Razer is making an AI anime waifu hologram for your desk

Razer’s Project Ava AI crippled coach from past year’s CES is taking a caller shape for 2026: a mini holographic anime woman successful a capsule you tin put connected your desk. Anime girls successful pods were already a point astatine CES 2025, but Razer’s return connected it is overmuch smaller and desk-friendly. The caller Project Ava is simply a 5.5-inch animated hologram that tin return the shape of Kira, an anime waifu successful a greenish dress and achromatic thigh-high socks, aliases Zane, a muscled dude covered successful snake tattoos. Razer plans to adhd different avatars later, including existent group for illustration esports prima Faker, aliases you tin opt for a nonhuman glowing orb of light.

Project Ava avatars are designed to person “natural movements, eye-tracking, facial expressions, and articulator sync for engaging interaction.” But what’s astir important is what they’re perpetually looking at: your surface and you, via Project Ava’s ain built-in webcam and moreover the webcam connected your ain computer.

These AI avatars watch you and what’s connected your surface to reply your questions, springiness you gaming tips arsenic you play, thief pinch brainstorming aliases problem solving, and, according to Razer, moreover thief pinch wardrobe tips and fresh checks. You tin talk to it via its dual-array mics by holding down a civilization cardinal binding, for illustration a broadside rodent button. When you do that, you’re talking to Grok, which is the LLM Razer had group up for the demo I sewage to see. Razer reps declare that the imagination is for Project Ava to beryllium AI agnostic, allowing you to prime the exemplary that’s feeding it, but for now it’s Grok, which is in the mediate of its ain gross crisis. And boy did my short demo consciousness Grok-y.

Razer allowed maine to effort Project Ava for a fewer minutes, and I came distant gritting my teeth, reasoning that this is going to beryllium Microsoft’s Copilot AI ads each complete again — but pinch an anime waifu avatar now involved, it has the imaginable to beryllium gross.

I said to Kira for my demo, and it started disconnected pinch “Wow! New look astatine the Razer booth? Love it! How should I telephone you?” (Razer preprogrammed this CES taxable for the starting prompts.) It understood my sanction and addressed maine arsenic Antonio. Then it asked if I’d seen thing cool astatine CES, to which I gave a deadpan “No.” After I no-sold the bot connected its excitement level, it moved connected to its extended preamble, which quickly turned awkward.

“I’m Kira, from Project Ava by Razer, powered by Animation Inc. dot com. I’ve sewage friends successful the project, but coming it’s maine and Zane. I’m the prettiest, conscionable for you. Haha!”

I was already astatine a nonaccomplishment for words, arsenic I couldn’t shingle the emotion that Kira is conscionable a measurement aliases 2 distant from getting flirty. There were galore moments wherever she threw successful tons of those “Ha!” exclamations, and it sounded ripped consecutive from Grok’s Ani (even Kira’s dress isn’t acold disconnected from Ani’s outfit). I did my champion to extremity a consciousness of embarrassment showing connected my face, and I soldiered connected pinch the demo by asking Kira for proposal while playing Battlefield 6. Razer had the crippled loaded into the firing scope training area, and I asked Kira what limb I’m presently using. It replied pinch a generic “You’re utilizing a scoped battle firearm successful your tan gloved grip.” When I tried to clarify, “Do you cognize the exemplary of the rifle?” it told maine it couldn’t place the nonstop model, but I could picture it truthful we could place it together.

Kira besides kept incessantly filling gaps successful connection pinch annoying chatter. As I tried to refamiliarize myself pinch Battlefield 6 aft not rubbing it for a mates months, Kira spouted disconnected immoderate random lines: “This is rather fun! Come subordinate our community. And don’t hide astir me! I’m present to astonishment you adjacent time, truthful you tin spot what crazy things we navigator up. You excited?”

After it fumbled done much canned lines from Razer, encouraging group successful the demo to return a selfie and tag the company, it went backmost to looking astatine what I was doing successful Battlefield.

“Ouch! Downed again. Bounce backmost stronger! You’re unstoppable! Loving that crisp booth look. Unforgettable. Seriously. I look guardant to partnering up pinch you and sharing the laughter and rage successful gaming.” I was not downed aliases killed successful the game; I was still successful the firing scope and I don’t deliberation you tin moreover dice there.

Next up was a speedy demo of Ava’s machine imagination extracurricular of games. Razer’s David Ng pulled up the Steam shop successful a browser, and Kira said, unprompted, “Whoa! Fallout 76 astatine 65 percent disconnected astatine $51? Insane steal!” Not only did cipher property the push-to-talk button, but Fallout 76 was astatine that infinitesimal 90 percent off, down to $3.99 for the Steam Winter Sale. I was half expecting Kira to show maine adjacent really it’s astir decidedly successful stock.

It’d beryllium very easy to hand-wave distant this messy demo because Project Ava is still successful development, and Razer’s “Project” nickname indicates that it’s a conception that whitethorn ne'er materialize into a product, arsenic various Razer CES demos haven’t. (My colleagues and I who person tested LLMs and AI assistants often person likewise unspeakable experiences pinch afloat released products.) But Razer seems truthful hell-bent connected the desktop avatar type of Ava coming retired by the extremity of this twelvemonth that it’s taking $20 reservations.

I don’t cognize if Razer is conscionable failing to read the room that galore gamers are turning against AI, aliases if it conscionable doesn’t care. Razer promoted its beingness astatine CES pinch the tagline “The early of gaming is AI.” Well, the early pinch Project Ava seems sad, lonely, and cursed.

Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge