Creepy AI-powered Mario hologram not endorsed by Nintendo, company admits
eurogamer.netAn unsettling AI-powered hologram of Nintendo mascot Mario at the Consumer Electronics Show 2024 event in Las Vegas was unlicensed and unofficial, the company behind the technology has now admitted.
The odd-looking and robotic-sounding Mario was the work of Proto Hologram, a company that creates holograms held within large box-like structures that you can talk to and interact with.
More bizarre still, the Mario hologram was supposed to be a collaboration with the AARP, an American advocacy group for people over the age of 50 — apparently to demonstrate how AI holograms could combat loneliness in the elderly. But with Mario? And more to the point — with a poorly-voiced, dead-eyed broken 3D model of Mario?
Footage of Mario's hologram from CES attendees shows the stiffly animated plumber responding to questioning with generic answers and rough lip movement, as the bizarre voice reels off a robotic response.
So Mario was at <a href=«https://twitter.com/hashtag/CES?src=hash&ref_src=» https:>#CES
But uh… who approved this abomination?
