LG introduces virtual human 'Reah Keem' at CES 2021

SEOUL -- A lady in her 20s, wearing a pink hoodie with the slogan "Stay Punk Forever", appeared during LG Electronics' online Consumer Electronics Show keynote event on January 11. Speaking in English, "Reah Keem" introduced herself as a songwriter and DJ. 

Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which was annually held in Las Vegas, went online in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some 2,000 companies including AI and internet of things (IoT) developers participated in the world's top electronics exhibition to present audience a glimpse of innovative changes the future would bring. The online exhibition ends on January 14.

Reah, a virtual human, played a vital role in LG's keynote session by promoting the company's products such as a laptop and an autonomous robot. The 23-year-old singer who has a social media account with more than 5,000 followers is the brainchild of LG that seeks to provide new forms of content creation for global content creators.

The South Korean tech company said earlier this month that AI-based cross reality (XR) technologies encompassing a wide spectrum of hardware and software to enable content creation for virtual reality, mixed reality and cinematic reality, is leading the new global trend that is impacted by the pandemic.

Because many people are staying at their homes to prevent the spread of the infectious disease, they consume more content. Over-the-top services such as Netflix and social media service YouTube became extremely popular. Some choose such channels to communicate with each other and ease the feeling of loneliness.

Other than LG's virtual human, other innovative technologies are to be unveiled at CES. LG and Samsung Electronics will both showcase mini light-emitting diode (mini LED) TVs that are capable of displaying vibrant colors and images with stunning quality. Through its first virtual keynote event, LG showcased a monitor featuring a bendable organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display.