Today’s startup thinks it can lighten the load for businesses that interact with customers face-to-face. But can it stand out in a fast-moving market? Scroll down to find out about Sum Vivas.

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Can Sum Vivas put a human touch on AI for customer service?

There’s a lot of talk about AI taking human jobs, but it’s usually in the form of chatbots and other traditional software. Is there a role for ‘digital humans’ too?

Sum Vivas believes there is. The startup is working on what CEO Rob Sims describes as “life-like, very friendly, familiar-looking avatars that can be presented across a range of media.” 

The sell to businesses is that they can offer a customer service ‘human’, displayed on a screen. Customers can then speak to it in natural language.

The digital human can answer questions from its knowledge base and generative AI, and even ask customers questions to help businesses learn more about what they need and how they feel about products and services.

“Most AI analysis looks backwards at what's been happening, and what that means. We're very much about the immediacy of today; this week, this month, your customers are asking for this or have a problem with that, therefore you can do something about it in a more immediate way.”

But is this really anything more than a chatbot with a face and voice? Sims says that’s exactly what it is, and he believes it can bridge the gap between humans and bots by making AI interfaces more accessible.

“When you look at the analysis and the feedback we've had in terms of people using chatbots versus people using digital humans, they're a familiar looking entity. They have gestures, they nod. The time to suspend disbelief that I'm talking to her or him is really quick; one or two questions.

“People become more comfortable. They're getting responses in real time. They're getting that both verbally and as text because that appears on the screen as well. It becomes a much more comfortable experience…

“It's a conversation. Rather than asking a machine, I'm speaking to someone that looks familiar to me. They nod and they gesture, and I can ask multiple questions, and I can have a conversation rather than a series of questions and answers.”

And a chatbot with a visible and audible identity has other benefits, Sims argues. These include being able to provide customer service 24 hours a day and in a range of languages, rather than expecting customers to speak English.

“We're not trying to fool anybody. We don't go for photo-realistic digital humans. You can clearly see this is not a real person, but it's much more comfortable, much more engaging than a simple chatbot experience.”

How it works

The digital humans themselves are built with Epic Games’ Unreal Engine and MetaHuman Creator products. What does Sum Vivas do on top of that?

“We've built our own language model. We've built our own voice cloning software. We've built our own RAG system. So all the intelligence that sits behind that is proprietary to us,” says Sims.

Sims adds that the software can work with models from the likes of OpenAI and Google, but by controlling their own AI stack they get to keep a lock on future product development, and security aspects of the product.

Sims says he isn’t worried about the likes of Meta coming up with their own AI avatar products and he believes Sum Vivas can stand out as a standalone product for customer service and engagement purposes.

The story so far

Sims’ career history takes in roles in sales, marketing, and commercial development, followed by a number of leadership roles in the telecoms sector. He says that his focus on customer service and customer experience meant his interest was piqued by the opportunities presented by AI.

He’s been CEO of Sum Vivas since February last year.

The startup’s digital avatars are already in use in a number of locations. Sims says he can’t divulge them all, but they are in use with a team at the Liverpool One retail development. The digital human there is called Liv, and Sims says ‘she’ is used by customers and staff alike.

“We're also working with some very high profile retail brands that want to introduce digital humans as part of the customer experience, where customers come into stores and don't know where items are, so they're stopping human colleagues doing their duties to ask them.”

Sims says retailers are also interested in the avatars’ ability to upsell. A customer looking for product X could be informed of an offering on a complementary item, for example.

As it works to build up its customer base, Sum Vivas is taking part in the current run of the Baltic Ventures accelerator in Liverpool.