[This detailed and balanced story from The Verge explains the potential – both positive and dangerous – of a new advancement in artificial intelligence that has received a lot of press coverage. See the original version for a different image and many examples of the new algorithm in action, and see the OpenAI blog for more information. –Matthew] OpenAI’s New Multitalented AI Writes, Translates, and Slanders A step forward in AI text-generation that also spells trouble By James Vincent February 14, 2019 OpenAI’s researchers knew they were on to something when their language modeling program wrote a convincing essay on…

[This Washington Post story uses vivid examples to highlight cultural differences in how people experience medium-as-social-actor presence with robots that provide different sets of social cues. See the original story for two short videos. –Matthew] [Image: Robots wearing nurse uniforms carry medical documents Wednesday at Mongkutwattana General Hospital in Bangkok. Credit: Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters).] Friendly nurse or nightmare-inducing machine? How culture programs our taste in robots. This is Thailand’s idea of an attractive robot. Americans might be terrified. By Peter Holley February 7, 2019 Slowly and silently, they glide across the floor wearing bright yellow dresses that look as though they…

[The startup company described in this TechCrunch story is working to combine the interactive immersion of virtual reality with miniature robots that can move within a human body, providing surgeons with an expanded version of remote “presence in the body” that has great potential for improving medical care. See the original story for an additional image. –Matthew] Bill Gates-backed Vicarious Surgical adds a virtual reality twist to robots in the operating room Jonathan Shieber February 13, 2019 In an operating room in rural Idaho, doctors prep a patient for surgery. They make a tiny, thumb-sized incision into the patient and…

[The UK’s Channel 4 will air a program featuring the use of holograms to create the illusion of presence after death, as reported in this story from The Scotsman. Other coverage notes a comparison to the anthology series Black Mirror and the fact that “the series is based on the A+E Networks format Voices From the Grave that is in development for A&E by Simon Andreae’s Naked TV” (Deadline Hollywood). For commentary about the new show see The Telegraph (subscription required). –Matthew] [Image: Credit: A+E Networks via Deadline Hollywood] New Channel 4 show to deliver hologram messages from the dead SCOTSMAN…

[Here’s a clever idea for evoking social presence among travelling strangers; the story is from Standby Nordic; follow the link at the end for a 1:11 minute video. –Matthew] KLM ‘hologram bars’ launch in Nordics The airline is connecting complete strangers through its live hologram bars in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the US, UK and Brazil. Posted by: Howard Jarvis 30 January 2019 Arguably at the forefront of new travel technology ideas, KLM has just answered another “what if?”: What if travellers waiting to board a plane could exchange tips face-to-face with other people heading in the opposite direction? The Dutch…

[Experts in medium-as-social-actor presence likely will find the results of the study reported in this story from Interesting Engineering interesting if not surprising. For more information including three videos see the press release via EurekAlert! –Matthew] [Image: Pepper. Credit: Pixabay] Robot on the Trolley Car Track: How Valuable is Robot Life? A new study asks how much value do we put on robot life and leads to some surprising conclusions. By John Loeffler February, 09th 2019 Two professors of psychology reveal an interesting take of the classic trolley problem: would you sacrifice a robot to save a human life? The…

[Early research suggests that VR and presence can contribute to the success of a campaign to promote HIV awareness and testing. This short story is from Open Society Foundations, where the original includes the trailer for “Live Life Positively” (also available via YouTube). For more information see the Open Society Foundations and UNAIDS websites. –Matthew] Can a Virtual Reality Video Help Fight Anti-HIV Stigma? February 7, 2019 Sydelle Willow Smith, a cofounder of Sunshine Cinema and a partner at Makhulu Media A young woman enters the crowded waiting room of a clinic and takes a seat. Soon, she is beckoned…

[Virtual reality and the sense of presence it evokes is used for a growing set of training applications including in health care; for anyone who has to get regular eye injections and/or knows people who do, this Wall Street Journal story about the use of VR to train surgeons to implant a new small device in the eye that replaces the injections is particularly interesting. –Matthew] [Image: Genentech is training eye surgeons on a procedure treating an eye disease that affects more than 1 million Americans. Credit: Genetech.] Genentech Uses Virtual Reality to Train Eye Surgeons Adopts technology in clinical…

[This story from CNET describes new and intriguing efforts to use the body to control interactions in mediated experiences and thereby increase presence. See the original for videos and more images. –Matthew] Your body is driving a new wave of AR, VR experiences Artists at Sundance are tapping into your own movements to make immersive experiences feel more natural. by Joan E. Solsman February 4, 2019 Inside the softly glowing room, I pace around a table with an iPhone to reveal an augmented-reality mystery. Digital characters on my screen drop breadcrumbs for me to follow back to the scene of…

[Here is a provocative recent report on a subset of medium-as-social-actor (MASA) presence phenomena; it’s from The New York Times, where the original version includes four more images and a video. –Matthew] [Image: Photo Illustration by Tracy Ma/The New York Times; Getty Images (hand)] Do You Take This Robot … Today we fall in love through our phones. Maybe your phone itself could be just as satisfying? By Alex Williams January. 19, 2019 When Akihiko Kondo, a 35-year-old school administrator in Tokyo, strolled down the aisle in a white tuxedo in November, his mother was not among the 40 well-wishers…

[A new production of Hamlet offered the producers and actors new challenges and provides viewers with new presence experiences, as reported in this story from The New York Times. See the original for four more images. –Matthew] [Image: From left, Jack Cutmore-Scott, Brooke Adams and Jay O. Sanders in “Hamlet 360: Thy Father’s Spirit,” a virtual reality film produced by Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Google, Graham Sack and Quentin Little. Credi: Sensorium] ‘Hamlet’ in Virtual Reality Casts the Viewer in the Play By Elizabeth A. Harris; Michael Paulson contributed reporting. January. 25, 2019 Hamlet is in a bathtub with water up…

[The new Little Sophia robot extends the potential positive effects of medium-as-social-actor (MASA) presence, as described in this story from VentureBeat. For more information see the press release via GlobeNewswire, the robot’s Kickstarter page (the funding goal has already been met), a 6:30 minute video segment from NBC’s Today via YouTube, and for a broader review of “carebots, home robots and robo-pets” from CES 2019, coverage in TechRadar. –Matthew] Hanson Robotics debuts Little Sophia, a robot companion that teaches kids to code Kyle Wiggers January 30, 2019 Hanson Robotics is the Hong Kong and Los Angeles-based company behind Sophia, the…