In the race to build smarter large language models, most of the focus has been on building better brains. OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI are all pushing the limits of reasoning, memory, and intelligence. But there’s a missing piece: the interface. LLMs today are disembodied. You can talk to them, but you can’t feel or see them. They don’t have a face, a voice, or a presence. That’s a problem.

As we move into a world driven by spatial computing, immersive environments, and AI companionship, intelligence alone isn’t enough. The future of AI requires emotional depth. It needs to feel human. It needs to show up in the digital world the same way people do, with identity, personality, and memory. At Genies, this has been our belief from the start. We’re not here to build a better brain. We’re building the body and the soul.

When Elon introduced a goth anime girl companion for Grok, it lit up the internet. Some laughed, some were confused, but to us, it was confirmation. A stylized, interactive AI persona isn’t a joke. It’s proof that people are hungry for more emotionally expressive, visually embodied AI. Grok’s goth look might be provocative, but it taps into something real. People connect with faces. They remember personalities. We don’t form relationships with plain text. We form relationships with beings that feel alive.

This is why we’ve spent years building the visual identity layer for AI. Our Smart Avatar Framework will soon be integrated directly into Unity, making Genies the first third-party AI companion system natively available in the editor. That means developers, creators, and brands can build intelligent, fully embodied avatars directly into immersive experiences. These avatars don’t just have visual appeal. They move, act, speak, and remember. They evolve with the user. They don’t break character. They live inside the world you’re building.

We’re giving AI the ability to exist outside of a text box. To have emotion, expression, and memory. To form real relationships. We believe this is the next major leap for LLMs. People don’t just want answers anymore. They want presence. They want AI that can feel like a friend, a collaborator, or a guide. And presence doesn’t come from text. It comes from embodiment.

The potential here touches every corner of culture and technology. In gaming, it means NPCs that grow with players and remember your choices. In entertainment, it means IP that fans can talk to and build with. In self-expression, it means your own intelligent alter ego that moves across digital spaces with you. And in education, mental health, productivity, and beyond, it means AI that adapts to you emotionally as well as intellectually.

These aren’t just ideas. They’re already happening. Our work with Unity will make it easier than ever for developers to bring Smart Avatars into their workflows. Our login infrastructure ensures your avatar can persist across apps, games, and worlds. And our system is built to support both branded IP and personal user expression at scale.

We’re not trying to replace the OpenAI, Anthropic, or xAI models that power the brains. What we’re doing is completing them. The smartest AI in the world still falls flat if it doesn’t have presence. The next chapter of AI is not just about what it can say. It’s about how it shows up. How it looks. How it feels to be around. And how it makes people feel. Spatially aware AI is also key for the future. As AI moves off the screen with XR advancements and into the world, into glasses, headsets, and ambient devices, its intelligence must be matched with presence, emotionally and physically.

This isn’t just a race for better models; it’s a race for more human interfaces. AI needs to understand context, body language, tone, and shared space. That’s the shift we’re building for. We believe that every AI will eventually need a visual and behavioral identity layer. Something that makes it feel less like a tool and more like a being. Something that invites users in, emotionally. Something that lives with them, not just talks to them.

The new phase of AI is one where intelligence meets identity. Where behavior and presence matter just as much as raw capability. And where avatars become the default interface for how we meet and engage with artificial intelligence. Grok’s goth anime is a proofpoint. It shows that people are ready for AI that’s more than just text. 

Why Our Recent Unity Partnership Matters 

Last week we announced a major step toward bringing emotionally intelligent AI companions into fully immersive games with a Unity integration partnership. By integrating our Smart Avatar Framework directly into the Unity Editor, Genies unlock the ability for developers to embed expressive, memory-enabled AI personas into games and digital environments at scale. Just like Grok’s goth anime girl hints at the future of relatable, stylized AI, our Unity tools will turn that vision into reality, giving LLMs a persistent body, behavior, and personality inside the platforms where people play, explore, and connect.

Stay tuned for updates, and if you’re a developer eager to learn more, visit our tech page or apply for our beta access community.