Kyomachi Seika’s Narikiri AI Project & Virtual YouTuber Debut Announced!
Kyomachi Seika Narikiri AI Project
The Narikiri AI project is a collaborative concept which was developed by Ryuichiro Higashinaka from NTT Laboratories (with the help of Dwango corp), and the town of Seika in Kyoto! It’s an AI development project that involves users helping to improve the quality of the AI to make them as “accurate” as possible to the desired outcome.
For those of you not who aren’t that familiar with Kyomachi Seika, she’s a character representing the aforementioned namesake town of Seika, and she acts as a public relations representative for the area!
How does it work?
- You ask questions to Kyomachi Seika about the town of Seika!
- Kyomachi Seika’s AI will respond in the way it deems most appropriate.
- After this, you will need to choose from between your own questions, and the questions of other users and “impersonate” Kyomachi Seika by answering said questions with what they think would be the appropriate answer from her, judging by her character (the “Narikiri” in “Narikiri AI” means “to impersonate” someone/something).
- Other users can then also vote and decide which answer(s) for various questions resemble Kyomachi Seika the most by responding with「ポイね！」(“poi ne” / “that’s very “Kyomachi Seika””).
- The AI will take into account all of the questions, answers and votes and will then develop accordingly!
Lots of interactions with Kyomachi Seika will be vital in helping her AI become… well… as “Kyomachi Seika” as possible! In order to do this, they’ll need as much help as they can get!
The users who’ll be able to help Kyomachi Seika will need a reasonable knowledge of the Seika town itself, since she is supposed to be like a tour guide helping to teach people about the area! Therefore all questions will need to be oriented around this specific topic, as opposed to having participants just randomly talking to her. She will also only respond to questions and answers inputted using Japanese, so participants will need a good grasp of the language.
How to get chosen to help with the AI program
Participants will be chosen through a lottery system, which you can access here. If you’re chosen to participate, you’ll be sent confirmation by email containing a URL that you can follow to start helping out! You must have a NicoNicoDouga account to apply for the lottery.
When you click on the link to apply, you will need to log in with your NND account using the blue button at the bottom. For the application afterwards you will need to add your email address and explain what you want to talk to Kyomachi Seika about.
Rules regarding applications for participation:
1.The following acts are prohibited during the project.
- Any contributions made that deviate from the concept of the AI (Kyomachi Seika is supposed to be a character acting as a knowledgeable tour guide for Seika, so her AI needs to have as much knowledge of the area as you think is necessary for the job!)
- Any acts that infringe the rights of third parties, such as intellectual property rights, privacy etc.
2. You must understand that any questions and answers inputted for the AI will be used for the sake of research by NTT and Seika town, so are likely to be used even after the AI participation event.
3. Any personal information given for the sake of this lottery system and participation will ONLY be used for the sake of this project, such as for contacting winners by email and responding to your personal inquiries.
4.The company cannot be held liable for any problems you may have with participating or inability to participate in this project.
5. You may not copy or reprint any images, photographs etc, which are gained through participating in this program.
6.Those in charge of the project can terminate your ability to participate without any prior notice, if a situation arises where this is deemed necessary.
7. To participate in this project, it is recommended that you use the Google Chrome browser which has been updated to the newest version. This project will not work on tablets, so a computer or other suitable device will be required.
You can access the links to either enter the lottery (the orange button) or participate once you’ve got a confirmation email (the green button) on the main webpage here too!
Virtual YouTuber Kyomachi Seika!?
In other news, thanks to the crowdfunding support she’s received, Seika’s dream to be a YouTuber is finally coming true! Her voice is coming from none other than Rika Tachibana, her original voice provider, and the YouTube debut will happen on July 5th at 13:00 JST! Check out her YouTube channel here!
**UPDATE**
Seika’s YouTube debut video is here!
Things are certainly busy in the world of Kyomachi Seika! Let’s make sure to support her with her big debut and find out what she’ll be getting up to with this new platform.
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[…] hope that Kyomachi Seika has a wonderful year, especially considering the new developments with her Youtube channel and AI project! She’ll definitely be busy, so, we’ll keep you updated with what she gets up […]