Please click the play button below to listen to the audio version of the blog post
What if I told you you could have a video chat with a computer about any subject in the world.
It sounds far fetched, but it’s a reality. Watch this video.
Those are some pretty in depth discussions!
Think about the implications of this.
Want to end loneliness for elderly people who are stuck for long periods in their homes without anyone to chat to? Imagine if they had Leta or any avatar of their choice. They’d have a constant companion who they could chat with any time day or night.
Believe it or not, Leta’s personality traits were engineered so they could have any style of companion they like. In fact they could have several different ones.
What about hospitals?
My mother in law, who is in her late eighties, was recently hospitalised for several days. In her first room there was no TV set up and she was too weak to pick up a book or magazine to read, so she was out of her mind with boredom. But she could still talk.
Imagine how much more pleasant her stay would have been if she’d had a Leta to talk to. Perhaps if could even have aided her recovery.
Same for care homes & nursing homes. If you’re bed bound and can’t get out there’s always the care staff to talk with, but they’re not there all the time. Leta can be.
So how does Leta work?
How we got to Leta
To discover that we need to travel back in time (just a bit).
For several years we’ve had Alexa and Siri to be our personal assistants. They can shop for us, provide us with the music we like to listen to and give us directions in the car, among many other things.
This has become possible because of two developments. First, voice recognition. The computer needs to be able to recognise the words we are using. Second, the ability of computers to understand the meaning of what we’re saying.
So, when we ask Siri to take us to the nearest MacDonals, she (sorry I meant it!) understands the words we are saying and their meaning. From there it performs the task requested. This really is a quantum leap and the beginnings of true A.I.
In late 2022 Open AI gave public access to ChatGPT and things took another quantum leap. The introduction of Large Language Models (LLM’s) means computers are now trained on vast amounts of data, which it understands. This means we can talk with it like a normal conversation and it answers just like a human would. However, this is still all text based.
2023 has brought the introduction of widespread A.I. voice generation software which will convert the words you type in to a spoken voice.
Here’s an example (you may recognise it):
Finally we have the introduction of A.I. generated video avatars. These take the image (or video) of a real human and animate it so it looks like it’s saying the words that are generated.
Here’s an example of a video from the order thank you page on the CareChat website
Now we’re nearly there. We almost have Leta.
We already use this technology to produce videos for care homes. Here’s an example from a care home's jobs page that explains that they can’t accept applicants unless they are resident in the UK
Here’s another example that explains to companies how they can become a supplier to the care home.
How does Leta work?
The next step is the really ground breaking bit that Dr Thompson has managed to engineer.
He's taken the elements above and inserted the interaction capabilities of the LLM (let’s call it ChatGPT for now) to create Leta. Not only that, he’s also added a webcam video element at his end.
The chain of events that enable the conversation to take place is truly mind blowing.
The webcam picks up Dr Thompsons voice. It is decoded by ChatGPT, maybe straight from voice or maybe into text first so it can understand the meaning. ChatGPT generates its reply and sends the reply to the voice generator software. That converts it in to voice and this is then sent to Leta’s A.I. video avatar generation software that speaks the words.
This all happens virtually instantly! And then it’s repeated over and over just like in a normal conversation. It really is a peek into the near future.
More uses for Leta.
Once it becomes common place and cost effective to be able to connect these technologies together for widespread commercial use, the possibilities are endless.
Chatbots
Our sister brand, CareChat already provides a website chatbot for care homes that uses ChatGPT so it can chat with you just like a human operator. They also train it with information about the care home and instruct in on its role and objectives.
This means you can ask the chatbot anything you like about the care home and, provided the answer is in the data set, it will tell you the answer.
Leta is the next obvious step on from this. She will be the online virtual assistant on the website and you can chat to her by text or via video (from your phone for example) and it will be just like talking with a person.
Onboarding new clients and staff
Again CareChat can take all your standard operating procedures and induction information for new employees and new clients and train it’s chatbot on them. Then, whatever question the new employee or client needs answering, they just ask the Chatbot. Combine this with the workflow automations that are now possible with our sister brand Care A.I. and you have a fully automated and all virtual onboarding process.
Answering questions
You can take the same process and apply it to almost anything. Want to know the CQC policies on a certain subject? Ask the CQC chatbot. Want the answer to a health and safety question? Ask the HSE Chatbot.
Want to know the correct way staff should answer your phone? Ask the your chatbot. Want to know the rules on GDPR? Ask the ICO Chatbot.
I should point out that, at the time of writing, none of these organisations currently has the chatbot facility… but it’s only a question of time and there’s no reason that you can’t have yours right now!
This will be the new way we consume information internally about the business.
Conclusion
The future is nearly here. The pace of development of these technologies is incredibly rapid. LLM’s have opened up all sorts of new possibilities and ironically, the speed of advancement will only increase as the A.I. technologies learn how to develop themselves.
Companies who are early adopters will have a massive advantage and be able to reduce cost, increase productivity and increase the quality and consistency of the products and services they provide.
This is equally true of care homes and home care businesses. Already our sister brands are at the forefront of this.
Care Home Marketing Expert has developed automated marketing systems to generate leads, nurture then and turn them into filled beds with minimal involvement from your staff and minimum cost to you.
CareChat has a number of innovate products that help you generate more leads from your current website visitors, provide them with a better user experience and connect them to Care Home Marketing Expert’s automated follow up and conversion sequences.
Care A.I. has automated workflow systems that eliminate repetitive, time consuming tasks and can connect the various systems of your business so they integrate seamlessly.
We at Care Home Videos are also harnessing the technology to provide completely A.I. generated videos like the ones you’ve seen in this article. We can also take blog posts, articles and social media posts and turn them into A.I. generated videos to make your content easier for people to consume and enjoy.
If you’re ready to to use A.I. to give your business a competitive advantage please contact me, Simon Beck on 01977 232233 or click here to book an exploratory call in my diary. I look forward to helping you.