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Lex Fridman and Mark Zuckerberg: Photorealistic Codec Avatars


I know many of you don’t care about Mark Zuckerberg — and neither do it!

I mean, look…as far as Robot Alien Lizard Androids go, he’s fine and all, but I personally find him a bit “off putting”.

But a friend sent me this and even though I don’t find Mark very interesting, the tech here certainly is!

Interesting and creepy.

Maybe emphasis on creepy.

And “photorealistic codec avatars”?

Why can’t these people just speak in normal language, huh?

Oh and one more thing…why is this Lex Fridman guy so popular?

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I don’t get that either….

The guy is like listening to paint dry if you ask me.

How in the world does he have almost 4 million followers on YouTube?

I speed the guy up to 2x speed and I still am bored out of my mind listening to him talk.

Anyway, I digress….

Back to the topic.

Look, I know I’m supposed to do a couple things here in this seat….

I’m supposed to hate electric cars and I’m supposed to hate the Metaverse.

And I’m sorry but I can’t go there categorically.

Sorry to disappoint, but a Tesla is just a phenomenal car.

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I don’t have unchecked hate (or love) for any one thing out there…

If something is good, I’m not gonna hate on it just because I’m “supposed to” and I’m here to tell you that driving a Tesla is a better experience than an ICE car.  Sorry, it just is.

And I’m also here to say the potential of the “metaverse” or maybe more specifically the potential of something like Apple’s Vision Pro looks really freaking cool to me.  Sorry, it just does.

And while Facebook is usually behind the curve and kind of dorky, what they’ve pulled off here is actually pretty incredible to see.

Go ahead and take a look and understand what you’re looking at here is two people thousands of miles away but stunned at how realistic it feels as if they’re talking to each other just a few feet away.

Watch here:

UploadVR had more details:

Mark Zuckerberg was interviewed by Lex Fridman in VR, with both using Meta’s prototype photorealistic Codec Avatars.

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Codec Avatars is Meta’s long-running research project aiming to revolutionize remote communication by achieving truly convincing photorealistic real-time avatars driven by headsets with face tracking sensors, and eventually glasses too.

Meta first revealed the project’s existence in 2019, and has showed off multiple fidelity updates in the years since and a full-body version. Powered by machine learning, the avatars are generated using a specialized capture rig with over 100 cameras, but Meta researchers are working to replace this with a smartphone scan.

Zuckerberg and Fridman were both wearing Quest Pro, which features built-in face tracking and eye tracking. However, it’s unclear whether the avatars were being decoded and rendered onboard, or whether a PC was doing this. A USB-C cable is connected to both headsets, but this could just be to avoid running out of battery during the interview, rather than a connection to PC VR.

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