Nvidia has launched a beta version of Eye Contact. That AI application ensures that you always maintain eye contact with the person on the other side of the screen during a video call.
During video calls, it is often noticeable that there is little to no eye contact between participants. Simply because constantly looking into the camera is practically impossible. That’s where Nvidia has now found a solution. The AI-powered Eye Contact ensures that the interaction is always there. And by always, we really mean always. Just that makes the application particularly uncomfortable for anyone who has already been able to test the program.
Virtual effects
Nvidia is strengthening its Broadcast 1.4 program with the application. The livestreaming and videoconferencing tool turns any room into a home studio. “To further enhance the effect, we have added two effects, Eye Contact and Vignette,” Nvidia writes on its website. More than 20 partners have already added effects to Broadcast, which comes pre-installed on Acer, Asus and other Lenovo laptops, among others.
“A Vignette effect, similar to apps like Instagram, is integrated into Broadcast. Users can combine it with a subtle background blur effect to get an AI-simulated bokeh image on the webcam. This immediately improves the visual quality,” Nvidia said. The company reports that both Eye Contact and Vignette were added at the request of the community.
Hoong laughter
To achieve the eye contact effect, Eye Contact replaces your eyes in the video with a pair of software-controlled and simulated eyeballs. As a result, these always stare straight into the camera, even when you are actually looking at something else. The application literally copies everything from eye color to the moment you blink. With the feature, Nvidia is far from inventing hot water. In 2019, the application in FaceTime already received the requisite jeers.
That fate now appears to be the part of Eye Contact as well. In a post on Twitter, one The D-Pad put it this way, “I too have always wanted streamers to maintain a frightening level of uninterrupted eye contact while reading text that is clearly not displayed in their webcam.”
Former news anchor Scott Baker also doesn’t think the application is very successful. “This is not the right way to get more interaction with the interlocutor,” he told Arstechnica. To obtain effective communication, eye contact should just be broken at regular intervals. The power of eye contact has often been studied. When a person looks into someone’s eyes for more than seven to 10 seconds, it is considered uncomfortable and even unpleasant. The same goes for eye contact at a dinner party, in a group conversation and through a camera.”
