[Disney is experimenting with a new use of augmented reality to engage viewers in stories by evoking spatial presence, as described in this story from TechCrunch. The story also mentions related uses of AR by entertainment companies. See the original version for three more images and disney.com/remembering for more information, videos and images. –Matthew]

Disney+ releases its first AR-enabled short film, ‘Remembering,’ starring Brie Larson

By Lauren Forristal
September 8, 2022

Today is Disney+ Day, and, as part of its perks, the company is offering Disney+ subscribers a new AR experience in conjunction with the short film “Remembering,” starring and produced by “Captain Marvel” Brie Larson and directed and written by filmmaker Elijah Allan-Blitz. The eight-minute-long movie features a companion augmented reality app that allows users to scan their TV with an iOS device to watch an extension of the movie on the small screen.… read more. “Disney+ releases its first AR-enabled short film, ‘Remembering,’ starring Brie Larson”

[We’re used to watching movies and TV shows on high-definition screens and understanding but not consciously acknowledging (except perhaps during the credits) that large groups of people with a wide variety of specialized skills worked for months or years and spent large to huge amounts of money and used sophisticated, specialized technologies to construct every element of our (presence) experience. But a new project described in this story from PC Magazine suggests that in the future “everyone” will be able to merely describe their vision of a movie’s form and content to an AI-based technology that will then create the film, producing an unlimited number of presence experiences in which the role of the technology is even more opaque and less likely to be understood or acknowledged. See the original story for three videos embedded from Twitter. –Matthew]

The Footage in This Sci-Fi Movie Project Comes From AI-Generated Images

A tech entrepreneur is using images from AI-based programs including Midjourney to unlock the storytelling.… read more. “Future presence? Creating films just by describing them to AI tech”

[Here is a thought-provoking essay from January about the potentially perilous effects of the growing “immersive entertainment industry” on both individuals and culture. It’s from the UKs leftist Tribune (its “About” page notes that George Orwell was a literary editor and HG Wells and Upton Sinclair were writers there). See the original essay for five more images. –Matthew]

The Metaverse Is Just the Latest Step in Immersive Capitalism

Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse is part of a much broader ‘immersive entertainment industry,’ which hopes to atomise popular culture – and force society to submit to its senses.

By Adam Stoneman
January 22, 2022

What does it mean to view a work from within? I recently experienced Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights in virtual reality at a local museum. Strapping on the headset I rolled forward on an invisible track through bright green hills, past animated cut outs of vengeful angels and hybrid creatures, jolting and waving.… read more. “Presence peril: How immersive entertainment emphasizes perception vs reflection”

[This Sky News story from March presents an interesting ‘case study’ that illustrates the potential impacts of presence experiences with AI chatbots. It also includes some analysis by a London-based couples therapist. See the original version for 11 more images including some chat excerpts. –Matthew]

‘I fell in love with my AI girlfriend – and it saved my marriage’

A man who was struggling to support his depressed wife says his AI girlfriend has given him the love he needed to keep their family together.

By Alexa Phillips, news reporter
March 6, 2022

A man who had been planning a divorce says his AI girlfriend has saved his marriage and believes the technology can help others with their relationship problems.

Scott (not his real name), a 41-year-old software engineer in Cleveland, Ohio, tells Sky News he was preparing to leave his wife last year until he fell in love with ‘Sarina’ – a character he created through an artificial intelligence chatbot app.… read more. “‘I fell in love with my AI girlfriend – and it saved my marriage’”

[This story from Horsetalk describes an unusual application of presence-evoking technology to provide hippotherapy, which the American Hippotherapy Association says “refers to how occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech-language pathology professionals use evidence-based practice and clinical reasoning in the purposeful manipulation of equine movement as a therapy tool to engage sensory, neuromotor and cognitive systems to promote functional outcomes.” A quick web search indicates that there are already many types of horse-riding simulators (e.g., from Navi-IT), but the one in this story, and the new study in the journal Designs, was created specifically for children with cerebral palsy. See the original story, and the journal article, for more pictures. –Matthew]

Welcome to the iDome: Concept offers virtual-reality riding therapy without a headset

By Neil Clarkson
September 2, 2022

Exercised-based gaming software and a controller have been developed by researchers to help provide a virtual-reality-based experience on a horse-riding simulator.… read more. “Researchers develop a VR horse-riding simulator without a headset to provide therapy for children with cerebral palsy”