[Just as there’s irony in our travelling to conferences to discuss technology-based illusions of being there together, and publishing our manuscripts about vivid presence experiences with few or no images (or videos, etc.), I wish there were more news stories about presence that went beyond text and photos. Here are links to two recent examples that do. In the first, “Empathy 101,“ a “comic journalist“ explains how medical schools are using a variety of technologies including virtual reality to increase students’ understanding of and respect for the experiences of their patients. A short description of the piece from The Journalist’s Resource is included below. The second example story, “Is my toddler a stochastic parrot?,” is a charming and thought-provoking personal essay from The New Yorker that combines drawings and subtle animation to compare the ways human infants and artificial intelligence language models learn and act.  … read more. “Two engaging end-of-year presence stories presented as graphical essays”

[A new system developed by researchers at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) combines non-invasive EEG measurement and artificial intelligence to translate a person’s silent thoughts into text, offering the prospect of practical, accessible, and seamless presence experiences that help those unable to speak because of illness or injury, and revolutionize the way we interact with technologies including prosthetics, robots and many others. See the original version of this story or follow the link to YouTube below for the 4:29 minute demonstration video. A pre-publication version of the NeurIPS conference paper is available on ArXiv. Coverage from Singularity Hub provides additional context and notes that the UTS researchers have “told MSN they’ve more recently upped the accuracy [of the system from 40] to 60 percent.” –Matthew]

[Image: UTS researcher tests new mind-reading technology. Credit: UTS]

Portable, non-invasive, mind-reading AI turns thoughts into text

By Leilah Schubert
December 12, 2023

Researchers from the GrapheneX-UTS Human-centric Artificial Intelligence Centre have developed a portable, non-invasive system that can decode silent thoughts and turn them into text.… read more. “Future presence: Portable, non-invasive, mind-reading AI turns thoughts into text”

[This essay from the Council on Foreign Relations blog considers the critically important implications of increasingly effective and common presence illusions. See the Deepfakes, Synthetic Media and Generative AI page of the WITNESS website for much more information. –Matthew]

[Image: Dave Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, waits to give his speech against the Energy Transfer Partners’ Dakota Access oil pipeline during the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland on September 20, 2016. Credit: Denis Balibouse/Reuters]

To Protect Democracy in the Deepfake Era, We Need to Bring in the Voices of Those Defending it at the Frontlines

Artificial intelligence is increasingly used to alter and generate content online. As development of AI continues, societies and policymakers need to ensure that it incorporates fundamental human rights.

CFR Blog Post by guest contributor Raquel Vazquez Llorente, the Head of Law and Policy, Technology Threats and Opportunities at WITNESS.… read more. “To protect democracy in the deepfake era, we need to bring in the voices of those defending it at the frontlines”

[This Design TAXI story about a new funded Kickstarter product from holographic display company Looking Glass describes what sounds like a step forward in the creation of accessible, multifaceted presence experiences. See the original story for more images, animated gifs and the company’s 2:31 minute promotional video (also available on YouTube). See the product’s Kickstarter page for more information, and for a more objective take see coverage in The Verge. –Matthew]

You Can Now Make Little Portable Hologram Friends And Talk To Them Too

By Mikelle Leo
December 6, 2023

If only you had a friend to talk to at the drop of a hat. Oh, but there is—and they may be literally right under your nose. The Looking Glass Go is the world’s first portable holographic display, and it serves as a pocket-sized portal to a world of spatial memories.… read more. “You can now make little portable hologram friends and talk to them too”

[Especially for rail enthusiasts like me, this press release from the UK’s Network Rail provides a vivid example of the value of presence-evoking technologies. It reports on the opening of a (free) virtual version of an iconic piece of railroad technology, the Birmingham New Street Station’s Power Signal Box, which was used to direct trains from 1965 until Christmas Eve of 2022. See the original press release for instructions on how to navigate the virtual tour, along with nine more images and two videos. For more on what it was like to work at the Power Signal Box, watch a two-minute 2020 video report from the BBC. For more on the people who created the virtual tour, visit the website of the University of Birmingham’s Human Interface Technologies Team. –Matthew]

[Image: Birmingham New Street PSB from platform 1]

Virtual reality keeps Birmingham’s iconic power signal box alive

December 19, 2023

Virtual reality tours inside Birmingham’s iconic signal box are now online a year on from the much-loved building moving its last trains through New Street station.… read more. “Christmas presence: Virtual reality keeps UK’s Birmingham Power Signal Box alive”