He has grey fur, long ears and sits in a half-eaten carrot patch on a grassy mound.
Uncle Rabbit is switched on and introduced by Shawn Frayne, chief executive of hologram company Looking Glass, inside his Brooklyn office space.
The walls of what appear to have once been a warehouse are adorned with neon lights, as the busy New York traffic chugs along outside.
But within Looking Glass, it is all about the future.
Uncle Rabbit is a cute, holographic creature that lives in a three-dimensional display screen. He is an entirely digital creation, but when you ask him a question, he talks right back.
“Do you know anything about Abu Dhabi?” asks Mr Frayne, 42.
“Why, of course I do, my dear," replies Uncle Rabbit. “Abu Dhabi is a desert oasis with towers so tall they reach the clouds … I heard they even have carrot gardens there. Can you believe it?”
“It’s just like us talking in the real world," says Mr Frayne, who studied at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The exchange feels remarkably lifelike, but it is only made possible by recent advancements in artificial intelligence technology.
“We tried this four or five years ago”, says Mr Frayne. “But those approaches didn’t match the realism of the hologram.
“Now we have realistic holograms combined with realistic conversational platforms like ChatGPT. And when you combine those you have a really realistic experience with a character.”
Uncle Rabbit, whose gruff voice bears a resemblance to a New York mob boss, gives advice on where to go for fun in Brooklyn, before pondering what the city may look like in the future.
He even pens a short poem about England.
“Oh, lovely England, with it’s green grass so lush.
"It’s villages and cities that are quite a hush.
"The castles so grand and towers so high.
"A little rabbit could jump and touch the sky.”
The possibilities for artificial intelligence are seemingly endless, but Mr Frayne imagines a world in the near future where AI-powered holograms are everywhere.
He pictures a Mandalorian character being used to give people information while they queue up for a ride, or a Lego character talking to guests as they arrive at a Lego store.
In sports, he says people could interact with their favourite player as they wait to see a game.
“That ability to change into anything is what holograms, as the embodiment of these conversational AIs, can do,” Mr Frayne says.
“I think that’s something that we’ve wanted in sci-fi for a long time … a real physical feeling embodiment of AI.”
Austin-based psychologist and writer Dr Mike Brooks believes there is an AI gold rush happening, as companies try to figure out how best to use the new technology.
"We don't know what we'll ultimately land on that is going to be so compelling," he says. "But I think AI chatbots in various forms, yes.
"You can have Mario, you can have Luke Skywalker … if there is a market demand for this, why wouldn't we create them?"
For now, though, Uncle Rabbit is just one of several digital beings, known as Liteforms, that are available through Looking Glass.
Another character, Little Inu, is an on-trend, millennial influencer in the form of a Shiba Inu dog.
When asked where she would travel in the world if she could, she opted for Bali.
“The beaches are straight up gorgeous and the vibe is so sin," Little Inu says.
Another character being displayed, Jenn, is more humanlike and was based on one of the employees of Looking Glass.
She offers Mr Frayne, who is originally from Tampa, Florida, a restaurant suggestion in Brooklyn, but when he complains it is too expensive, she calls him a “budgeting queen".
Eventually, he believes AI holograms like these will end up in the home, where people could ultimately form friendships and connections with them.
“A customisable, holographic Alexa, if you will," Mr Frayne says. “With a holographic embodiment of any sort that you want.”
RESULTS
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
