[In arguing that computers and AI are simply not capable of human consciousness, thought and intention, this essay from Psyche argues that the actual danger of emerging artificial intelligence technologies is acting on the (medium-as-social-actor presence) illusion that they are: “If one is disposed to fear this technology, one should do so not because it is becoming conscious, but because it never can. The algorithm can endow it with a kind of ‘liberty’ of operation that mimics human intentionality, even though there is no consciousness there – and hence no conscience – to which we could appeal if it ‘decided’…

[The author of this story from Wired provides a vivid and personal description of the experience provided by “Body of Mine,” a new project that uses virtual reality and presence to increase empathy with and support for people with gender dysphoria. See the project’s website for more information, including this from the “Vision” section: “LGBTQ+VR With the rise in attacks against transgender individuals and their rights, we believe that full immersion has the potential for not only powerful empathetic responses from non-queer people, but also profound support for those who are closeted or questioning. While a young trans girl in…

[The presence illusions we studied used to be simpler: Are you in the actual world or one created by virtual reality (or film, television, etc.)? Does that desktop computer seem to be just a technology or a social actor? Over the last few decades, the ways in which we misperceive the roles of technology in an experience have multiplied. With augmented, mixed and extended reality; telepresence robots; multi-platform virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa; smartphones; advances in CGI and VFX; audio and visual deepfakes; a wide variety of robots including Sophia and Ameca; digital humans; holograms; and now generative and…

[Non-player characters in games provide important information that brings the human player into the game setting and story. As Business Insider notes, “One video game alone can have dozens — if not hundreds — of non-player characters, or NPCs. Controlled by a computer, these characters range from Tom Nook, who runs the village store in ‘Animal Crossing,’ to Zelda, the princess of Hyrule and namesake of the Nintendo series. Over the past few decades, the graphics and basic dialogue of these characters may have advanced, but the interactions can still feel static and scripted.” To make interactions with NPCs more…

[A multi-campus, cross-disciplinary, NSF-funded project is designed to make it easier for researchers to conduct studies of extended reality (XR) experiences and impacts using larger and more diverse sets of participants, as reported in this story from the University of Central Florida. See also a related press release from Lehigh University via Eurekalert! that links to a story about Lehigh Professor Valerie Jones Taylor’s “own research focused on the potential of VR to improve encounters between members of different races.” –Matthew] UCF Leads Development of First Large-scale System for Extended Reality Research The nearly $5 million project will facilitate human…

[In this essay for TechCrunch, virtual reality expert Jeremy Beilenson argues that virtual reality and other immersive media experiences are dangerously engaging and distracting and therefore do not belong in automobiles. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: 5m3photos / Getty Images] The other DWI: Driving while immersed VR headsets have no place in moving automobiles By Jeremy Bailenson, founding director of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab and author of “Experience on Demand: What Virtual Reality Is, How It Works, and What It Can Do.” May 23, 2023 On May 17, Meta and BMW released a video hailing a joint research breakthrough that will allow…

[Much of the coverage of the increasingly widespread use of artificial intelligence to generate music is about the complex legal and ethical issues involved (e.g., see Holland & Knight and Rolling Stone). But as the story below from Interesting Engineering notes, the fact that this music is generated by AI is “often not discernible to a follower or a fan,” which represents an important form of presence (a misperception of the role of technology in a mediated experience). An earlier story from Interesting Engineering titled “Scammer sells AI-generated Frank Ocean’s songs, makes thousands of dollars,” begins with this: “We’ve definitely…

[This first-person report from Popular Mechanics describes a new laptop computer that has a large augmented reality display rather than a physical monitor. Particularly noteworthy quotes that refer indirectly to presence include that “it feels surprisingly natural to use, with the potential to usher in a new era of personal computer”; “Spacetop feels like it’s a physical display truly present in the space with you”; and “I enjoyed taking a Teams video call using the giant screen and the conversation felt incredibly immersive, like the effect you get from going to a movie theater.” The original version of the story…

[Researchers at Cornell have developed a telepresence robot that automatically mirrors a user’s physical movements and body language, which appears to enable “a heightened sense of co-presence and behavioral interdependence.” The story below is from the Cornell Chronicle; the new paper describing the project appears in the CHI 2023 Proceedings and features three videos, including a 4:51 minute presentation also available on YouTube. See lead author Mose Sakashita’s website for more interesting presence-related work. –Matthew] [Image: Mose Sakashita, a doctoral student in the field of information science, with the ReMotion robot] I, robot: Remote proxy collaborates on your behalf By…

[The fast-food chain Wendy’s plans to replace human order-takers for its drive-through service with a more efficient AI chatbot, creating a medium-as-social-actor presence illusion in which “You won’t know you’re talking to anybody but an employee.” Most of the press coverage draws on this story from The Wall Street Journal. Fortune adds these details: “Opinions on what AI will mean for workers and companies vary greatly, from massive disruption to marginal change. In the view of Presto Automation, which offers an AI ordering platform for restaurants, the technology will shake up the industry. ‘I don’t think in three years, there’s going…

[Here’s a first-person report from Gizmodo on a demonstration of the latest version of Google’s Project Starline telepresence system, which was initially a large booth and is now reduced to a large flat screen monitor. See other first-person reports from Engadget and TechCrunch. The TechCrunch story includes a technical description: “Quoting from a Google research publication on the technology: ‘Our system achieves key 3D audiovisual cues (stereopsis, motion parallax, and spatialized audio) and enables the full range of communication cues (eye contact, hand gestures, and body language), yet does not require special glasses or body-worn microphones/headphones. The system consists of…

[A new study supports the use of joyful and calming music to reduce cybersickness caused by virtual reality experiences. The study is described in this news release from The University of Edinburgh. In the researchers’ published article, they write that the results “support the notion that pleasant music is efficient in mitigating cybersickness due to distraction from stimuli, as well as an elicitation of positive emotions.” and “In summary, the implementation of music appears to be a cost-effective, suitable (i.e., without preventing other interactions or breaking the immersion), and efficient technique for mitigating cybersickness in immersive VR.” –Matthew] [Image: Credit:…