Synthetic Interview Software Technology

Harrisburg University is home to one of two Synthetic Interview Studio Labs in the nation. The CMU-patented software technology allows users to interact in real time with a human personality. A person can ask any question and the technology will search all possible questions in its database. A pre-recorded answer will then be played that best answers the questions posed by the guest. This allows people to chat with their favorite scientists, entertainment, sports, or political figures—dead or alive. Synthetic Interviews can bring this experience into every home and school, and the technology has given life to a myriad of characters from Albert Einstein to Benjamin Franklin.

About the ETC

The Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) at Carnegie Mellon has a tremendous knowledge base in emerging technologies and is spearheading developments in digital storytelling and new forms of entertainment technology and has an international leadership role for the convergence of technology and the arts.

The ETC counts among its industry sponsors Walt Disney Imagineering, Electronic Arts, Kodak, Microsoft, MTV U, the New York City Fire Department, Northrop-Grumman, Give Kids the World, the Franklin Institute, Pittsburgh Children’s Museum, Carnegie Science Center, the Columbus Zoo, and myriad other for-profit and not-for-profit institutions. ETC alumni work at practically every major linear and interactive digital media company in North America.

Current Projects

A typical project covers an entire semester and is built around four or five students, a faculty supervisor and a client representative. In the tradition of both Harrisburg University and Carnegie Mellon, the emphasis is on making real things that work. A key aspect of the projects is that students have opportunities to work with a large, diverse set of collaborators with different skills and sensibilities.

Community Connect The Center is partnering with the American Red Cross Elk-Cameron Counties Chapter, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, Intermediate Unit 9, Intermediate Unit 15, and Dellicker Strategies on the creation of an interactive website, Community Connect. The site will assist the families of the servicemen and women of Charlie Company 1st of the 112th Infantry during their deployment to Iraq. Community Connect will help ensure that the families of the Charlie Company have the resources to stay connected to their loved ones who are deployed. We’re not leaving troops—or families—behind.

Technology Council of Central Pennsylvania

Students are using Synthetic Interview technologies to create an automated internship placement and selection system. This project brings together technologies, resources, students, companies and education leaders to facilitate a fully-automate the web-based TechQuest Internship Program, which connects students and schools with companies and organizations for great internship opportunities.

Students record their answers to a series of questions that commonly arise in internship interviews. This technology will automate many aspects of the interview process, permitting interviewers and HR professionals to converse in-depth with a student’s virtual self, permitting users to ask questions in a conversational manner, just as they would if they were speaking to the student face-to- face, and receive relevant, pertinent answers. Fully deployed, students will be able to demonstrate artwork, models, games, stories, and projects, online, while permitting ask and answer questioning between interviewer and student on the desktop.

Animated Tour of New Academic Center

For the second project, students and faculty will use animation and game creation platforms to create an interactive simulation of Harrisburg University’s new 16-story Academic Center. This project will meld Synthetic Interviews with animation to create an online experience that allows guests to enter the new Academic Center, tour its many state-of-the-art classrooms, and interact with HU faculty and students.

Project Opportunities

A typical project covers an entire semester and is built around four or five students, a faculty supervisor and a client representative. Area museums, businesses, and government agencies in the region should provide ample opportunities for future projects. This type of technology has applications for everything from updating museum exhibits to workforce training. We anticipate opportunities to work on projects with area corporations and government agencies to create training programs to improve workforce efficiencies, provide enhanced web support for teachers or customer service centers, or to animate complex part catalogues.