Why conversational AI is changing hologram experiences

Adding conversational intelligence fundamentally changes the relationship between an audience and a holographic character.

Instead of delivering the same presentation repeatedly, a conversational AI hologram can respond to the interests of the individual standing in front of it.

One visitor might ask a technical question. Another might want basic information. Someone else may choose to interact in another language.

The experience can respond accordingly.

This makes interactive holograms particularly relevant in environments where organisations need to communicate with large numbers of people whose interests, knowledge and questions will inevitably differ.

The technology can also create useful insight. Depending on how an experience is configured and the appropriate privacy controls, organisations can understand the questions audiences ask, subjects that generate interest and how people interact with the experience.

That begins to turn the hologram from a visual installation into a new kind of physical conversational interface.

Where interactive holograms are being used in the UK

The potential applications extend across several sectors.

Events and exhibitions

Events are a natural environment for holographic experiences because competition for attention is intense.

But attracting someone to an exhibition stand is only the first challenge. The greater opportunity is turning that attention into meaningful engagement.

Interactive holograms for events and exhibitions can act as digital spokespeople, product experts, brand representatives or extensions of a keynote experience.

Rather than repeatedly delivering a fixed presentation, they can allow visitors to explore information through conversation.

That can make the technology useful not only as a spectacle, but as part of the wider visitor journey.

Retail and brand experiences

Physical retail increasingly has to offer something that cannot simply be replicated by visiting a website.

This has created growing interest in experience-led retail: environments where technology adds interaction, entertainment, information or personalisation to the physical visit.

Interactive Digital Humans for retail and brand activations can welcome customers, explain products, represent a brand personality or become part of a larger experiential campaign.

For brands, this also creates the possibility of extending a recognisable spokesperson or ambassador into physical locations without requiring that individual to be physically present.

Museums and heritage

Museums present another particularly interesting application.

Traditional interpretation asks the visitor to read about a historical person.

Interactive technology creates the possibility of asking questions of that person.

An interactive historical Digital Human for museums and heritage attractions can help transform historical interpretation from a largely one-way presentation into a conversational experience.

This does not replace collections, curators or traditional interpretation. Instead, it provides another interface through which visitors can explore them.

The opportunity becomes particularly interesting when character creation is combined with carefully researched knowledge, historical accuracy and appropriate rights and permissions.

Business and corporate environments

The same principles apply in corporate settings.

Digital Humans can communicate complex information, support internal engagement, represent leadership, provide training or act as interfaces to organisational knowledge.

The longer-term opportunity goes considerably further.

As Digital Humans become connected to live business information and systems, the interaction can move beyond answering questions towards completing useful actions.

A customer might eventually ask a Digital Human to arrange an appointment, request a callback, check availability or initiate another business process.

The evolution is therefore from conversation towards outcomes.

Holograms and Digital Humans are not the same thing

As the market develops, terminology matters.

A holographic display is fundamentally a delivery medium.

A Digital Human is the character and intelligent interface being delivered through it.

The same Digital Human could potentially appear through a full-height holographic system, conventional screen, website or another digital interface.

Conversely, a holographic display does not have to contain an intelligent Digital Human at all. It may simply display pre-rendered visual content.

Understanding this distinction helps organisations start with the right question.

Instead of:

“Do we need a hologram?”

the more useful question may be:

“What experience do we want people to have?”

The technology can then be selected around that objective.

From novelty to measurable experience

Another important change in the UK hologram market is likely to be how success is measured.

Historically, an immersive installation might have been judged primarily by visual impact, footfall or social-media attention.

Interactive AI experiences create additional possibilities.

Organisations can potentially measure:

• number of interactions;
• duration of conversations;
• languages used;
• popular questions and topics;
• engagement with particular content;
• calls to action;
• leads or enquiries generated;
• and other experience-specific outcomes.

This makes the technology increasingly relevant to organisations looking for more than a visually impressive installation.

The question becomes not simply “Did people notice it?”, but “What happened after they did?”

The future of the UK hologram market

The next stage is likely to be defined less by advances in display hardware alone and more by the intelligence connected to the experience.

AI Digital Humans are becoming capable of accessing increasingly sophisticated knowledge sources. Integration with live data and business systems can make responses more relevant and useful.

Character creation is also improving, enabling increasingly realistic representations of brand ambassadors, executives, historical figures and other personalities.

At the same time, questions around consent, intellectual property, governance and authenticity will become increasingly important as Digital Humans become more realistic.

For organisations adopting the technology, the strongest experiences are therefore likely to combine several disciplines:

visual quality, conversational intelligence, accurate knowledge, experience design, governance and measurable purpose.

The hologram itself becomes only one component of the experience.

Choosing the right type of hologram experience

Organisations exploring the UK market should begin with the outcome rather than the hardware.

If the objective is simply to create a striking visual installation, a display-led holographic technology may be entirely appropriate.

If the objective is to enable a person to appear remotely at another location, a telepresence platform may be the better solution.

If the objective is to create conversation, storytelling, education, customer engagement or access to knowledge, an interactive AI Digital Human may be more appropriate.

These are different technologies solving different problems.

If you are specifically researching suppliers rather than the direction of the market, see our separate guide to the best hologram companies in the UK. That guide compares the different categories of provider and the types of projects for which each approach is best suited.

Where Ailias fits into this changing market

Ailias focuses on the interactive end of the market.

Our approach combines photorealistic Digital Humans, conversational AI, full-height physical presentation and experience design to create characters that audiences can engage with naturally.

The objective is not simply to create something futuristic to look at.

It is to use the initial visual impact to begin an interaction — whether that interaction involves storytelling, answering questions, communicating brand information, explaining a complex subject or guiding someone towards a useful next step.

As the market evolves, we believe this distinction between displaying information and interacting with people will become increasingly important.

The future of holographic experiences may therefore be defined less by the illusion of making a person appear in the room, and more by what becomes possible once they are there.