This free iPhone app lets you video chat with a ChatGPT-powered AI avatar
Call Annie is a new app that displays a virtual female avatar that tries to look, sound, and act like a real person. The app allows you to video chat with the AI avatar that not only answers your questions but also attempts to strike up a visual conversation. To ensure the app is as realistic as possible, Apple’s Neural Engine is used for the deep learning aspect of AI. The video chat mode is only available on the iPhone 12 and later models, while users of older iPhones can chat with Annie only through audio.
After turning the feature on, Annie initiates the conversation by asking how you are or how your day has been. You can either respond to her question or ask a specific question or request. Since Call Annie is powered by OpenAI's ChatGPT model, she’s capable of responding to just about any request or question you may have. You can ask Annie to explain a complex topic, solve a math problem, compose a poem, tell a joke, translate a phrase, and much more. If she doesn't know the answer right away, she’ll search the web for you.
What makes Annie different from other AI chatbots is that she offers a more conversational approach. You can let Annie direct the conversation based on her questions and your responses, direct it yourself, or end the chat anytime you want. The facial expressions, eye movements, mouth movements, and more used by Annie make it appear like she's listening to you and thinking about your questions.
As an avatar, Annie is also designed to provide emotional support, at least in an unofficial way. You can talk to her about anything that's on your mind, and she aims to help you work your way through a problem. For instance, if you are feeling anxious or depressed, Annie will ask you a couple of questions to gain more detail. Based on your answers, she will offer some practical tips you can use.
The Call Annie app is easy to use. Simply tap the Call Annie button and start the conversation. If you don't chime in first, Annie will try to engage you by asking a question. You can also view different topics under categories such as lifestyle, fun, education, travel, and career by tapping the Conversation Ideas button at the top.
Created by text-to-image tool Midjourney, Annie's face itself looks quite realistic. Her voice sounds robotic, but overall, the experience is enjoyable. No voice is saved from a privacy perspective, but a transcription is forwarded to ChatGPT to get all the dialogue. You can delete any conversation from your Chat history. In the future, support for ChatGPT-4 smarts is next in store for Annie, as well as a character and backstory and even a memory so she can keep track of who you are.
