[This story from The Washington Post summarizes the evolution of robots for the home and how it’s leading to social robots that evoke medium-as-social-actor presence and become our “emotional companions.” See the original version for three more images and links to related stories. –Matthew]

[Image: Credit: Illustration by Andrew Nye for The Washington Post]

The next generation of home robots will be more capable — and perhaps more social

Tech titans and upstarts alike are working to deepen our relationships with their robots

By Chris Velazco
November 10, 2021

Wander around any big-box electronics store long enough and you may eventually stumble over a handful of domestic robots designed to tidy up after you. They’re probably somewhere near the refrigerators and the washers and dryers, waiting for you to introduce them to a mess.

That’s not exactly the future that decades of speculative fiction foretold.… read more. “MASA at home: Tech titans and upstarts are working to deepen our relationships with their robots”

[This CNN story about a more physically and psychologically realistic virtual influencer named Angie raises interesting questions about the appeals of and reactions to the interactive artificial humans increasingly being used to market products. For example, it says that “[d]espite knowing she’s not real, many of Angie’s followers eagerly tell her about their day in two group chats on Douyin” and a millennial follower is quoted saying “The reason why I like her is that Angie is more realistic than many people who are actually real.” In a new story in RADII that includes more details about Angie and her creator, the author writes this:

“[A]lmost invariably, virtual influencers are admittedly aware of their essence and do not try to fool their audiences into believing they exist in the flesh. To begin, that would be considered marketing fraud. But there’s also the fact that their virtual nature is their inherent allure.… read more. “This ‘imperfect’ virtual influencer is challenging beauty standards in China”

[A press release from Verizon reports some interesting findings related to medium-as-social-actor (and actor within medium) presence in the context of customer service. For much more information follow one of the links to the whitepaper below. –Matthew]

What makes a digital connection human is changing, global study finds

November 9, 2021

Media contact(s):
Erin Cheever
erin.dowling@verizon.com

What you need to know:

• New Longitude survey of over 5,600 people across 16 countries highlights acceptance of automated machines is growing among consumers, but transparency is key
• As Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbots and other intelligent tools take on more human-like attributes, human involvement in digital interactions between consumers and brands is becoming less important
• [snip]

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Verizon Business today released findings from its Human Connection Survey, conducted by Longitude. With responses from more than 5,600 consumers globally, the data shows that while the option to interact with a human is still essential, blended interactions—offering both AI and human support—are as or more satisfying to consumers than human-only interactions when it comes to customer service.… read more. “What makes a digital connection human is changing, global study finds”

[The opinions in the Big Think story below by an augmented reality pioneer highlight the promise and especially the peril of the presence-evoking technology. See also “Hey, Facebook, I Made a Metaverse 27 Years Ago. It was terrible then, and it’s terrible now.” by Ethan Zuckerman in The Atlantic; here are the last three paragraphs:

“Facebook can claim originality in at least one thing. Its combination of scale and irresponsibility has unleashed a set of diverse and fascinating sociopolitical challenges that it will take lawmakers, scholars, and activists at least a generation to fix. If Facebook has learned anything from 17 years of avoiding mediating those conflicts, it’s not apparent from the vision for the metaverse, where the power of human connection is celebrated as uncritically as it was before Macedonian fake-news brokers worked to sway the 2016 election.

How will a company that can block only 6 percent of Arabic-language hate content deal with dangerous speech when it’s worn on an avatar’s T-shirt or revealed at the end of a virtual fireworks display?… read more. “Metaverse: Augmented reality inventor warns it could be far worse than social media”

[This story from IBC describes the process a group of technology experts and musicians used to create a series of live, high definition audio and video performances in the challenging genre of jazz across three cities; it seems likely that such distributed live music performance experiences that allow artists and audience members to overlook the role of technology will become common in the future. See the original story for more pictures. –Matthew]

How Blue Note Used Networked AV for Distanced Jazz Concerts

Thanks to the efforts of a close-knit technology partnership, jazz musicians in three US locations were able to play together seamlessly at a series of recent gigs.

By David Davies
26 October 2021

Currently marking the 40th anniversary of the opening of its first Blue Note jazz club in New York’s Greenwich Village, the Blue Note Entertainment Group (BNEG) is synonymous with live jazz around the world, operating or licensing venues in countries including Brazil, China, Italy and Japan.… read more. “How Blue Note used networked AV for low-latency high-definition distanced jazz concerts”