Erica: A New (AI) Era?

Over Coffee® is on Thanksgiving hiatus.   Please enjoy this rebroadcast of one of our most popular episodes of 2020--and have a safe and healthy holiday.

In August, Erica had filmed some of the preliminary scenes for her upcoming movie, "b".

Her director said she was excited about the project: she has the starring role.

And she was doing well in her Method acting lessons.

If that last sounds unusual,  it's even more so when you stop to consider that Erica isn't human.

Instead, she is a humanoid, created at Osaka University, in collaboration with the Advanced Telecommunication Research Institute, as an autonomous communication robot.

And filmmaker/technology entrepreneur Sam Khoze is teaching her method acting, in preparation for her starring role in his upcoming  $70 million science-fiction movie "b",   But he isn't stopping there.

During our summer 2020 conversation, Sam explained that he's also looking at adding additional robots to his cast AND his crew, for the shoot.

Here is our prerecorded interview--and we'll keep you posted as we hear more about "Erica" and her film career!
On this edition of Over Coffee®, we cover:

What the process of casting Erica for the film was like;

Why a robot can be a sympathetic main character (as opposed to Hollywood’s tendency to depict robots as villains);

Sam’s first impressions, interacting with Erica for the first time;

What the process is like, teaching a humanoid robot method acting;

A funny story from Sam’s experiences with Erica while filming some preliminary scenes;

Some of the issues Sam had to keep in mind, when working with a robot instead of a human actor;

What’s happening in “b”;

Additional robot-related innovations, which viewers may encounter in  “b”;

What will be involved in future stages of production;

One major reason why robots will NOT be replacing humans in the workforce any time soon;

Another groundbreaking AI development which could lead to safer conditions for human actors on future sets.