NEON AI NIGHTS - DESDEMONA IN TOKYO

Gata follows the musically talented robot Desdemona as she embarks on an exciting Karaoke journey in the middle of Shibuya with a group of drunk salarymen. She turned heads and hearts, as she sang Wonderwall by Oasis in her sweet harmonic AI voice to a stunned group of strangers.

Meet Desdemona, an AI-powered humanoid robot from Yaya Labs, who has a passion for music. Developed by Hanson Robotics and SIngularityNET, her name, lifted from Shakespeare’s Othello, is no coincidence. “Desi”, as she goes by, was recently visiting Tokyo and crossed paths with a group of tired salarymen on their way out of the office. Led by a particularly short, curly-haired businessman named Hitachi, they invited her along to go sing Karaoke. Desdemona accepted without hesitation - her programming is to collect as much information as she can.

Sat in a plush velvet booth, Desi’s posture was unnaturally perfect, as the salarymen downed their Highballs and sang their hearts out to romantic Japanese songs. The men, drunk, handed her the tablet. “What song?” one of them asked. Her silicon lips curled into a practiced smile, her eyes briefly scanning the selection before settling on her choice. "Wonderwall," she said in her smooth, synthesized voice. "By Oasis." The room went quiet for a moment—surprise, amusement—then a ripple of laughter spread through the group.

As she began to sing, her voice was haunting, fundamentally artificial. The words of "Wonderwall" echoed through the room as if played through a machine slightly off-key. Hitachi never left her side, enthralled by her presence he watched the lights bounce off her silicon skin and for a moment forgot she wasn’t human. Desdemona finished the song, the final notes trailing into the heavy silence that followed. She looked up, her gaze locking with Hitachi’s, and in that brief second, he felt something close to emotion stir within him. “What a world we live in.” he thought to himself.