[Aside from demonstrating how users of virtual assistants experience (social) presence, this piece from CNN Money illustrates some of the ethical issues creators of presence-evoking technology must face. –Matthew]

Even virtual assistants are sexually harassed

by Heather Kelly
February 5, 2016

All virtual assistants have to deal with inappropriate comments and questions. From seasoned vets like Siri and Google Now, to the rash of new specialists with names like Amy, Molly, Mia and Robin.

When Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) launched Cortana in 2014, a good chunk of early queries were about her sex life, according to Microsoft’s Deborah Harrison.

It turns out people feel very comfortable talking freely with text and voice assistants. Humanizing the bots with names, faked emotions, personalities and genders (mostly female) helps build trust with users.

A side effect of creating friendly female personalities is that people also want to talk dirty, confess their love, role play or bombard them with insults.… read more. “Even virtual assistants are sexually harassed”

[Hyperrealistic art can evoke intense and thought-provoking presence responses. This story from The Creators Project makes clear that some of the works can be quite unsettling (the original includes 16 images, I’ve purposely included only a mild example here). For more on this theme see the links at the end of this story and another recent piece in The Creators Project about the hyperrealistic paintings of Matt Story (“Unbelievable Realist Paintings of Women Underwater Look Like Photo”). –Matthew]

[Image: Cornered. By Marc Sijan]

Hyperrealistic Sculptures Blur the Line Between Clay and Flesh

By Anna Marks — Feb 4 2016

Victor Hugo once proclaimed, “Dear God! How beauty varies in nature and art. In a woman the flesh must be like marble; in a statue the marble must be like flesh.” He might as well have been talking about hyperrealistic sculpture.… read more. “Hyperrealistic sculptures that evokes intense and thought-provoking presence”

[This hasn’t gotten a lot of press coverage, but could be an important step toward more effective presence illusions. The story is from Engadget, which features a 0:13 minute demo video using the avatar pictured below; a second video using an animated robot is available on YouTube. More details from Oculus via Geeky Gadgets are included below. –Matthew]

[Image: From Geeky Gadgets]

Oculus wants to help VR avatars look normal when they talk

It’s all thanks to a clever Unity plugin

Chris Velazco
02.14.16

Remember all those Hong Kong kung-fu movies with really poor dubbing so the actors’ mouths would keep flapping after the words had stopped? That was charming. What’s less charming is the possibility of stone-faced avatars poorly mouthing dialogue, detracting ever so slightly from the immersive power of virtual reality worlds. That’s why we’re all slightly excited that Oculus released a beta Unity plugin called OVRLipSync.… read more. “Oculus wants to help VR avatars look normal when they talk”

[Here’s another sign that VR, because of its ability to evoke presence, is heading for the mainstream; this story is from Fast Company, where it features more images and two videos. –Matthew]

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit VR Couldn’t Be More “Intimate”

You can strap on a headset for the articles

Daniel Terdiman
February 15, 2016

Supermodel Hannah Davis is used to doing photo shoots with tons of people around, surrounded by crew members fixing her makeup, hair, and eyelashes and giving her all manner of direction about what to do while the camera clicks.

But when the 2015 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue cover model was on a beach in the Dominican Republic not too long ago, there was no one else to be seen. It was just her, the sand, and the waves. And an odd jumble of GoPros mounted on a pole.… read more. “Sports Illustrated Swimsuit VR couldn’t be more “intimate””

[Chatbots are increasingly capable of passing the Turing Test, with users not able to distinguish them from humans, but I find it particularly interesting that even when users are aware that they’re conversing with an AI they don’t care and still treat it as they would a human. This story is from Nautilus, where it includes other images. According to The Daily Dot, “There’s no English counterpart for Xiaoice yet, but if you speak Mandarin, you can test her out on this website.” –Matthew]

Your Next New Best Friend Might Be a Robot

Meet Xiaoice. She’s empathic, caring, and always available—just not human.

By Yongdong Wang, managing director of Applications & Services Group East Asia, Microsoft
February 4, 2016

One night in late July 2014, a journalist from the Chinese newspaper Southern Weekly interviewed a 17-year-old Chinese girl named Xiaoice (pronounced Shao-ice).… read more. “Meet Xiaoice. She’s empathic, caring, and always available – just not human”