[A new and improved tool from Meta called Voicebox AI that generates and modifies human-sounding voices could help those with vocal cord damage speak, produce natural sounding translations across many languages, make non-player gaming characters (NPCs) and digital assistants more convincing, and allow us to listen to written messages in the voice of the sender. Unfortunately, it also has significant potential for abuse (e.g., in deepfake scams). The story below from Engadget provides some of the details and for more information see the Meta AI blog (and go to the bottom for links to the research paper and additional demos).…

[Vice’s Motherboard reports on recent cases in which people used AI and other technologies to create “clones” of real people, in one prominent case their girlfriend and another themself. This seems likely to be an increasingly common phenomenon and raises lots of presence-related questions, some of which are explored in a new essay in The Conversation titled “AI clones made from user data pose uncanny risks”; here’s how that essay begins: “Imagine, if you will, a digital doppelgänger. A clone that looks, talks and behaves just like you, created from the depths of artificial intelligence, reflecting your every mannerism with…

[Below are some presence-related parts of a Wired interview with Charlie Brooker, the creator and writer of Black Mirror, the “darkly funny, scarily prescient, and hugely popular Netflix anthology series.” For more of his recent comments as the sixth season of the series launches, see interviews in Dazed, Esquire and Empire. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Michael Wharley/Netflix] Black Mirror’s Charlie Brooker Wants to Break the Content Machine After years of exploring society’s dark absurdities, the sixth season of Netflix’s wildly popular sci-fi show looks at its own reflection. By Amit Katwala June 14, 2023 [snip] WIRED: It’s been four years since…

[Not an endorsement, but this looks relevant and interesting…  –Matthew] New season of Kaspersky’s Webby awarded podcast explores the past and future of digital technologies And women leading the way in IT Press Release June 11, 2023 https://www.zawya.com/en/press-release/companies-news/new-season-of-kasperskys-webby-awarded-podcast-explores-the-past-and-future-of-digital-technologies-i4f4mjgq Progress led by technology means following the latest innovations without pausing, but due to the frantic pace one can stop learning from technology’s past. Kaspersky’s Fast Forward audio series examines trends shaping technology from the perspective of the recent past and explores women’s leadership in IT. It features guests from around the world working at the forefront of our newest technologies. Fast…

[This link-filled story from Dealerscope describes a series of hardware and software innovations that are helping to improve the experience of presence in video collaboration. As the author says in the concluding summary, the “deep dive into video conferencing innovations past, current and future includes an all-seeing birdlike device, three-dimensional avatars, an expressive multi-screened humanoid head, and the holography that’s starting to peek over the not-too-distant horizon.” See the original version for four different images. –Matthew] [Image: Source: Owl Labs] How AI and Robotics Are Driving Next-Gen Collaboration By  Scott Tharler June 14, 2023 Depending on the generation in which…

[An ISPR Presence News post from March 2023 describes the “War Up Close” project, which uses “360° panoramic photos, drone footage and 3D modelling” presented in virtual reality to tell the story of the devastation in Ukraine. The MURALS project that debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May takes a different but similarly immersive and compelling approach to the difficult challenge of impacting audiences used to short news updates and entertaining versions of war in television, movies and video games. The project is described in detail in this Little Black Book “Behind the Work” interview with the creators, where…

[Kennesaw State University Professor Joy Li uses presence experiences, in this case “impossible experiences,” to measure and improve the attention skills of children on the autism spectrum, as reported in this story from KSU News (where the original includes a second image). For more on her work, see Professor Li’s research page on the KSU website, and for a related application of presence, see the November 2022 story in the Observer-Reporter (in Southeastern Pennsylvania) titled “’Game time’: J-M [Jefferson-Morgan Elementary School] using virtual reality to help autistic students navigate world around them.” –Matthew] Researcher uses virtual reality to help autism…

[This essay from Forbes presents statistics and expert predictions about the rapid rise of technologies that simulate humans and evoke medium as social actor presence; provides some potentially useful definitions that distinguish the technologies based on their characteristics, applications and impacts; and concludes with links to several state-of-the-art tools for creating the most sophisticated category of simulations, digital humans. –Matthew] From Science Fiction To Reality: How Digital Humans Are Forging New Realities By Kuk Jiang, Forbes Technology Council Member; Kuk is the cofounder of ZEGOCLOUD, a global cloud communication service provider of real-time audio and video communication APIs and SDKs…

[A group of faculty in Peru have created an AI-powered digital avatar that not only delivers news in an indigenous language on TikTok, but in a new program offers lessons in the ancient language. In the future they hope that Illariy “will function as a bot that can be asked questions and respond in Quechua.” It’s not hard to imagine a near-future in which not only languages but many other aspects of diverse cultures are preserved and taught via a combination of extended reality and artificial intelligence that allows users to interact with vivid simulations of places and people. See…

[Another venue for a “presence field trip” has opened! This long but interesting story from Fast Company describes a new exhibit space at the American Museum of Natural History in New York designed to evoke spatial and social presence (and other important things). See the original story for three images and three videos. –Matthew] [Image: Source: TimeOut New York] The future of the museum is an empty room that can take you anywhere The Invisible Worlds exhibition at New York’s museum of natural history gives new meaning to the immersive experience. By Alex Pasternack June 8, 2023 How do you…

[The story below from Futurism reflects frustration about how easy it already is to use generative AI to create presence illusions that mislead (and dangerously increase political and cultural polarization). Coverage in USA Today starts this way: “A May 30 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) includes images of apparel and store displays featuring horned figures and satanic imagery inside a major retailer. ‘Folks: THIS is TARGET, & that is a Satanist idol,’ reads the post. ‘STOP SHOPPING TARGET! They are EVIL.’ The post was shared more than 700 times in a week. Other versions of the claim were shared…

[This story from Notre Dame News describes a new published article about the “promise and pitfalls” of presence-evoking technologies for science. Follow the link in the story (and the full reference at the end) for the full article. –Matthew] The metaverse can lead to better science One Notre Dame researcher says we should look beyond the hype to see how virtual reality can make scientists more effective. But to realize the benefits, researchers must also plan well and avoid potential pitfalls. By Brett Beasley May 25, 2023 In 2021, Facebook made “metaverse” the buzziest word on the web, rebranding itself…