According to 404Media, a research institution affiliated with the United Nations has created two artificial intelligence virtual characters aimed at educating the public about the global refugee crisis.
This experiment was led by a class at the United Nations University Policy Research Center. The two AI agents or virtual characters are: Amina: a fictional woman who fled Sudan and lives in a refugee camp in Chad. Abdalla: a fictional soldier belonging to the Sudanese rapid support forces, a paramilitary group.
According to the idea, users were originally able to converse with Amina and Abdalla on the experimental website. However, it was reported that when users tried to register on Saturday afternoon, they received an error message.
Professor Eduardo Albrecht from Columbia University and Senior Researcher at the United Nations University Canada-Pacific Research Centre revealed that he and his students "were just playing with the concept," and this experiment was not presented as an official solution of the United Nations.
A paper summarizing this study pointed out that these virtual characters could eventually be used to "quickly present cases to donors." However, the paper also mentioned that many participants in workshops interacting with these virtual characters gave negative feedback, such as the opinion that refugees "are very good at speaking for themselves in real life."