philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

A.I. Can’t Detect Our Emotions

A conversation with the professor who just turned down a $60,000 grant from Google

A few examples are revealing: The automotive industry sees value in algorithms determining when drivers are distracted and drowsy. Companies see value in algorithms analyzing how customer support agents talk and computationally coaching them to be better speakers. And researchers see value in children with autism using A.I.-infused glasses to interpret the facial reactions conveyed by people around them.

Not everyone, however, is smiling about emotion-sensing A.I. Indeed, strong criticism is pervasive and high-profile controversies are grabbing headlines. For example, there’s been considerable pushback against companies unfairly using emotion detection and analysis software during interviews to determine a candidate’s “employability score.” ...

I’m excited to talk about the promises and pitfalls of emotion-sensing A.I. with Luke Stark, assistant professor in the faculty of information and media studies at the University of Western Ontario.  ... has an exciting new book coming out with MIT Press, Ordering Emotion: Histories of Computing and Human Feelings From Cybernetics to AI. In addition to being a renowned scholar who studies ethical issues, Luke prioritizes ethical action. ...

Evan: If banning facial analysis creates a whack-a-mole problem where automation will scan and classify other bodily channels for emotional information at scale, what’s the best regulatory way forward?

Luke: Well, Jevan Hutson and I are trying to figure that out, not just for emotion recognition but for all forms of what we call “physiognomic A.I.” We’re working on a law review piece that identifies outcomes society should prohibit across all the different ways of making human bodies computationally tractable that are used to infer interior states or characteristics.

See the full story here: https://onezero.medium.com/a-i-cant-detect-our-emotions-3c1f6fce2539

38 SEMIFINALIST TEAMS FROM 16 COUNTRIES WILL AIM TO CREATE AN AVATAR SYSTEM THAT CAN TRANSPORT HUMAN PRESENCE TO A REMOTE LOCATION INSTANTLY.

LOS ANGELES (April 5, 2021) -- XPRIZE, the world’s leader in designing and operating incentive competitions to solve humanity’s grand challenges, announced today that 38 teams from 16 countries are advancing to the semifinals round of the $10M ANA Avatar XPRIZE competition.

Sponsored by All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan’s largest airline, the Avatar XPRIZE is a four-year global competition focused on the development of an avatar system that will deploy a human’s senses, actions, and presence to a remote location in real time, leading to a more connected world. These avatars must demonstrate the ability to execute tasks across a variety of real-world scenarios and convey a sense of presence for both the operator and the recipient in those interactions. 

“We are rapidly approaching an era where it will be possible for a doctor in New York to export their skillset virtually to respond to a natural disaster across the globe,” said Anousheh Ansari, CEO of XPRIZE. “The task at hand for these incredible semifinalist teams competing in the ANA Avatar XPRIZE is to break through physical limitations and expand the capacity of humankind itself through transformative robotic avatar technology.” 

See the full story here; https://www.xprize.org/prizes/avatar/articles/38-semifinalist-teams-from-16-countries-aim-to-create-an-avatar-system?fbclid=IwAR0y_rKMJguxSZwu5cQnRCIBcp3f_KT5scDCYRiTT945jWO-hl2tu8uvgq4

The AR Roundup: March 2021

Tom has created another excellent monthly AR Roundup news highlights post here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ar-roundup-march-2021-tom-emrich/?trk=eml-email_series_follow_newsletter_01-hero-1-title_link&midToken=AQG9gi1ZLqruRw&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=14CNTu2f65oVI1

Looking Glass Teams with Reggie Watts to Auction Holographic NFT Art, Paving Way for Popularizing AR Art You Can Hold

Long-time followers of Looking Glass will remember that Watts was one of the startups' initial friends, as the company used the innovative musician to show off some of the features of the earlier Looking Glass devices.

"Since our founding, we've worked hard to support creativity in all of its forms, whether that's 3D digital sculptures, new forms of photography and film, or something never before imagined," said Shawn Frayne, CEO of Looking Glass Factory. "I can't tell you how excited I am to have our displays as the medium for this amazing project. 

See the full story here: https://next.reality.news/news/looking-glass-teams-with-reggie-watts-auction-holographic-nft-art-paving-way-for-popularizing-ar-art-you-can-hold-0384418/

Orange invests in the American venture-capital fund “Venture Reality Fund II” devoted to immersive technologies to fast-track the development of new 5G services

Orange is investing, via its holding company Orange Digital Investment, in the “Venture Reality Fund II”, a major venture-capital player in the XR (Extended Reality) sector: Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Future personal and professional uses (including entertainment, industry 4.0, medical research, and training, for example) will benefit greatly from these new technologies, which rely in part on the availability of ultra-high speed networks (including 5G) and Edge Computing.

See the full story here: https://www.orange.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021/orange-invests-american-venture-capital-fund-venture-reality-fund-ii

Tim Cook says Apple wants to use AR to make conversations better

When it comes to augmented reality, he agreed with Swisher’s framing that the tech is “critically important” to Apple’s future and said it could be used to enhance conversations.

“You and I are having a great conversation right now. Arguably, it could even be better if we were able to augment our discussion with charts or other things to appear,” Cook said. He imagines AR being used in health, education, retail, and gaming. “I’m already seeing AR take off in some of these areas with use of the phone. And I think the promise is even greater in the future.”

See the full story here: https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/5/22367715/tim-cook-augmented-reality-apple-car-hints-interview

Exclusive: Trust in tech craters

Why it matters: High public esteem has helped protect the tech industry from critics and regulators, but that shield is weakening.

Edelman suggests principles to help Big Tech increase trust:

• "Shared prosperity" through new jobs and skills.
• Codifying trust through "fairness" and "explainability."
• Increased diversity, equity and inclusion.

See the full story here: https://www.axios.com/edelman-trust-barometer-tech-5787acea-8ef5-4d0b-9694-6e4f8eb006c4.html?mkt_tok=ODUwLVRBQS01MTEAAAF8QPbLjO-xe_6wc28A7GJYks1fHU-kf9Ro61Ua2Om5LebIdJfoPj0urW4tSL1q_smPOYH4XdHUMpS5kZf-GKaa62y245jNSTUlkB-tJ4hayY_5https://www.axios.com/edelman-trust-barometer-tech-5787acea-8ef5-4d0b-9694-6e4f8eb006c4.html?mkt_tok=ODUwLVRBQS01MTEAAAF8QPbLjO-xe_6wc28A7GJYks1fHU-kf9Ro61Ua2Om5LebIdJfoPj0urW4tSL1q_smPOYH4XdHUMpS5kZf-GKaa62y245jNSTUlkB-tJ4hayY_5

Almost 10,000 Facebook Employees Working on AR and VR

Internal organizational data seen by The Information shows that about one-fifth of Facebook’s total global workforce or close to some 10,000 employees are currently working in the development of its AR and VR devices.

According to Facebook‘s own information, the company employed 58,000 full-time specialists at the end of 2020 and about 17% of these employees are working on its XR technologies. This represents close to a fifth of its workforce working on the computing platforms of the future.

... Facebook Reality Labs is working on a number of XR projects that include both hardware and software development. Some of Facebook’s projects such as the development of ultra-slim and powerful Augmented Reality glasses are a long-term goal and will be ready in 5 to 10 years.

Some of Facebook’s known XR products and research projects include the following: –

• Oculus Quest VR Headsets: A next-generation product is already under development.
• VR game development by the first-party studios Beat Games, Ready at Dawn, and Sanzaru Games all of which have been acquired by Facebook in the past year or so.
• The Facebook metaverse Horizon
• Research on next-generation VR technology such as the Half-Dome
• The smartphone AR platform SparkAR
• The AR-compatible video chat device Portal
• The AR research project Project Aria
• New smart Facebook data glasses in collaboration with Ray-Ban set to appear in 2021
• Advanced augmented reality glasses which have been codenamed, Orion
• A smartwatch set to be released in 2022 combined with a neural interface and haptic simulation
• Haptic gloves for AR and VR
• A Facebook Assistant that is similar to the Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa
• An operating system specifically for VR and AR devices
• A chip specially developed for AR glasses
• Live Maps, a 3D mapping service for the Augmented Reality cloud infrastructure.

See the full story here: https://virtualrealitytimes.com/2021/04/03/almost-10000-facebook-employees-working-on-ar-and-vr/

Nigeria: Negligence over Science & Technology, reason for economic retardation – Engr. Abiola

“No nation can survive nor stand the test of time without enmeshing itself in science and technology. The Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) initiative is a way forward but we need to do more. The difference between one country and another is the Level of science and technology at which each other operates.

He affirmed that Nigeria has remained backward technology-wise because the needed investment, support and attention meant for young talents in science and technology have been jettisoned. He said, “Nigeria cannot compete with developed economies not because of color nor any other thing, but because we have relegated Science & Technology to the background by not giving enough attention to STEM and not celebrating champions emerging from the sector.

“Citizens have placed Music, Sports & fashion far above Science & Technology which eventually resulted into moral decadence and value disorientation for us, however, entertainment and fashion are not bad in its entirety, but as we celebrate and support young people in the entertainment industry, we should more than proportionately pay more attention to young Stars in the Science and Technology space.

See the full story here: https://www.sunnewsonline.com/negligence-over-science-technology-reason-for-economic-retardation-engr-abiola/

Spatial’s mixed-reality teleworking app is breaking free from the Quest 2

Spatial will soon work on PC-connected virtual reality headsets. Previously, the app had only been available on standalone VR headsets like the Oculus Quest 2, as well as augmented reality headsets like Microsoft's HoloLens and Magic Leap. The beta version for PC-tethered headsets is now available — with a final version slated to launch ahead of summer. Users will be able to access the app through the Steam storefront on the following headsets:

• HTC Vive
• Valve Index
• Windows Mixed Reality headsets
• Varjo
• Oculus Rift
• Oculus Rift S

Of course, users can also access Spatial on their phones through a mobile app for iOS and Android that launched back in December.

See the full story here: https://mashable.com/article/spatial-mixed-reality-pcvr-new-avatar-features/