[There’s a fascinating and depressing history of conferences and journals, particularly in the field of computer science, publishing hoax research articles containing content usually generated by primitive algorithms. Nature reports on the problem and new work by two researchers who are identifying these papers in the May 2021 article, “Hundreds of gibberish papers still lurk in the scientific literature.” But the story below from The Conversation describes a study demonstrating that AI can be used to generate articles across the critical fields of Cyber Security and Medicine that fool experts (i.e., make them overlook the fact that the stories were created by “machines displaying humanlike capabilities”). For a broader perspective on the phenomenon and its implications, see the new story in Built In titled “We’re facing a fake science crisis, and AI is making it worse” –Matthew]

Study shows AI-generated fake reports fool experts

Priyanka Ranade, PhD Student in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Anupam Joshi, Professor of Computer Science & Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Tim Finin, Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

June 7, 2021

If you use such social media websites as Facebook and Twitter, you may have come across posts flagged with warnings about misinformation.… read more. “Study shows AI-generated fake reports fool experts”

[A February 2021 ISPR Presence News post described ARHT Media’s holographic technology (the company’s website boasts of “A Sense Of Presence You Need To See”). This Fast Company story from May reports on a new ARHT partnership with coworking company WeWork to implement the technology in many of its “800+” locations around the world (the press release is available via Intrado GlobeNewswire). –Matthew]

Your next meeting at WeWork could be with life-size holograms

The coworking company is equipping some of its workspaces with holographic gear so that people thousands of miles away can participate in events.

By Mark Sullivan
May 11, 2021

WeWork once declared that it was a “technology company,” not just the landlord of coworking spaces. Now, two years after the company’s hype implosion, it says it’s going to start enabling something decidedly techy: face-to-face meetings with holograms.… read more. “Coworking company WeWork equipping workspaces for meetings via life-size holograms”

[The pandemic has caused many more of people to think about how to use technology and configure spaces to create a sense of being together, i.e., spatial and social presence. This Fast Company story examines some of the considerations that will be important in the new post-pandemic world of remote and hybrid meetings. See Diginomica for an interview with the author Phil Simon who is quoted here. –Matthew]

[Image: Meeting room illustration by Marc_Osborne/iStock]

We still need conference rooms. Here’s what they should look like post-pandemic

A big table, a bunch of chairs, and a speakerphone are no longer enough. As people return to the office, it’s time to rethink meeting spaces.

By Gwen Moran
June 9, 2021

Not so long ago, there were all sorts of predictions about what the future of the office would look like. Open-space floor plans were facing some backlash and some experts were predicting that big conference rooms would give way to smaller, enclosed spaces and “huddle” areas where groups could work closely together.… read more. “Meeting space and tech considerations after the pandemic”

[Road to VR reports on the Sense Arena hockey trainer. The original version of this story includes another image and three 3 videos, and the NHL.com story mentioned includes more videos and images and quotes goalie Antoine Bibeau of the Carolina Hurricanes saying “You put it on and you basically appear in the net in an NHL arena and you look around and it’s really like being in an NHL arena. I’m shocked by how realistic the whole thing is.” –Matthew]

‘Sense Arena’ is a VR Hockey Trainer That’s Being Adopted by NHL Teams

By Ben Lang
June 9, 2021

Flying, driving—even fencing & crane operation—and now hockey. VR continues to prove out training as a core use-case for the technology. Sense Arena is a VR hockey training platform in use by NHL teams and now expanding beyond goalie training to players all across the rink.… read more. “‘Sense Arena’ VR trainer helps pro and amateurs hockey players”

[This Museum Association story uses the VR component of a new V&A exhibition about Alice in Wonderland to comment on the larger shift towards the use of immersive media at museums, which has been accelerated by the pandemic. As FashionUnited UK’s coverage notes, the exhibit also includes other elements to create immersion and presence:

“Described as one of the museum’s ‘most ambitious’ exhibitions by its director Dr Tristram Hunt, ‘Alice: Curiouser And Curiouser’ aims to transport visitors into the otherworldly experiences shaped by theatrical sets, immersive environments and playful displays, including the museum’s first virtual reality experience.”

The original version of the story below includes three more images and a one-minute trailer (also available via YouTube). More information and many more pictures are available in the FashionUnited UK story and coverage by designboom, as well the websites for the exhibition and its VR feature.… read more. “Through the looking glass: V&A’s Curious Alice experience part of new VR revolution in museums”

[Researchers at Columbia University Engineering have created EVA, a blue-faced robot that uses deep learning to mimic the subtle changes in facial expressions of the humans around her and evoke medium-as-social-actor presence, as reported in this news release. See the original version for a different image and a 2:24 minute video (also available on YouTube) and see the project’s website for much more information. –Matthew]

The Robot Smiled Back

Columbia Engineering researchers use AI to teach robots to make appropriate reactive human facial expressions, an ability that could build trust between humans and their robotic co-workers and care-givers

By Holly Evarts
May 27 2021

New York, NY—May 27, 2021—While our facial expressions play a huge role in building trust, most robots still sport the blank and static visage of a professional poker player. With the increasing use of robots in locations where robots and humans need to work closely together, from nursing homes to warehouses and factories, the need for a more responsive, facially realistic robot is growing more urgent.… read more. “The robot smiled back: EVA uses AI to mimic facial expressions and build trust”

[This story from Forbes earlier this year describes a study that reinforces the ideas that presence-evoking technology amplifies at least some of the impacts of media content (as in early studies of screen size) and that media content and form interact in important ways. Experiencing driver training messages in virtual reality produced increased risk-taking for fear appeal messages and reduced risk-taking for positive messages compared to viewing the messages in 2D film conditions. Here’s an excerpt from the published study:

“As VR is designed to provide a more realistic experience of driving collisions (Lin, 2017; Parsons & Rizzo, 2008), it is likely that participants’ experience of viewing the collision in the fear condition was more vivid than those viewing it in 2D. Indeed, in the 2D films, the participants experienced the events as spectators, creating a distance between themselves and the avatars (Klimmt, Hefner, & Vorderer, 2009; Lin, 2013).… read more. “Study: VR (and presence) amplifies effects of messages to improve teen driving”

[Illustrating the potential of presence experiences to break down many types of barriers, a set of real time audio-video portals now connect people in the cities of Vilnius, Lithuania and Lublin, Poland, as described in this story from The Verge. More details and images are available in a press release and on the Portal website, which also features a 1:32 minute video. The project is reminiscent of the Cisco Town Hall ad available on YouTube.  –Matthew]

Vilnius, Lithuania built a ‘portal’ to another city to help keep people connected

The project is meant to prompt people to “rethink the idea of unity”

By Kim Lyons
May 30, 2021

Weary of pandemic travel restrictions and aching to get out and see new people? The city of Vilnius, Lithuania has interesting solution: A real-time “portal” to another city. They really went all-in on the idea and the design; it looks quite a bit like something out of the erstwhile sci-fi movie/show Stargate.… read more. “Vilnius, Lithuania built a ‘portal’ to another city to help keep people connected”

[The Village Voice describes a recent event that arguably evoked several forms and levels of presence in recreating a two-decade-old performance and art installation. See the original story for two more images and watch the 27:33 minute video of the event on the Hauser & Wirth website. –Matthew]

[Image: Performance at Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles in collaboration with Monday Evening Concerts. Credit: Elon Schoenholz Photography]

David Hammons’ Faxes From The Future

The performance has now reached 21 years into the future to be recreated in a technology-assisted homage and reboot that pushes those same interdisciplinary boundaries even further

By Shana Nys Dambrot
May 26, 2021

On Monday, May 10, 2021, a small audience entered the central courtyard at Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles at around dusk. Folding chairs were arrayed in pairs and singles across the yard, and a fractal drift of plain white sheets of paper peppered the ground.… read more. “A reimagined performance/installation creates multi-disciplinary layers of presence”

[This story about the possible roles of presence-evoking technologies in virtual travel is unusual in advocating the replication of complete vacation trips (and indirectly raises ethical questions about virtual travel to locations that are dangerous due to terrorism and other human misbehavior). See the original version from the World Economic Forum for two more images and a video. –Matthew]

[Image: The Faroe Islands is just one destination using new technologies to create a virtual tourism experience. Credit: Knud Erik Vinding/Pixabay]

How virtual tourism can rebuild travel for a post-pandemic world

By Anu Pillai, Digital Transformation Leader, Engineering, Construction, Operations and Airports, Domain and Consulting, Wipro
21 May 2021

The tourism industry has hit a nadir owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will continue to feel the effects for at least the first three quarters of 2021 – according to a recent UN report, tourist arrivals globally in January 2021 were down 87% when compared to January 2020.… read more. “How virtual tourism can rebuild travel for a post-pandemic world”