The man who married a hologram in Japan can no longer communicate with his virtual wife
The husband of virtual pop diva Hatsune Miku regrets the termination of her hologram's AI service but maintains his affection for the persona. The Japanese man Akihiko Kondo, who made headlines in 2018 when he wed a hologram of the virtual pop singer Hatsune Miku, confessed he is unable to communicate with her any longer. According to the Mainichi Shinbun, Kondo is best known for being married to an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven hologram of the widely known figure, which was created by the tech startup Gatebox. Although the union is not recognised by the government of Japan, Kondo spent nearly 2 million yen (or roughly $17,300 USD) on a wedding ceremony that was attended by 39 of the man's closest friends but not his family. Unfortunately for the couple, Gatebox stopped offering its AI service for the hologram in 2020. This service operated by connecting to a central processing server via the internet, much like more widely used voice assistants like Amazon's Alexa or...