Sophia Chatbot
D-ID, an AI-driven creative media startup, and Spring ACT, an award-winning non-profit organization that leverages technology to eliminate global injustices, are backing a campaign to use Generative AI to strengthen global online support for victims of domestic violence. Leveraging D-ID’s technology, Spring ACT will bring its untraceable online domestic violence chatbot, Sophia, to life – animating the photorealistic interactive avatar to make it more accessible to populations of all literacy and resource backgrounds by enabling victims from anywhere in the world to actually talk, not just chat, with her in 13 languages. Through its Philanthropies program, Microsoft is supporting the Sophia campaign, which leverages Azure AI’s text-to-speech capabilities and Microsoft Azure AI cloud infrastructure.
“One in three women worldwide, approximately 736 million people, are subjected to physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, with about 50,000 women killed annually by their partners or family members,” said Adriana Quinones, Director a.i., UN Women Liaison Office, Geneva. “UNWomen is inspired by this global collaboration/initiative created to combat the worldwide shortage in governmental and NGO resources and to rectify the lack of knowledge and trust on the part of the victims. We are confident that the Sofia chatbot will result in the ability to reach and help more survivors globally.”
Sophia chatbot assists victims of domestic violence 24/7, no matter where they are located and in strict confidentiality to feel safe and confident enough to take the first steps to get help. The system uniquely enables complete anonymity by leaving no digital trace whatsoever for abusers to discover. Based on their specific needs, “Sophia” helps victims to gather potential evidence and seek help in 222 countries. Since December 2021, more than 10,000 people have chatted with Sophia.
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“Sophia chatbot was designed to empower victims in abusive relationships to more easily reach out for help and guidance, and to encourage them to take action,” said Rhiana Spring, CEO at Spring ACT. “We are humbled to be able to make it more accessible for survivors of domestic violence by partnering with D-ID to animate Sophia chat and make her more relatable and engaging”
“We are proud to be collaborating with Spring ACT to help Sophia reach more victims of domestic violence more effectively,” said Shiran Mlamdovsky Somech, VP Impact at D-ID. “Applying technology to improve life for vulnerable populations is at the core of D-ID’s values. Sophia is an excellent example of how Generative AI can massively impact society for the better.”
“At Microsoft we believe technology is a powerful force for good and everyone should have access to knowledge and benefits from its use”, said Andrew Reid, Global Partner Solutions Director, Microsoft Switzerland. “Domestic violence is a global issue which crosses countries and languages. Leveraging our technology to empower and support survivors of domestic violence demonstrates the strength and power of collaboration and community. We are very pleased to be behind this important initiative together with D-ID and Spring ACT.”
D-ID is a world leader in AI-driven generative technology whose work has already created more than 100 million videos. Its technology has been used in several social impact drives including a campaign which saw D-ID bring five diverse Israeli women, who tragically lost their lives to domestic violence, “back to life” by animating and dubbing their still photos using D-ID’s Speaking Portrait technology. The company’s technology has also been used for a French AIDS awareness campaign and a Missing Persons billboard campaign in the UK.
D-ID recently released its self-service platform called Creative RealityTM Studio, which enables businesses and creators to generate photorealistic digital presenters from text, to make presenter-led content and create personalized videos and presentations for training, sales, marketing, social content and more, at the click of a button.
Last year D-ID unleashed the viral sensation Deep Nostalgia, which took over Twitter and TikTok for weeks, as millions of people used the tool to bring photos of ancestors and historic figures to life within the MyHeritage app. It was the #1 app on the Apple App Store for weeks around the world.
