[Amazon’s Alexa Prize challenges AI experts to create a more natural (presence-evoking) social bot; the original, unabridged version of this long story from Wired describes the background, the competition process and results, and notes that Amazon has another Alexa Prize contest in 2018. –Matthew] INSIDE THE ALEXA PRIZE Amazon is in a pitched battle with its rivals to bring truly conversational AI into our homes. So the company is staging a contest—a mad dash toward an outlandish goal: Cook up a bot capable of small talk. James Vlahos February 27, 2018 The first interactor—a muscular man in his fifties with…

[As this story from The Next Web notes, Facebook’s new DensePose technology represents a new capability for altering the reality presented in video material. As always, the deception could logically have both positive and negative implications. See the original story for a second image and a 3:49 minute demo video. –Matthew] Facebook’s body-swapping AI has Hollywood written all over it By Tristan Greene February 7, 2018 If you thought DeepFakes, the AI that swaps celebrity faces into any video (like porn), was scary wait until you see what Facebook’s DensePose can do. Facebook’s AI research (FAIR) division last week revealed…

[This in depth discussion of the need for robots to act based on a system of ethical guidelines, how those guidelines should be constructed, whether robots can not only act but ‘be’ ethical, and how humans should ethically behave toward robots, is from the Desert News. See the original story for 21 more pictures and a 7-item survey about robot ethics. –Matthew] Personal robots are coming into your home. Will they share your family values? By Jennifer Graham February 14, 2018 HARTFORD, Conn. — When a Czech playwright coined the word “robot” in 1921, he described mechanical creatures that have…

[I believe presence is a powerful tool and that presence scholars and creators have a particular responsibility to consider, warn against, and work to prevent its use for unethical ends. Reminiscent of a Black Mirror story, this cautionary opinion column explores the potential of presence-evoking technology to subvert the mechanisms that prevent the most extreme forms of societal inequality. It was published in Bloomberg View. –Matthew] [Image: Enjoy. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg] Are You Poor? Here’s Your Virtual Hamster Cage Technology could erase the limits of inequality. By Cathy O’Neil February 21, 2018 What are the limits of inequality? In…

[First Airlines isn’t an airline at all but a clever use of presence-evoking technologies to simulate a flight and visit to vacation destinations. This story from tnooz includes a 4:33 minute video (in Japanese); Reuters has more details and another video (in English), and the Independent’s coverage highlights the founders’ insights about VR. –Matthew] For ‘First Airlines’ passengers, the journey is the VR destination Marisa Garcia February 16, 2018 This one’s a trip. Japanese airline-themed restaurant First Airlines, offers visitors a First class flying experience that includes a virtual reality immersive tour of Hawaii, New York, Paris or Rome.…

[Artist Rosalie Yu uses a variety of technologies to create presence experiences and her latest project involves different forms of virtual sweets. See the original version of this story from The Verge for many more images including an interactive 3D model, as well as a 2:52 minute 360 video (‘you’ enter a lemon tart at 2:00). Coverage in ALL3DP includes a version of the video that can be switched to full-screen, and you can see over 200 of the 3D models on the artist’s Sketchfab page. –Matthew] Rosalie Yu Turns her Sweet Tooth into a Virtual Reality Art Form In…