[Like computers and robots before it, artificial intelligence is taking on new social roles traditionally reserved for humans. An interesting recent example is reported in the story below from the Longmont Leader; a story in Business Today characterizes it this way: “Reece Wiench and Deyton Truitt’s meeting was no surprise in the digital age – they connected through an online dating app. And now, their union is etched in history as ChatGPT adds ‘wedding officiant’ to its diverse job title list.” The same story adds this detail: “According to a report by CBS Colorado, the idea came from the bride’s…

[In a 14-minute segment from the Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) program Think Out Loud, robotics researcher Bill Smart describes an ambitious project to design, create and distribute 50 ‘standardized’ robots to academic researchers to, as he says, “try and figure out what parts of human-human psychology and social interaction carry across to human-robot interaction” – i.e., advance CASA/MASA (Computers Are Social Actors/Media Are Social Actors) research. Follow the link above to the original version of the story to listen to the broadcast, and the link below to the project’s website for more information. –Matthew] [Image: OSU researchers Bill Smart and…

[Another attempt to engage and teach audiences about the realities of climate change is described in this story from Cabin Radio. See the original version for many more images. The Toronto Star has more coverage. And you can visit the Qikiqtaruk: Arctic at Risk website to experience it yourself.  –Matthew] [Image: A permafrost slump as seen in Qikiqtaruk: Arctic at Risk virtual reality] In virtual reality, watch climate change unfold on an Arctic island With a headset, you can see, hear, and soon maybe even smell the change on an island off the Yukon coast. By Chloe Williams July 12,…

[As with the formal Simulation Argument and the eerie alternate realities of The Twilight Zone and other science fiction stories, reports of people experiencing inverse presence (in which the ‘real,’ nonmediated world seems to be mediated by technology) don’t have to be true to be thought-provoking and revealing. The report below from The Independent’s Indy100 website and others like it are more evidence that we’ve “crossed over into” an era dominated by ideas of simulation and illusion. The original report includes the viral video, which is also available (at this writing) on TikTok. –Matthew] [Image: Even the woman’s hair seems…

[This BBC News story is about a husband-and-wife team using VR and presence to make theater productions more engaging and accessible to new audiences. See the original version for three more images and the Box Office VR website for much more information. –Matthew] [Image: Barrie Hunter plays Dundee United manager Jim McLean in the play Smile] Theatres tempt new audiences with virtual reality By Michael Dempsey, Technology of Business reporter July 7, 2023 Roberta Doyle was unnerved when she found herself on the receiving end of a football manager’s rant. Despite just being a member of the audience, the play’s…

[We’ve seen how improvements in artificial intelligence can lead people to misperceive AI-generated images as photographs (e.g., in the ISPR Presence News post “Popular Instagram photographer confesses that his work is AI-generated”); here’s an example of a nested or inverse presence effect in which a photograph was misperceived as having been generated by AI (of course editing in Photoshop and other software makes determining what is ‘real’ that much harder). The story is from PetaPixel; follow the links to the Instagram posts and the story in The Guardian for more information. –Matthew] [Image: Suzi Dougherty’s photo of her son Caspar…

[Yet another application area for telepresence is described in this Baking Business report on a panel discussion at the 2023 conference of Bakery Equipment Manufacturers and Allieds (BEMA). More information on the RealWear HMT technology mentioned near the end is available from RealWear’s website. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Sosland Publishing Co.] Telepresence devices open new opportunities for baking industry By Charlotte Atchley June 29, 2023 PALMETTO BLUFF, SC — One of the greatest technological adoptions seen in the commercial baking industry from the COVID-19 pandemic was the use of telepresence devices for remote maintenance. With bakeries closed off to visitors and…

[An undergraduate student at Indiana University wrote this thoughtful and thought-provoking essay published in the Indiana Daily Student. It’s about some of the potential presence-related dangers of technologies from TV to digital humans. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Illustration by Juliette Albert] OPINION: AI could be detrimental to human relationships By Isabella Vesperini June 29, 2023 In a primarily technology-driven world, I sometimes wonder: what will come in the way of face-to-face interaction next? TV was one of the first things that began the trend. Yes, TV can help educate and inform an audience, but it can also distract people from interacting…

[This very short BBC News story is about an innovative program in the UK that uses virtual reality and presence to stimulate discussion and learning to reduce knife crime. For more specific local coverage about the program see stories in the West Bridgford Wire (May 2023) and Saddleworth Independent (June 2023). For video news reports see a 2:39 minute June 2022 story from Northwest Tonight via YouTube and a 6:43 minute June 2019 story from Channel 4 News. And for much more information about this and related programs see the website of the organization Round Midnight. –Matthew] [Image: Cast and…

[Although books don’t provide the direct sensory stimuli generally associated with presence experiences, they certainly can evoke a strong sense of “being there” with characters in a story world. A new product called the Sol Reader is designed to increase the potential for such experiences. It’s described in the very brief story below from DesignTAXI as well as in stories from New Atlas (“Sol Reader puts bookworms right inside their ebooks“) and Men’s Gear (“Make reading more immersive with the Sol Reader.” For more information see a 4:45 minute January 2023 review from Brad Lynch on YouTube and visit the…

[The essay below from No Proscenium points out that as more people and companies design and market experiences (vs. traditional products and services), and in particular immersive (presence-evoking) experiences that give people agency and either inadvertently or deliberately lead to “transformation change,” we need to take that term, and the responsibilities of designing experiences that  inadvertently or deliberately “show the participant another way of being in the world” seriously. See the original version of the essay for three more images. –Matthew] [Image: The “climate simulator” at ‘Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser.’ Credit: Noah Nelson for No Proscenium] “Transformational Experiences” Are The…

[Here is a thought-provoking essay by philosopher Stephen Asma about embodiment, agency and the nature of consciousness that illustrates the difference between our evolution-based tendency to anthropomorphize machines that look and seem to think like humans (i.e., medium as social actor presence illusions) and potential future accurate, empathetic perceptions of AI-based embodied consciousness. The essay is from the Blog of the American Philosophical Associaton (APA). –Matthew] [Image: Art by Stephen Asma, published with the author’s permission] AI Films and the Fudging of Consciousness By Stephen Asma, a professor of philosophy at Columbia College Chicago. He is the author of ten…