(Image source: Kotaku)
BY LEXA DECKERT
ANCHOR JIM FLINK
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It’s never a good idea to lie to a mob of obsessed teenagers. That’s where one Japanese pop band went wrong.
The band, AKB48, revealed their newest member, Aimi Eguchi, during a candy commercial and after the single viewing, fans went wild trying to find out who the new beauty was.
Since the band already has had up to 61 members at a time, adding another wasn’t a surprise. But some were confused since there wasn’t an audition. As PC Mag reports -- suspicions grew...
“AKB48's management created a profile on the group's Web site, where Aimi was listed as a 16-year-old girl from Saitama prefecture. Singularity Hub reports that conspiracy theorists were able to determine that the idol's name was derived from the candy company, the commercial’s theme song, and Aisu no Mi, the candy being advertised.”
The truth was revealed -- and fans were shocked and dismayed to learn -- Aimi Eguchi is not human at all, but computer generated.
A video was released showing how exactly Aimi Eguchi was created...
Japanese singing... (Huffington Post)
Aimi Eguchi is nothing more than 150 gigs of data -- but to her fans she is much more. Gizmodo reports that this attachment may be the future...
“When people perceive such a being as real, and that being causes an emotive response in them, then that makes that character part of reality. It has an tangible impact on their worlds.”
A writer for the Atlantic Wire points out people should not be surprised by developments like these -- at least not in Japan.
“...it's an especially old hat in Japan. The nation is aging rapidly, and there's a shortage of young people. In order to fill the gap, robotic scientists are scrambling to create synthetic versions of people to do jobs they can't fill. ...they apparently love it.”
Aimi Eguchi will actually be Japan’s second virtual pop star and most likely won’t be the last.
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