philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Suggestible people feel more ‘present’ in virtual reality, study finds

People with vivid imaginations are more likely than others to believe they truly inhabit the worlds they visit in virtual reality (VR) according to new research led by the University of Bath. ...

There has been a long-held assumption that the quality of a user's VR equipment directly improves the quality of their VR experience. In other words, the better and more expensive the VR headset and screen, the more convincing the experience.

However, the new Bath study suggests that when it comes to feeling present in a virtual world, the nature of an individual's imagination may be just as important as, if not more important than, the quality of equipment. ...

See the full story here: https://techxplore.com/news/2023-08-people-virtual-reality.html

These autonomous robots deliver students meals while popping wheelies and using unique voices

... Per an update from Starship today, it is now offering its robotic delivery service to a total of 50 college campuses across the US, including its most recent additions – Wichita State University, Boise State University, and The University of New Orleans.

Starship relayed that its autonomous delivery fleet now has 2,000 robots operating in half of the US states and around the globe, providing access to its service to 1.1 million students. Those pupils should have some fire new content to post to their social media pages as Starship is rolling out new customizable features to the delivery robots. ...

See the full story here: https://electrek.co/2023/08/24/these-autonomous-robots-deliver-students-meals-while-popping-wheelies-and-using-unique-voices/

Why we should all be rooting for boring AI

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Some worry that the people lowest on the hierarchy will pay the highest price when things go wrong: “In the event of an accident—regardless of whether the human was wrong, the computer was wrong, or they were wrong together—the person who made the ‘decision’ will absorb the blame and protect everyone else along the chain of command from the full impact of accountability,” Holland Michel writes. 

The only ones who seem likely to face no consequences when AI fails in war are the companies supplying the technology. ...

Amid early signs that people are starting to lose interest in the technology, companies might find that these sorts of tools are better suited for mundane, low-risk applications than solving humanity’s biggest problems.

Applying AI in, for example, productivity software such as Excel, email, or word processing might not be the sexiest idea, but compared to warfare it’s a relatively low-stakes application, and simple enough to have the potential to actually work as advertised. ...

Boring AI is not morally complex. It’s not magic. But it works. ...

See the full story here; https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/08/22/1078230/why-we-should-all-be-rooting-for-boring-ai/

Singapore workers are the world’s fastest in adopting AI skills, LinkedIn report says

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The report, which drew data from 25 countries, found that Singapore has the highest “diffusion rate” — the share of members adding AI skills to their profiles grew 20 times from January 2016. 

That’s significantly higher than the global average of eight times, LinkedIn told CNBC Make It.

Finland (16x), Ireland (15x), India (14x), and Canada (13x) round out the top five countries with the highest rates of AI skills diffusion, according to the report. ...

Share of skills potentially augmentable by generative AI 

• Software engineer: 96% 
• Customer service rep: 76%
• Cashier: 59% 
• Salesperson: 59% 
• Teacher: 45% 
• Event manager: 39% 

Just 3% of software engineers’ skills need to be performed by humans. ...

“You still have to use those judgment skills when thinking about when to use AI and making those calls — that’s really where the human agency comes into it.”

Emotional intelligence is also crucial in helping to “determine when to leverage an AI capacity instead of a human capability,” Microsoft added.

See the full story here: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/20/singapore-workers-adopting-ai-skills-at-the-fastest-pace-linkedin.html

Animate: A Theatrical Exploration of Climate Change and Virtual Reality

In the town of Paestum, Italy, a unique theatrical experience is taking place. Directed by Chris Salter, the play Animate combines analog theater with immersive virtual reality to explore the tension between the physical and digital worlds in the context of climate change.

The play begins with a simple reading by two actors in front of a small audience. The story follows a young woman and man on a blind date to the Tablelands of Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland, a landscape that dates back 450 million years. As the play progresses, the audience is handed VR glasses and guided through the transformed warehouse. They experience a virtual version of the Tablelands, complete with rocks and vegetation.

The purpose of the play is to immerse the audience in a physical experience of climate transformation, blurring the lines between reality and digital space. Salter, known for his multimedia art installations, wanted to extend the reach of his work and create a physically immersive experience of climate change. He chose the short story “Animate” by Kate Story, which focuses on the relationship between humans and the planet, as the narrative foundation for the play. ...

See the full story here; https://gameishard.gg/news/canadian-play-uses-vr-to-make-climate-change-physically-real/34379/

Stars Learn to Love Their AI Doppelgängers

As Julia writes, this is “a case where the experience of famed artists might offer us a peek at our own future." Stars may not live like the rest of us, but by establishing “the contractual language, court decisions and ethical standards” overseeing digital doubles, they may teach us how to defend our own turf in the age of AI.

See the full story here: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/stars-learn-to-love-their-ai-doppelgangers

Toy Trains Lets You Build Your Dream Train Set In VR

Developer Something Random this week announced Toy Trains, a new VR game coming soon to major VR platforms. Described as a “playful track-building VR game,” this nostalgia-inducing experience allows you to craft complex virtual railways and solve open-ended puzzles using your motion controllers. ...

Toy Trains is scheduled to launch in Q4 2023 on Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest Pro, Meta Quest 3 (via App Lab), and PC VR via Steam followed by PlayStation VR2 and Pico headsets at a later date. Those lucky enough to be attending Gamescom 2023 can try the game out for themselves over at Hall 10.2 – Booth E040.

See the full story here: https://vrscout.com/news/toy-trains-lets-you-build-your-dream-train-set-in-vr/

Apple’s Display Team is also exploring the use of ferroelectric liquid crystal on silicon (fLCoS) display panels for AR/VR Glasses+

PhilNote: Lots of "may" in this speculative report.

Earlier this morning, Patently Apple posted a report titled "Apple continues to Explore the use of LCoS Displays in Future Devices such as AR Smartglasses, Macs and more." In another patent that we discovered in Europe this morning, we see that Apple is also working in parallel on a similar display technology that they refer to as ferroelectric liquid crystal on silicon (fLCoS) display panel. Apple's display team have worked on this since 2020. The patent was published in Europe on August 16, 2023. ...

See the full story here: https://www.patentlyapple.com/2023/08/apples-display-team-is-also-exploring-the-use-of-ferroelectric-liquid-crystal-on-silicon-flcos-display-panels-for-arvr-gl.html

‘Don’t Put Your Head in the Sand’: Stars Are Quietly Inking Deals to License Their AI Doubles

In 2008, while working with Will Smith on the set of a film that never ended up getting made, Remington Scott had an epiphany. The visual effects director was watching Smith stand in a photogrammetry booth, with dozens of cameras capturing the actor’s facial features from every possible angle. “Every single major star on that level, they go in and they get scans,” Scott said. Visual effects artists then translate those 2D images into 3D computer-generated models that can later be manipulated for the purposes of the film. Watching Will Smith go through this process led Scott to wonder, “Why doesn’t he own his own scans?” ...

Scott—who has worked with directors including Peter Jackson, Zack Snyder and Robert Zemeckis and has scanned the likes of James Franco, Angelina Jolie and Anthony Hopkins—launched his own “digital human” company, Hyperreal, in 2020. The idea was to give performers an opportunity to create and own the rights to their own digital identities, called Hypermodels, which they could then license to productions themselves for a fee. (Hyperreal takes a cut of that fee as the management platform for those assets.) ...

See the full story here: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/dont-put-your-head-in-the-sand-stars-are-quietly-inking-deals-to-license-their-ai-doubles

AI-Created Art Isn’t Copyrightable, Judge Says in Ruling That Could Give Hollywood Studios Pause

... Copyright law has “never stretched so far” to “protect works generated by new forms of technology operating absent any guiding human hand,” U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell found.

The opinion stressed, “Human authorship is a bedrock requirement.” ...

There’s been a consistent understanding that human creativity is “at the core of copyrightability, even as that human creativity is channeled through new tools or into new media,” the ruling stated. ...

 “Plaintiff can point to no case in which a court has recognized copyright in a work originating with a non-human,” the order, which granted summary judgment in favor of the copyright office, stated. ...

In March, the copyright office affirmed that most works generated by AI aren’t copyrightable but clarified that AI-assisted materials qualify for protection in certain instances. An application for a work created with the help of AI can support a copyright claim if a human “selected or arranged” it in a “sufficiently creative way that the resulting work constitutes an original work of authorship,” it said.

See the full story here: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/ai-works-not-copyrightable-studios-1235570316/