People Have A Crush On This Airline’s AI-Flight Attendant

This January, Qatar Airways introduced the world to Sama, its new AI-powered flight attendant who works for the airline promoting destinations and events through Instagram posts of her virtual flight-attendant lifestyle.

While Sama only exists in a virtual world, her hyper-realistic posts have helped her gain over 300,000 followers on the social media platform, including many ardent admirers.

“You Have A Beautiful Smile”: Sama’s Uncanny Valley Looks Get Lots Of Praise

Many of Sama’s posts get comments expressing love and admiration for her AI-generated beauty. Her comments are overflowing with heart and fire emoticons. “You have a beautiful smile that makes you even more beautiful,” one commenter wrote on one of Sama’s earliest posts—a video of her dancing and ringing in the New Year.

“Oh you’re killing me your face looking like a queen,” another commenter writes on a post showing Sama enjoying a virtual high-tea in London.

On a video post promoting Sama’s virtual aircraft tours, a commenter writes, “For me you are the most beautiful young flight attendant in the whole world.”

A commenter on an image of Sama sitting in a coffee shop ahead of the Formula 1 race, writes, “So beautiful nice picture.” He adds five red rose emoticons.

On a short video Sama is sleeping on a Qatar Airways aircraft and awakened by a cabin call bell, then going right back to sleep with a smile because she’s flying as a passenger. The post explains, “I’m a Qatar Airways cabin crew, of course answering the call bell is second nature, even on my days off!” A fan replies, “I would suggest earplugs!! You are gorgeous!!!”

These are only a few. Sama’s posts have many comments praising her beauty.

“She is AIsian”: People Really Want To Get To Know Sama Better

On a Valentine’s Day post, a curious admirer gets more personal, asking Sama, “What is your nationality?” To which a helpful commenter replies, “She is AIsian.”

That confusion is at the heart of what makes Sama an ‘uncanny valley’ airline marketing tool. Qatar Airways clearly identifies Sama in her Instagram bio as “Virtual Cabin Crew” but the AI generates a charming, personable, casual tone in her writing that makes her sound authentic. Adding to the illusion, while some of her physical representations are clearly AI-generated, most images and videos posted by Sama could easily fool the eye.

This combination lures many into thinking this is a genuine, living person having the best flight attendant life ever. That’s easy enough to believe as Sama gets to fly with no tired feet, no stressed-out passengers to keep happy, no in-flight turbulence and no emergency landings to manage.

Qatar Airways’ Sama Goes From Social AI To Business

While she has never actually been on an aircraft, or anywhere in the real world, Sama is also employed by Qatar Airways as a booking tool. Through her chat-function, travelers can share details of their plans and Sama will generate a tailored itinerary that meets their needs.

To avoid the perils of other airline AI-powered chatbots, Qatar warns users: “Sama can make mistakes. Consider checking important information.” That is good advice as, cute or not, AI Sama can hallucinate.

Her physical representation in the booking tool is less realistic than on her social media account. The fact that she’s floating on a black background also helps to break the spell. Still, Sama breathes, blinks and moves her head as she waits for a prompt to get her going.

It’s the Instagram account that has some people truly enthralled. A cheeky commenter responds to Sama’s shot in a white coat during a visit to Milan, “Who gave you permission to break the internet with this picture?”

Sama may not have broken the internet yet, but she is breaking down reality. The virtual flight attendant is an interesting experiment in AI airline applications, proving that AI can win hearts and possibly minds too.