Launch Pad - VR+AI - Weekly Updates

[rubinovitz]

Week 1: How can AI and VR work together?

Coming from a technology, startup, and academic background, this week as full of insights into VR and film production as I set off on a journey to figure out how to create AI that can enhance virtual reality. Taking cues from the Lean Startup methodology, I spent this week (and will spend more time through out the project), "getting out of the building"/talking to the people for whom AI would solve problems in VR including film producers, game developers, and some lovely folks at Unity. Through my time at Launchpad and these interviews I have two new revelations.

Thoughts of the week

1. The people in the launchpad and VR community at large are amazing, but need more ways to be brought together to collaborate. As a machine learning and AI person with a bit of CG experience, I will need to be helped by and help people in other fields working in VR. I am working with other NYC folks to start a community for us here.
2. AI in VR interests me, and the people I want to work with, as it relates to narrative devices. My two big goals going into Launchpad were finding a way to explain AI and ML in VR, and creating work that showcases the often overlooked struggles of underrepresented groups in technology and media. I am starting to brainstorm interesting ways AI can affect VR narratives, and how to showcase this in a work.

What I need help with

I would love to talk if you do work with VR and AI or wish you could!
I would love to talk to you if you do VR in NYC.
I would love to talk to you if you're in Oculus Launchpad, because let's be real, y'all are awesome.

[DrSzilak]

Hi --I'm a digital storyteller in NYC. Very interested  in AI and language especially as it relates to language and metaphor. Maybe we could do an NYC meetup of Launchpad alumni? There have got to be a bunch. Amelia Winger-Bearskin runs an AI firm, she is in NYC and a Launchpad alum. Might contact her?

[agilibility]

My husband and I are working on a project that incorporates VR and AI. The AI piece of the puzzle is going to be a little ways down the road, but it is definitely a huge moving part of the business model. I would love to talk to you more about your interest in AI! We are TN, but we are hoping to make it up to NYC really soon. 

[Lupac]

I'm in the "wish I knew more about AI" category. I am in LA, but any books, links to overviews, tutorials, etc. much appreciated!

[rubinovitz]

DrSzilak said:

Hi --I'm a digital storyteller in NYC. Very interested  in AI and language especially as it relates to language and metaphor. Maybe we could do an NYC meetup of Launchpad alumni? There have got to be a bunch. Amelia Winger-Bearskin runs an AI firm, she is in NYC and a Launchpad alum. Might contact her?

I posted a poll in our Facebook group asking about a NYC meetup, good idea! I know Amelia very well and am happy she comes to mind as someone I should be connected with!

agilibility said:

My husband and I are working on a project that incorporates VR and AI. The AI piece of the puzzle is going to be a little ways down the road, but it is definitely a huge moving part of the business model. I would love to talk to you more about your interest in AI! We are TN, but we are hoping to make it up to NYC really soon. 

PMed you about discussing!

Lupac said:

I'm in the "wish I knew more about AI" category. I am in LA, but any books, links to overviews, tutorials, etc. much appreciated!

There's a free MIT course on AI here that I'd recommend starting with http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-034-artificial-intelligence-fall-2010/. HackerRank also has some AI problems on their site if you want to try your hand at programming some small AI https://www.hackerrank.com/domains/ai/ai-introduction.

[rubinovitz]

Week 2: What problems should VR + AI be solving: VR, AI, and Empathy
Content Warning: homophobia, racism, terrorism

I do not know why I forget this is extremely important to me until something awful happens, but I am really interested in how AI can VR can be used to teach empathy. I think empathy and AI is a very interesting intersection because a lot of modern AI is focusing on creating "assistants" for whom you do not need to care about or compensate. Meanwhile, today 50+ people were murdered at a gay club during a Latin night by a terrorist who was in part influenced by our media that seeks to dehumanize and scapegoat certain groups of people. In AI, the media, and politics, (all of which are touched by technology in this day and age) empathy seems to be in short supply. However, in the best meatspace and virtual experiences of my life, empathy and connection with humans and nature were paramount.

This week I thought about two possible projects to pursue, and both would rely on AI to enable the user to empathize with the characters and their situation:

One possible project involved using AI to empower our experience's guide to be more than the typical female AI assistant archetype, but the protagonist of an interactive story about her and her art. I look at articles such as "Racist gamers are pissed that the hero of Ubisoft’s ‘Watch Dogs 2’ is a black hacktivist" http://fusion.net/story/311853/watch-dogs-2-marcus/, and wonder if VR with underrepresented characters have to be twice as good to get half as much, as the saying goes, or if I am naive for thinking better VR experiences can overcome hate.

Another possible project would involve using AI to allow choice during and gauge empathy during an interactive documentary about a protest. I care deeply about enabling activism, and I think this piece could change the mind of a silent majority drowned out by extremists in our online filter bubble. Through out my life, and especially lately, there have been many people I consider "moral", "good", and "smart" who express negative feelings to me about movements like Black Lives Matter. A constant occurrence has been white, Jewish women, who rant to me about how BLM is annoying or destructive and then expect us as two Jewish women to agree and bond over this as "minorities" in the oppression olympics. I have yet to find a way to convey to these women how wrong they are without sending them many articles they will not read. I wonder if putting viewers in activists shoes with intelligent VR can help them see why activism was, is, and always will be, important. I was super excited about the Solitary Confinement VR project at Tribeca (https://tribecafilm.com/stories/tribeca-film-festival-virtual-reality-francesca-panetta-immersive-experience-solitary-confinement), although scared to try it out myself.

Aside from brainstorming project ideas this week, I looked at several VR SDKs I may look to emulate, and did a lot of "research" with the Samsung Gear. I am excited to start programming this coming week!