[In a recent keynote address, MIT Professor and author Sherry Turkle described the dangers of the “artificial intimacy” provided by AI-based chatbots, not just to individual users but to societies. This report on what she said is from The Harvard Gazette. –Matthew] [Image: Professor Sherry Turkle giving the keynote at Conference on AI & Democracy. Credit: Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer] Why virtual isn’t actual, especially when it comes to friends Tech, society expert Turkle warns growing number of chatbots for companionship isn’t good for individuals, or democracy By Liz Mineo, Harvard Staff Writer December 5, 2023 It can help clean…

[As this story in Freethink explains, a new study in the journal Psychological Science demonstrates that not only are we bad at telling the difference between pictures of real vs. AI-generated faces, the more confident we are in our choice, the more likely we’re wrong. And there are important differences in the results when the faces are of people with different racial backgrounds. –Matthew] [Image: Figure 3 from Miller et al. “Faces judged most often as (a) human and (b) AI. The stimulus type (AI or human; male or female), the stimulus ID (Nightingale & Farid, 2022), and the percentage…

[A new fluid-based mechanism for the design of haptic gloves that enhance presence by adding the sense of touch in virtual reality is described in this story from Fast Company; see the original version for three different still images, four animated images, and the 3:06 minute video mentioned (also available on YouTube). –Matthew] [Image: Source: Fluid Reality, Inc.] This groundbreaking tech could finally bring a sense of touch to virtual reality A wireless glove overcomes the clunk and bulk of haptic technology. By Nate Berg November 8, 2023 In virtual reality there is much to be seen, but most of…

[At the end of a farewell concert tour, the band Kiss dramatically revealed that digital avatars will perform in its place for “eternity.” Here’s coverage from The Verge with excerpts from AP and Guitar.com. See the original stories for more pictures and videos, and to watch a two minute announcement video also available on YouTube. –Matthew] Kiss debuts ‘immortal’ digital avatars and plans to go ‘fully virtual’ At its final show in Madison Square Garden, Kiss revealed ageless digital avatars that will go on to represent the band in entertainment. By Wes Davis, a weekend editor who covers the latest…

[Takanori Komatsu is a cognitive scientist at Meiji University in Tokyo who has been studying human-robot interaction by focusing on human reactions to robots with different characteristics and that take on different roles. Among other interesting elements of his work is his use of thought experiments like the Trolley Problem to understand our perceptions of and responses to robots. Medium-as-social-actor presence isn’t mentioned explicitly but is central to the ideas in the story below about Professor Komatsu, which is from Scientific American Custom Media; the original version includes a second image and an 8:51 minute video (also available on YouTube).…

[This story from Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center describes how a new course in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is helping medical students learn about discrimination and bias by putting them in the roles of both target and offender. The original story includes an informative 3:50 minute video that is also available on YouTube. The story doesn’t identify the software being used, but one source for this kind of training material is Equal Reality. For more information on this top, see “Current and Potential Uses of AR/VR for Equity and Inclusion” from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF).…