- Razer unveiled an improved Project AVA animated holographic AI assistant at CES this year
- Project AVA has a selection of avatars with their own simulated personalities that can engage in conversation, see your screen, and follow your gaze.
- Razer is expanding Project Ava’s role beyond gaming trainer to everyday tasks like scheduling and organizing your life.
AI assistants right now mainly take the form of a wall of text or a disembodied voice, but Razer believes people would prefer to talk to a small animated hologram with a matching personality sitting at their desk.
He brought his AVA Project to CES this year to show exactly that. AVA first debuted at CES last year as an esports coach inside a gaming platform, but the shiny 5-inch holographic avatar can now live on your desktop, chat with you, and offer you help with everything from your daily schedule to the perfect outfit of the day.
AVA’s cylindrical house sits next to its keyboard and appears to house an animated hologram that looks like one of the few (so far) forms of assistant, like the original Razer characters AVA, Kira and Zane, or recognizable esports figures.
The holograms have facial expressions, lip-synchronized speech, and personalities that Razer says range “from bold and sassy to calm and friendly.”
Look
The built-in camera, far-field microphone array, and “PC View Mode” allow AVA to see your screen, hear your voice, and follow your gaze. According to Razer, the hologram is not just for show. The projected avatar reflects your interactions with subtle head movements, blinks, lip-syncing, and expressions designed to make you feel alive without veering you into the uncanny valley. Eye-tracking hardware allows you to maintain “eye contact,” giving conversations a surprising sense of reciprocity.
Despite its roots in gaming, AVA is designed to be a full-service assistant. In addition to analyzing in-game footage and suggesting strategy adjustments in real time, it can organize your schedule, remind you of appointments, and suggest entertainment options based on your browsing.
AI hologram
AVA is supposed to use what it learns about you, from your speech patterns to your on-screen activity, to adapt to your mood and habits. Razer suggests that AVA will leverage that information and your access to the screen to give you ideas to help you create spreadsheets, edit code, or put together presentations.
The standard concerns about sharing so much information with an AI model apply to AVA, but with an added dimension of possible unsettling when that AI has a face and a voice. Razer has said that data remains local and that privacy protection is a top priority, but the intellectual understanding of an AI that collects information about you can seem more visceral when it is in human or human-like form.
Razer has opened $20 refundable pre-orders for AVA in the US ahead of an undisclosed shipping date, likely later this year. While you technically only need a Windows PC and a USB-C connection, AVA requires relatively high system performance to support real-time avatar rendering and analysis, so it’s no casual toy.
If power users willing to pay for AVA find it to be a persistent digital companion they miss when it’s off, it could decide the fate of AVA in the rest of the world. The glow of a small animated being quietly watching you from your desk may not appeal to the most hesitant users of AI tools.
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