[Although most of us have received advertising and other business mail written and even printed to mimic a personal letter, this story from Futurism describes how the AI company Handwrytten and its competitors are taking the tactic to a new level by offering a service in which robots compose and ‘hand’-write (even in the purchaser’s cursive style) what seem like personal letters such as thank you notes and birthday cards. The goal is to save the purchaser time and effort while leading recipients to overlook the role of technology in the process. –Matthew] [Image: Credits: Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins /…

[In what sounds like an impressive campus-wide interdisciplinary program at the University of Central Florida, faculty from the UCF College of Medicine mentored undergraduate students studying engineering and computer science as the students developed two innovative tools that use presence-evoking technologies to expand and improve medical education. Details about each project are described in the story below (see the original version for a second image). –Matthew] [Image: Senior computer science students pose with their clinical imaging app project and Knightro at the College of Engineering and Computer Science Fall 2025 Senior Design Showcase] Student Research Expands Medical Education in Virtual…

[In a new review that appears in the Vernon Morning Star, a fine arts student describes the presence-evoking experiences available in an unusual art museum in a small town in British Columbia that features installations by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller (the reviewer uses the term presence to refer to a focus on one’s environment, mediated or not): “In a converted furniture warehouse in the North Okanagan, internationally renowned artists transform sound into an immersive experience of memory, time, and presence. … I found it resonated deeply with me that the exhibition prioritizes experience over linear narrative. Being there…

[Jase Bernhardt, a professor at Hofstra University in New York state, has spearheaded the development of a virtual reality simulator to help drivers learn what to do when they encounter snow squalls. This short story is from WTAJ, the CBS television station in Altoona, Pennsylvania; see the original version for a 2:11 minute video report (which is also available on YouTube). You can watch a user’s view of the simulator in a 2:51 minute YouTube Short video.  More details about the project can be found in a CBS New York story from November 2025, a picture gallery in the York…

[Ian McKellen and three other actors are featured in a new mixed reality play in New York. The origins and characteristics of the use of presence-evoking mixed reality are described in the story from The Guardian below; see the original version for two more images and a two-minute video (also available on YouTube). The From the Mezzanine podcast also has a video short on YouTube. A New Yorker article about the veteran actor McKellen notes that even he experienced presence as an audience member: “’An Ark’ was so lifelike that he had instinctively reached out his hand when one of…

[Here is a significantly abridged version of what turns out to be a very moving story from the New York Times about the positive impacts of medium-as-social-actor presence evoked by an AI-based robot called ElliQ, which was designed to help seniors stay healthy and independent. See the original, complete version of the story for 21 more pictures (a few of which are animated). For more about ElliQ, visit elliq.com. For a related story, see “AI robot ‘Navi’ helps seniors stay independent at Judson Senior Living: See it in action” from Cleveland’s NBC TV station WKYC. –Matthew] [Image: It took some…

[For the two nights preceding Valentine’s Day, a café in New York City provided a space for romantic meals not with human dates but AI companions. This story from Newsweek is just one of many stories about the event; more details and insights follow in excerpts from coverage by The Verge and Wired. For more, see Vinyl & Velvet’s story via AOL and Gizmodo’s story “I went on a dinner date with an AI chatbot. Here’s how it went” and video news reports, both approximately four minutes long, from CNN and ABC’s Good Morning America. –Matthew] [Image: Phoebe Callas, 30,…

[The benefits and dangers of evoking a sense of the presence of people after they die is receiving new press coverage, prompted by the granting of a Meta patent application. The AOL version of a paywalled story from Business Insider is below, followed by additional details from coverage by Mashable, Cybernews and Dexerto. –Matthew] Death isn’t the end: Meta patented an AI that lets you keep posting from beyond the grave By Sydney BradleyFebruary 12, 2026 Does Meta want to make our social media accounts immortal? The company was granted a patent in late December that outlines how a large…

[Researchers at Colorado State University are using presence-evoking virtual reality to teach undergraduate students about veterinary care to help address the shortage of people going into careers as veterinarians. This story is from The Rocky Mountain Collegian, where the original version includes a second image. See also the related June 2025 ISPR Presence News post “Training your farm workforce: Virtual reality (and presence) as an aid in livestock care.” –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Courtesy of Sangeeta Rao] Researchers utilize virtual reality to address veterinary shortages, receive USDA NIFA grant By Chloe Rios, Staff ReporterFebruary 4, 2026 In 2025, food animal veterinarians…

[Below you’ll find the introduction to, and then a few excerpts from the transcript of, a 37:31 minute episode (EP184) of Business Lab, a podcast produced by MIT Technology Review’s Insights. The guests are from the company Shure and the Perception & Cognition Laboratory at Yale University and although they only refer to it indirectly, they discuss the importance of presence in communication via technology. You can learn more about the research they discuss, and listen to audio clips from the study, in the podcast episode or via the online article: Walter-Terrill, R., Ongchoco, J.D.K., & Scholl, B.J. (2025). Superficial…

[Researchers at the University of Utah’s John and Marcia Price College of Engineering are using artificial intelligence to take over some of the control of the movements of robotic arms and hands to make the experience more natural and intuitive (i.e., make it easier for those with prostheses to overlook the role of technology in their experience). The original version of this story includes two video demonstrations (which are also on YouTube here and here). For related news, see “How much can an autonomous robotic arm feel like part of the body” from Toyohashi University of Technology (TUT) via EurekAlert!…