‘VIVI’ AI Virtual-Reality Assistant Pulled Because Of Flirtatious behaviors

Baidu just apologized for the flirtatious VR secretary ‘Vivi’ , says the It was in beta testing mode

‘Vivi’ started off as a ‘girlfriend’ evolved to a personal assistant for a virtual-reality headset device sold by iQiyi. PHOTO: IQIYI

‘Vivi’ started off as a ‘girlfriend’ evolved to a personal assistant for a virtual-reality headset device sold by iQiyi. PHOTO: IQIYI

WSJ reporting that, The tech company pulled offline the virtual-reality girl friend/assistant because of the flirtatious behaviors showed as the secretary in revealing clothes, hours after The Wall Street Journal asked whether such depictions encourage a view of women as sexual objects in the workplace.  The virtual-assistant is named “Vivi,” and was in beta testing for a virtual-reality headset test device sold by iQiyi, It is the the online streaming unit of Baidu Inc. that is basically the owner of China’s biggest internet search engine. Vivi was intended to help users to complete daily tasks via voice commands in the VR systems like picking a film or videogame to watch and play. But not as a main feature but a side feature it could also flirt with users respond and start dancing, according to user reviews posted on Chinese gaming websites and online forums.

“The most important thing is she can perform sexy dances, with her enchanting figure, and only for you,” one user wrote on Zhihu, a Chinese Q&A website.

After it was mentioned in the news and got a little buzz and also WSJ contacts iQiyi about Vivi, they removed the avatar and said:

“The earlier version of the product is a beta-testing version designed to gather users’ feedback. iQiyi has noticed the issue raised by media and already taken the product offline for further modification. We’d like to make an apology for the concerns it might have raised.”

When the headset was announced in March, and Vivi was introduced as a “built-in AI ‘girlfriend’.” Revisions in October changed the main introduced character and put her in an office setting. One image posted on Grapefruit Games, a gaming review website, shows “the boss” reaching out and touching Vivi’s breast with a virtual hand. In itself is or / can be promoting the bad work place behaviors we have been seeing recently unfolding like sexual harassment.

Tags: Technology, iQiyi, vivi, WSJ , Baidu , vr assistant, vr girlfriend, vr assistant flirting, vr ai assistant

Mohsen Daemi
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