[This TechCrunch story provides a vivid example of the rapid evolution of presence-evoking technologies: the use of AI to create full-motion deepfake (or ‘dancefake’) video from a single image. See the original story for a 2:26 minute demonstration video (also available on YouTube). –Matthew] [Image: Source: Know Your Meme] ‘Animate Anyone’ heralds the approach of full-motion deepfakes By Devin Coldewey December 4, 2023 As if still-image deepfakes aren’t bad enough, we may soon have to contend with generated videos of anyone who dares to put a photo of themselves online: with Animate Anyone, bad actors can puppeteer people better than…

[As explained in this story from Northwestern University, virtual reality goggles evoke more effective presence illusions for mice as they do for humans, creating new opportunities for neurological research. The original version of the story includes a second picture; for more information and images as well as videos, see the new publication in Neuron. –Matthew] [Image: A view through the new miniaturized goggles, which can accurately simulate natural environments. Credit: Dom Pinke] Immersive VR goggles for mice unlock new potential for brain science Goggles enabled researchers to study responses to overhead threats for first time By Amanda Morris December 8,…

[If you’ll be in London before April 21, 2024, you may want to visit the presence-evoking immersive experience described in this review from The Guardian (see the original version for two more images). The writer gives it only three of five stars, but that’s related to content choices rather than the form of the presentation. Other coverage of “The Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks” adds interesting presence-related details. This is from AP News: “It’s a high-tech blend of archive film footage, drawings, animation and digitally remastered photographs — but not, Hanks stresses, any computer-generated images. ‘Every photograph, every image…

[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).…

[A new large-scale presence-evoking immersive venue format called a “shared reality dome” is coming to Los Angeles and Dallas, as described in this story from CNBC. Although the focus is on sports, note the discussion near the end of the story about other applications. The press release announcing the Cosm and TNT partnership is available from PR Newswire. –Matthew] [Image: Cosm’s shared reality dome concept for viewing live sports broadcasts. Credit: Cosm Venues]  NBA and NHL broadcasts are coming soon to immersive ‘shared reality’ domes By Alex Sherman October 31, 2023 Warner Bros. Discovery and Cosm, a privately held company…

[Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst manipulated two types of presence for mixed reality users and identified a negative correlation between level of presence and reaction time, suggesting a useful real-time metric for enhancing presence experiences. See the original story for pictures of two of the authors, and follow the link to the new published research article. –Matthew] [Image: Figure 2 from the researchers’ publication: Realistic, abstract, plausible, and implausible virtual objects used in the experiments] New Study: Immersive Engagement in Mixed Reality Can Be Measured with Reaction Time University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers have developed a possible system…

[This story from The New Yorker provides vivid descriptions of the compelling nature of medium-as-social-actor presence created by AI-based chatbots, and some both good and bad impacts it can have. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Illustration by Nicholas Konrad / The New Yorker] Your A.I. Companion Will Support You No Matter What New chatbots offer friendship, intimacy, and unconditional encouragement. Do they mitigate isolation or exacerbate it? By Kyle Chayka November 13, 2023 In December of 2021, Jaswant Singh Chail, a nineteen-year-old in the United Kingdom, told a friend, “I believe my purpose is to assassinate the queen of the royal family.”…