Windows 11 is getting a new AI-powered eye contact feature for video calls, but instead of making those calls feel more natural, it actually looks pretty scary.
Announced at its recent Future of Hybrid Work event, the new feature aims to use artificial intelligence to make it look like your eyes are looking directly at the person you're video calling with.
Most webcams, including those built into laptops, sit above the screen, but when video conferencing, we're usually looking at the video of the person we're talking to, rather than looking directly at the camera. . This causes callers to look down when speaking, instead of making eye contact like most of us would when talking to people in person.
(*11*)'s attempt to fix this by adjusting the video caller's pupils to face the screen, in an effort to make video calls, as Windows boss Panos Panay claims, "more human", is certainly interesting, but according to the results we have seen. So far, the effect seems more puzzling than the company predicted.
Analysis: AI has its limits, and this is one of them
In the video clip you showed (*11*), a woman is talking on a video call and her students appear to be looking at the screen. However, there are some minor issues that, while subtle, are a clear indication that something is wrong.
It's a classic example of "weird valley," where an attempt to synthesize an artificial human makes real humans uncomfortable, often due to imperfections that tell us what we're seeing is fake.
In fact, the uncanny valley can be more pronounced in more realistic attempts, as we subconsciously pick up more minor detail, which then increases the impact of the effect, and that's something that seems to have happened here.
By trying to make video calling in Windows 11 "more human", (*11*) has actually done the opposite, and when you notice the little glitches and glitches, you can't see past the artificiality of it all. Ironically, it seems like this new feature is actually more distracting than if the caller wasn't looking at the camera.
Fortunately, this feature will probably be optional, and there may be future updates to make it more realistic, but at the moment we can't imagine many people using it, and it shows that even if AI has many great uses, it also has its limitations.
- Take a look at our pick of the best laptops you can use for remote video calls
Via TechCrunch (Opens in a new tab)