I was, one of 20-plus silent, motionless avatars attending a regular online meeting..
A few of us had employed copies of our staff ID images as avatars or ported images from other platforms.
Many had chosen cartoon characters, pet photos, or other symbols.
Others had elected for the default..
We were all contributing our time ostensibly, to listen attentively to the presenters, participate in feedback and leave the meeting all the wiser with the added bonus of having our social/professional bonds strengthened..
The discussion continued for some time without interruption and as the prevailing dialogue strayed in to subject matter that was irrelevant or inaccessible to me, I found myself scanning the avatars and beginning to ponder the value of online meetings between participants with no eyes or mouths…
Or ears..
I had an epiphany whilst evaluating the sheer number of hours spent daily in A/V communications against time otherwise spent doing “important stuff”.
Leveraging AI is the answer!
AIs will be capable of capturing and assuming our point of view, extrapolating and translating it into audio/visual outputs to present to an audience of other AIs and in doing so, enable simultaneous participation in the seemingly uncapped number of daily con-calls freeing us to do the things that really move us like, training Machine Learning algorithms that delegate our AIs to newly-spawned AI meetings, watching our shares plummet and soar through a single trading session, online shopping for cat food or making toast…..
A brilliant application of technology – wouldn’t you agree?
Conveniently ignoring the efficacy of decision making; imagine a time when the only limiting factor to the number of meetings would be the resources available to host and attend millions of simultaneous AI interactions!
However, whilst in mid self-congratulation regarding my innovative application of technology, I was suddenly halted by the presenter’s announcement of a, “..pause for questions.”
Silence marked the beginning of “Mutefest”..
Seconds passed…
I scanned the opaque and motionless avatars for any sign of life hoping that an owner may indicate their participation and in so doing, validate the effort made by the presenter.
The seconds slowly ticked by..
I imagined the presenter waiting in anticipation for the “killer” yes/no question that has no right answer..
The silence became more awkward and it’s demands to be filled became deafening; amplified by the audience’s paralysing fear of being seen as responsible for a vacuous or inane response -just to fill the space..
Time almost stopped.
Finally the convener shocked the frozen discourse into life with , “If there are no further questions, we’ll finish up there”
“Thank you”
And with that, I marvelled upon the discovery of yet another unquestionable benefit to my AI meetings solution: “The end of Awkward Silence!”
Or, perhaps I have missed the point?
Have a great day!