Need Help? At New York Airports, You'll Soon Ask an Avatar

 By 
Sarah Kessler
 on 
Need Help? At New York Airports, You'll Soon Ask an Avatar
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In other words, she's North America's first avatar airport customer service representative.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey unveiled the virtual assistant Tuesday morning. It works by projecting video from a human spokesperson onto a life-size cutout of a woman.

In early July, the hologram-like gadget will be installed in terminals at Newark Liberty, LaGuardia and JFK airports. New York City airports handled a combined 106 million passenger-trips last year.

"I never take a break, don't charge overtime, hardly ever take a sick day and I don't need a background check," says the avatar in a promotional video from the company who created her, Arius Media.

Each avatar costs about $250,000, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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