Sushi with Einstein: Enhancing Hybrid Live Events with LLM-Based Virtual Humans

It is becoming increasingly easier to set up multi-user virtual reality sessions, and these can become viable alternatives to video conference in events such as international conferences. Moreover, it is possible to enhance such events with automated virtual humans, who may participate in the discussion. This paper presents the behind-the-scenes work of a panel session titled “Is virtual reality genuine reality?”, which was held during a physical symposium, "XR for the people," in June 2022. The panel featured a virtual Albert Einstein, based on a large language model (LLM), as a panelist, alongside three international experts having a live conference panel discussion. The VR discussion was broadcast live on stage, and a moderator was able to communicate with both the live audience, the virtual world participants, and the virtual agent (Einstein). We provide lessons learned from the implementation and from the live production, and discuss the potential and pitfalls of using LLM-based virtual humans for multi-user VR in live hybrid events.