[The essay below from The Conversation explains why interacting with AI chatbots leads many people, including recently even noted skeptic Richard Dawkins, to believe the chatbots are or at least could be conscious, a compelling example of medium-as-social-actor presence. The essay authors also join others in noting that this can lead to negative consequences, and they go on to suggest ways to discourage these perceptions and beliefs. For more coverage of the Dawkins claim, see a story in the Guardian (that includes this: “Dawkins isn’t the first, but might be the most eminent person yet, to be seduced into believing…

[Here’s an abridged version of an interesting story from Beauty Matter about the evolution of immersive experiences designed with the combination of scent and sound, most recently for the use of marketing fragrances and fragrance brands. See the original version of the story for more details and examples, along with four more images. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Jill Steinberg] Scent and Sound: The New Frontier of Immersive Experiences By Carla SeippMay 5, 2026 Scent and sound have always had a close kinship. They share a vocabulary, like top notes, base notes, and accords, but they also share a neurological component. The…

[Stories about presence continue to be popular. As reported here by Polygon, the stories and world of the Blade Runner films and television series, which all originated in the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, will return in an immersive experience. For more details see the press release via PR Newswire. In related news, SyFy reports that a new film version of Westworld is in the works. –Matthew] Blade Runner returns in 2027 with a new way to experience it Dry your eyes and experience new moments in North America this 2027 By Aimee HartMay 11,…

[The results of a new study reported in Science News won’t be surprising to those familiar with previous work on homuncular flexibility in virtual reality (e.g., by Andrea Stevenson Won et al.), but the results are intriguing and have important implications. See the original version of the story below for a nine second video (also on YouTube) and follow the link to the new article in Cell Reports for more details. –Matthew] 25 people learned to fly with virtual wings. Here’s how the brain changed After flight training, the brain began treating wings more like real limbs By Yujia HuangMay…

[British Airways recently created a presence-evoking immersive experience in which it transformed a New York subway into one of its airplanes. The installation, part of a larger campaign, is described in this story from DesignTAXI – see the original version for two more images, a 2:48 minute video (also available on YouTube), and three embedded social media posts. An excerpt from the British Airways press release follows below – see the original version of the release for more images. –Matthew] British Airways transforms NYC subway into one of its planes May 1, 2026 Your daily commute rarely comes with a…

[The prospect of creating AI chatbots that simulate specific human beings almost always raises interesting and important questions. The latest example, described in this story from the South China Morning Post, is an AI that simulates a person’s former romantic partner. See the original version of the story for four more images. Tech writer Mike Elgan writes about this in his Machine Society substack and concludes with this: “My beef with this concept is the same I have with any kind of relationship AI. It’s delusion-inducing for many users (who may believe the digital twin is actually a copy of…

[This widely cited story from The Guardian reports that schools in London are using presence-evoking virtual reality to reduce student anxiety around exams and other stressors. See the original version of the story for a second image, and the Phase Space website for more details and a 1:51 minute video (also available on Vimeo). –Matthew] [Image: A pupil using a Phase Space VR headset. Credit: Phase Space] London schools trialling VR to relieve pupils’ stress Phase Space pilot programme with NHS mental health trust used to calm anxiety around exams, ADHD and home troubles By Denis Campbell and Sinéad CampbellMay…

[Motivated by the fact that children are increasingly using presence-evoking technologies in school (and elsewhere), researchers at the University of South Florida are investigating differences between how adults and children use augmented reality. The original version of this story includes five more images and this quote from USF Assistant Professor Julia Woodward: “If we are going to design for children, we need to consider all the elements. Children think about AR in terms of real-world objects and try to interact with them like physical items, with weight and force. We need to design with those expectations in mind.” –Matthew] Rethinking…

[This opinion piece from TechRadar by a long-time expert observer praises the presence-evoking capabilities of the Apple Vision Pro spatial computing device while providing a realistic assessment of its possible future and role in the evolution of presence technologies. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future] I don’t know if Vision Pro is alive or dead, but it is still the most sophisticated, powerful, and coolest hardware Apple ever built — and we can surely thank it for the glasses that will follow Will it survive the new leadership By Lance UlanoffMay 1, 2026 Rumor has it, Apple‘s pricey Vision…

[This interview from the World Bank Group describes how a carefully planned, industry-academic collaborative program that uses presence-evoking technologies to train students in Ecuador’s Technical and Technological Institutes is improving how students learn auto mechanics. See the original version of the interview for three different images, and for more information (and a video) about the Active Training Using Virtual Reality Program (ACTIVaR) see an earlier World Bank Blog post. –Matthew] [Image: Source: World Bank Blog] Augmented and Virtual Reality Program Transforming TVET in Ecuador April 27, 2026 Job creation is the ‘North Star’ of the World Bank Group’s work, and…

[Expanding presence for literary texts, a new feature from Character.AI lets users “step inside a classic novel – not just read it, but play it.“ A quick summary is provided in this story from Quasa, where the original version includes four more images. A story in Mashable takes a deeper dive, and one in Digital Trends focuses on user safety. For more information and to access the Books feature, see the company’s announcement on the Character.AI blog. –Matthew] Character AI Launches “Books” — Now You Can Step Inside Your Favorite Classic Novels By Viacheslav VasipenokApril 24, 2026 Character.AI…

[In this post from his Machine Society Substack, technology writer Mike Elgan describes new research that demonstrates what we would call medium-as-social-actor presence. The researchers find that when an AI chatbot takes longer to respond to queries, it is perceived as taking longer to think of the answer. Elgan puts it this way: “people judge AI the way they judge people. If people give a slower response, we tend to assume it’s a more thoughtful one.” Elgan argues that deliberately slowing AI response times to manipulate user perceptions in this way is unethical and encourages dangerous delusions regarding the true…