Cork singer Xaria to be the voice of cutting edge virtual therapist

A Cork singer and model is to be the voice and personality of a cutting edge AI app aimed at providing virtual therapy sessions through the Apple Vision Pro headset, an app devised by a leading California hospital.

Xaria Rose, who is based in Clonakilty and working in Sulán Studios in Baile Mhúirne, told The Echo that she had done the voice over for the AI therapist which was being developed by the Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles.

“It’s actually very interesting because a company based in Los Angeles, they work with Cedars-Sinai Hospital, it’s an AI app developed for mental health and it’s called Xaia which is very similar to my name,” said Xaria.

“It’s for the Apple Vision Pro, so it’s a virtual reality headset. Basically they recorded my voice and digitised it into an AI voice, it’s basically what they did for Siri’s (the Apple assistant) voice. It’d be an algorithm that they created from multiple studies they did on the what would be the most beneficial therapy in this instance.

“They sampled my voice — do you know in Star Trek - Next Generation, counsellor Troi played the role of therapist and they took those scripts and I basically enacted them as a therapist and that’s how they gave it the empathetic note in the voice.

“It’s been implemented and it’s actually available on Apple Vision Pro.”

Mental health

On the Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre website, the virtual therapist is introduced as Xaia, Cedars-Sinai eXtended-Reality Artificially Intelligent Ally.

“Cedars-Sinai clinicians and artificial intelligence experts have developed a new application that takes advantage of the unique capabilities of Apple Vision Pro to support patients’ mental health needs.”

The application is aimed at expanding access to mental health support for patients, furthering Cedar-Sinai’s mission to elevate the health of communities it serves in Los Angeles and beyond.

The Xaia application offers users an immersive therapy session led by a trained digital avatar, programmed to simulate a human therapist.

Gateway

“Apple Vision Pro offers a gateway into Xaia’s world of immersive, interactive behavioral health support — making strides that I can only describe as a quantum leap beyond previous technologies,” said Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS, professor of Medicine, director of Health Services Research at Cedars-Sinai and co-founder of the Xaia technology.

Xaria Rose, meanwhile, is busy with finishing an album of her own work, which she is recording demos of at home, but is looking at recording the final version in the Baile Mhúirne studio, where legendary musicians such as Donovan, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, Christy Moore, Crowded House and Mary Black have recorded in the past.

“I’m creating non-stop and I’m creating the album — it’s been a long time coming but I’m looking to release it in the coming year. It’s got world influences, it’s got folk influences as well,” said Xaria, describing the music which will feature on her album.