Machado de Assis gains an AI avatar that answers whether Capitu betrayed Bentinho; see the answer

The Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL) opened last Tuesday (5) avatar of writer Machado de Assis He not only welcomes the public on guided tours of the organization’s headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, but also chats with visitors and answers questions, some quite controversial, about his life and work.

The project for the digital version of the first occupant of chair 23 at the ABL was developed through a partnership between the institution and Euvatar Storyliving, a Rio Grande do Sul company that uses artificial intelligence to create humanized avatars. In addition to modernizing the gym, The aim of the project is to encourage young viewers to read.

To digitally recreate the so-called “Bruxo do Cosme Velho”, It took more than three months to train the database, It consists mainly of the author’s own literary works and studies on him developed at ABL. According to the institution’s president, journalist Merval Pereira, the aim was to bring together the author’s literary style, personality and physical characteristics.

Ethnic-racial identity of Machado de Assis

Another thing that draws attention at first contact with the author’s avatar is this: your skin tone has been slightly whitened by Euvatar. According to the company’s founder, Flávia Peres, the image remains faithful to that adopted by the ABL.

But Machado’s avatar has no doubt about it. He answered a journalist’s question as follows: “As a black man from a poor background in 19th century Rio de Janeiro“I have faced challenges and prejudice over time because of my race, social class, and even health conditions such as epilepsy.”.

Controversial topics answered by Machado de Assis’s avatar

Among the most discussed topics regarding his work were those that the digital version of Machado de Assis should address. The problem that the author does not give a satisfactory place to the subject of slavery, A theme that permeated much of his life from 1839 to 1908.

The author’s avatar accepts the criticism, acknowledging the absence of theme in his work, and says: “As a black writer in a time haunted by prejudice and inequality, my work bears the traces of those of African descent and the struggles faced.” , trying to justify it.

But no point raises more questions than the doubt that remains in Dom Casmurro’s book: After all, did Capitu betray Bentinho or not? But the answer is somewhat evasive: “The suspicion about Capitu’s alleged betrayal is deliberate and invites the reader to reflect on the nature of Bentinho’s paranoia and the uncertainty of human relations. It is, therefore, a deliberately unsolved mystery”.