The band KISS, which has rocked the world for 50 golden years, will now be seen in AI-generated avatars
Mona
Fire-breathing, blood-spitting acts, smoking guitars, levitating drum kits; 30 gold albums, 14 platinum albums…one of the best metal and hard rock bands KISS recently gave their last performance as a ‘human band’. They had entertained the world with pyrotechnics for 50 years, but saved the most shocking revelation for the last show!
After their last concert of End of the Road farewell tour at Madison Square Garden last week at New York, they staked a astonishing claim — that it was their last outing as a band in ‘human form’, as they will continue as ‘virtual avatars’ in future.
“KISS army, your love, your power has made us immortal! A new KISS era starts now,” singer Paul Stanley’s avatar said in the video before the virtual band took over to play God Gave Rock ’N’ Roll to You II.
Balancing act
The move has come as a surprise, but not a shock as AI increasingly becomes accessible. Actor Angad Hasija sees artificial intelligence as a smart sidekick for ideas in creative fields. “Digital avatars can let artistes stick around, even when they’re not here anymore. It’s like leaving a cool mark that lasts way into the future. We’re on this exciting tech-ride, but it’s important to keep an eye on how much we let AI do. It’s great for improving things, but we humans should stay in-charge. We don’t want machines stealing the spotlight; we need to find the right balance,” he insists.
Last year, AI-generated piece Théâtre D’opéra Spatial won the first prize at the Colorado State Fair Fine Arts Competition.
Humanoid robots too thrive from the surge in AI development. Nadia, the next generation humanoid, with real-time perception, compliant locomotion, autonomous footstep placement and dexterous VR-teleoperated manipulation, is ready to challenge humans in a boxing ring!
AI is limited
Right from sports to fiction, AI is increasingly knocking on our lives. “The use of artificial intelligence is undoubtedly amazing. But again it is the result of programming done by humans. AI is limited, while the human mind has no limits,” says actress Ekta Saraiya. “We just need to move with new finds. There would always be humans in the loop for this world to function,” she adds.
It’s about time to embrace the change sans much distress, feels actor Charrul Malik. “Similar to all other innovations in the past, we need to continue to stay motivated to adapt. Today, we can use AI to write scripts and compose music, but we will always need to review its performance. AI can never match human senses. Since we create content for humans, it’s imperative that humans continue to stay involved in the process.”
Embrace and adapt
Every new technology always comes with pros and cons, says entrepreneur-turned-filmmaker Nikhil Nanda, “AI brings in a lot of advantages. When computers had just arrived, the shorthand typists lost their jobs. People thought it was the end of manual labour, but over time it has increased and improved efficiency. In the case of AI also we are going to see more advances, but even for the Chat GPT to work you need a human to put in the right input to get the right output. I don’t think it would cause any major job losses, but it’s going to be a big disruptor; it’s time we embrace and adapt.”
