is essential for mental health. The project is still ongoing with updates potential integration into various aspects of everyday life such as customer service or even robotics industry where she can interact with customers providing them assistance on products or services they need.
