Category: Presence in the News
News stories explicitly or implicitly related to presence from a wide variety of sources
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Vodafone 5G powers first-ever hologram coaching session with Emma Raducanu
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Read more: Vodafone 5G powers first-ever hologram coaching session with Emma Raducanu[This press release from Vodafone describes a recent demonstration of spatial and social presence in which professional tennis player Emma Raducanu appeared as a hologram to give real-time tennis lessons to two young amateur players who were over 4300 miles away. It also includes some interesting predictions about how presence-evoking and other technologies will be used to enhance both playing and watching tennis in the future. See the original press release for two different images and a 1:26 minute video (also available on YouTube). –Matthew] [T’nae Diamond Paisley, 12, learning from and practicing tennis with a hologram of Emma Raducanu…
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Study: Parrots learn to make video calls to chat with other parrots, then develop friendships
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Read more: Study: Parrots learn to make video calls to chat with other parrots, then develop friendships[In what Futurism describes as “an absolutely delightful new experiment,” researchers have demonstrated that domesticated parrots can be taught how to make video calls that allow them to experience presence. Since these birds have “high social, cognitive, and emotional needs” often lacking in captivity, the findings suggest a way to improve the parrots’ quality of life. The story below is from Northeastern University’s Global News website, where the original features many more images and two short videos. The study is reported in the Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, where it includes two longer…
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Researchers submitted an academic paper written by ChatGPT to see if it gets accepted. It did.
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Read more: Researchers submitted an academic paper written by ChatGPT to see if it gets accepted. It did.[This story from ZME Science draws on a recent story in The Guardian that demonstrates how effective widely available generative AI technology already is at creating illusions of humanness that can fool even expert academic peer reviewers. –Matthew] Researchers submitted an academic paper written by ChatGPT to see if it gets accepted. It did So uhm, this happened. by Mihai Andrei; Edited and reviewed by Zoe Gordon March 22, 2023 AI is making it more and more difficult to detect plagiarism and to reward originality — and what better way to do that than with a paper that’s written by…
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First-person report: Canon’s “ImmersiveCall” VR phone calling app Kokomo
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Read more: First-person report: Canon’s “ImmersiveCall” VR phone calling app Kokomo[This first-person report from TechCrunch has praise for the concept of Canon’s new platform that enables high-presence phone calls via virtual reality, while noting that in its still-early form technical issues cause too many breaks in presence. A January 2023 TechCrunch story featuring an interview with the platform’s creators includes this description: “’We support most of the popular consumer VR headsets in the market to enable people to engage in immersive calls, as we are calling them. In these calls, people can engage. They are dynamic, in living, breathing environments. You can download a companion app on a mobile phone,…
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Three Orthodox Jewish women take 70,000 on virtual visit to Auschwitz
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Read more: Three Orthodox Jewish women take 70,000 on virtual visit to Auschwitz[The story below is from NoCamels (a “news site covering breakthrough innovation and technology from Israel for a global audience”). It describes how three determined women created an intense and important presence experience that takes audiences to the Auschwitz concentration camp. See the original story for four more images and four videos. The author of a Jewish News report on Triumph of the Spirit provides a separate first-person description of what it was like to watch the 360 degree video, including this: “After 50 minutes, the great, bitter-sweet irony of being able to remove the headset. To step away. And…
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In-car personal assistants: MINI introduces animated bulldog, GM adds ChatGPT
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Read more: In-car personal assistants: MINI introduces animated bulldog, GM adds ChatGPT[“MINI hopes to ‘invigorate’ the emotional connection between people and its cars” with Spike, a new virtual assistant that goes beyond voice to take the form of an animated English bulldog. The short story from Carscoops below has some of the details; the original version includes several more pictures and a 1:36 minute video (also available on YouTube) and the press release is available from BMW’s blog. A related story from Inverse says “GM Thinks ChatGPT Should Be the Future of In-Car Virtual Assistants”: “Unlike the current applications of ChatGPT, the version that GM is working on won’t just be…
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Psychedelic replications in virtual reality show potential in treating depressive symptoms
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Read more: Psychedelic replications in virtual reality show potential in treating depressive symptoms[Researchers are exploring the use of presence-evoking virtual reality to produce the therapeutic effects of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, as reported in this story from PsyPost. See the new published article and the Psyrreal website for more information (and to download the software). –Matthew] Psychedelic replications in virtual reality show potential in treating depressive symptoms By Eric W. Dolan April 15, 2023 Researchers at the University of Tartu in Estonia have developed a virtual reality (VR) experience that seeks to simulate the subjective effects of psychedelic drugs. They hope that replicating psychedelic experiences within VR will produce similar therapeutic benefits to psychedelic-assisted…
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Inverse presence: Loewe debuts pixelated clothes that blur line between virtual and reality
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Read more: Inverse presence: Loewe debuts pixelated clothes that blur line between virtual and reality[In contrast to experiences that make the mediated seem “real,” a new fashion line from Loewe provides a good example of inverse presence, “when ‘real’ seems mediated.” The short DesignTAXI story below provides details. See the original story for six different images and for more, animated and interactive images (and the very high prices) visit the Loewe website. The second, short story from High Snobiety that follows below provides some context about similar efforts to create inverse presence in fashion. –Matthew] [Image: Source: High Snobiety] Loewe Debuts Pixelated Clothes That Blur Line Between Virtual And Reality By Alexa Heah April…
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Ignore the hype that we’ll all live in the metaverse. Let’s use virtual reality, but hardly at all
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Read more: Ignore the hype that we’ll all live in the metaverse. Let’s use virtual reality, but hardly at all[In this column for the World Economic Forum, our colleague Jeremy Bailenson makes a compelling case for reserving the use of presence-evoking virtual reality for experiences that in the real world would be “dangerous, impossible, counterproductive or expensive.” –Matthew] Ignore the hype that we’ll all live in the metaverse. Let’s use virtual reality, but hardly at all Jeremy Bailenson, Founding Director, Virtual Human Interaction Lab, Stanford University March 16, 2023 Companies like Meta are betting users will use virtual reality (VR) headsets for just about everything. Meanwhile, journalists highlight CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s inability to draw daily users to his so-called…
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AI-driven virtual influencers to further blur lines between real and virtual people
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Read more: AI-driven virtual influencers to further blur lines between real and virtual people[As artificial intelligence quickly advances, brands will be able to make their virtual influencers seem increasingly like real human beings, and/or present their human influencers behind convincing digital avatars, all potentially increasing influence but raising ethical issues. This story from The Drum describes some of the trends and challenges; see the original version for two videos. –Matthew] Will AI make virtual influencers influential again? The creative freedom conferred by virtual influencers initially proved irresistible to brands. Could AI’s inevitable influence make them even more so? We take a look as part of The Drum’s latest Deep Dive, AI to Web3:…
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How generative AI illusions could lead to “collapse of reality”
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Read more: How generative AI illusions could lead to “collapse of reality”[This disturbing column from Fast Company presents an informed, speculative timeline from 2022 to 2033 in which the ability of generative AI to create increasingly effective illusions leads to small and very large disasters. The author concludes with three “actionable steps” that could prevent the dystopia. See the original version of the column for seven more images and a video. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Wei Ding/Unsplash] AI feels like a magic act. By 2033, it will be a horror movie Generative AI is blurring the lines between fact and fiction. This speculative timeline shows how, if unchecked, the AI big bang…
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To make amends and bid farewell, a grandson used AI to revive his grandfather
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Read more: To make amends and bid farewell, a grandson used AI to revive his grandfather[This vivid, engaging, personal story from Sixth Zone describes some of the complex practical, ethical and emotional issues surrounding the creation of AI-based “griefbots” that mimic loved ones who have died. See the original version for 11 more images and animations. –Matthew] Looking for Closure, a Grandson Built a Ghost in the Machine To make amends and bid farewell, Yu Jialin used AI to revive his grandfather. He still hasn’t told his parents. By Tang Yucheng April 5, 2023 Hunched over a desk, Yu Jialin stared transfixed at his computer. Fingers hovering nervously over the keyboard, his eyes darted back…
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