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Can a bot named Sam help citizen scientists save our seas?
With his furrowed brow and direct gaze, Sam pauses thoughtfully before answering a seemingly innocent question: “Why do you care about marine litter?”
“Good question. I care because the people who created me, the men and women of UNEP, IBM, Soul Machines and our member and state partners care about the oceans and our future. Solving the issue of marine litter is vital to the oceans and our planet.
“The real question to ask is: Do you care?”
It’s a provocative question—and all the more so because it’s coming from a virtual human.
Indeed, Sam is provocative by design, explains his creator, Richard Darden, a distinguished engineer and digital human evangelist at IBM. Sam’s sole purpose, when peering out from behind a computer or smartphone screen, is to help humans solve a problem they helped create.