AI Character App “VPal” Releases Collaboration Characters with Star Voice Actors and Illustrators

Recreating everyday life with your favourite character through an AI conversation experience that goes beyond ChatGPT

Summary

VPal is an app for enjoying conversations with characters built on generative AI and large language model technology combined with 3DCG. Since its launch in April 2023 it has been used by more than 20,000 users.(*)
VPal features six AI characters with distinct personalities, and users can pick a favourite and chat with them. Beyond natural conversation, the appeal lies in the way the AI characters remember and understand the user, allowing a relationship to develop over time.
These collaborations with voice actors and illustrators further strengthen VPal’s core concept: recreating everyday life with the character you love.
(*) As of September 2024

Points

With the arrival of ChatGPT-3.5 in December 2022 and ChatGPT-4 in March 2023, natural conversation with a computer became possible. For users who want something to listen to their everyday worries and frustrations, however, and who look for comfort in dialogue, ChatGPT has a drawback: it lacks consistency and memory.
To make up for that, WOGO took on the challenge of building consistent AI characters by dynamically controlling a large language model through its own system. VPal was born out of that work: an all-out effort to give an AI a genuine personality.

This project also realised collaborations with several well-known creators: the voice actors Ayumu Murase, Shinnosuke Tachibana, and Yoko Hikasa. An AI character produced by the illustrator Mafuyu was released as well. Starting with chat-style replies, we have since released a voice conversation feature, so users can now talk out loud with original characters that have been given a voice.

Story

The proprietary solution behind VPal produces output in the relaxed, colloquial style of everyday conversation while also delivering
– consistent tastes, personality and speaking style
– simulation of emotions and of the relationship with the user
– awareness of the surrounding context, with the ability to act and reach out on its own initiative
making it possible to build far more engaging characters.
Building on Japan’s strength as a nation of characters, VPal is ahead of the world in creating technology that lets anyone spend time with the character they love.

We expect the use of this kind of technology to spread further across the entertainment and gaming markets.

Our aim is to deliver a wide range of experiences to users through the AI and 3D technology that are WOGO’s strengths, and to develop solutions that have never existed before by combining fresh ideas with that technology.

Message

WOGO Inc. is a team of engineers dedicated to developing next-generation technology and putting it to work in society. About 90% of our members are engineers, and our team brings together highly specialised talent including graduates of the Faculty of Information Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo. Each member has their own field of interest and technical specialty, and by combining that diverse knowledge we work to create new solutions.

Our 3D scanning technology is now being used more and more widely across industries including entertainment, civil engineering and manufacturing.

We are looking for corporate partners to build next-generation services with us, in consumer services and elsewhere, as well as colleagues to develop technology alongside us.

If you are at all interested, please do get in touch.