Open talks Chapter 2
- 13:00 GMT - 14:00 GMT
- Emmanuel Keita
- Session 7
Yes, artificial intelligence exists, but it will not save the world !
The scientific reality of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is very different from the fantasies conveyed by a sci-fi marketing. As an example, the Covid19 pandemic has precisely highlighted the limits of "Deep Machine Learning" for decision making in crisis situations : like a colossus with feet of clay, this type of "AI" that specializes in reproducing the "big data" of the past is completely disoriented by novelty... More than ever we need to be able to reconcile the computing power of machines and the unique human business expertise to meet the real needs of decision makers !
- 14:00 GMT - 15:00 GMT
- Arthur Clay
- Session 7
The iJackers Guide to Social Protest in Public Space
The talk is inspired by diverse levels of agency in the arts. It covers past and present uses of communication technologies in the arts and how these intersect with social activism. Early examples of Flash and Smart Mobbing and the Twitter tirades of Ai Weiwei offer a basis of understanding of content and method of the process of social protest using virtual space. The examples are also used to establish "a guide", or a repertoire of common practice. More sophisticated levels of agency are approached through the latest examples of holographic (art) protests and Augmented Reality works that use the newest technologies in subversive ways in areas where either physical presence is impossible or where public assembly is repressed and the situation calls for more creative approaches to communicating and or demanding social change. The talk presentation takes a similar approach to Abbey Hoffmann's 1960's "Steal this Book" and being controversial in nature, the talks acts as a guid which makes the virtual domains of protest real and how to bring new possibilities of using socially disruptive performative acts. Coupled with the use of any and all means of technologies linked with physical or virtual presence, the talk concludes with the coming to the understanding that a need for change is key to innovation and social renewal, and to conceive possible scenarios for (art) works that use art as agency to advocate change.
- 15:00 GMT - 16:00 GMT
- Prof. Louis Rosenberg
- Session 7
From Augmented Reality to Hive Minds, a Thirty Year Journey in Extended Reality
Dr. Louis Rosenberg has spent thirty years working in the fields augmented reality, virtual reality, and human-computer interaction, starting in 1990 when he began developing the Virtual Fixtures platform for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).
Virtual Fixtures was the first immersive AR system ever built, enabling spatially-registered sights, sounds, and touch (haptics) to be overlaid upon a user’s perception of the real physical world. It employed a full upper-body exoskeleton to track human motion in 3D and generate haptic sensations that simulated the interaction with virtual objects in real-world spaces.
Combined with visual and audio feedback, the system enabled users to perform real manual tasks with significantly amplified dexterity. Rosenberg will review the Virtual Fixtures concept and the hardware that made it possible in the early 1990’s.
He will then jump thirty years to the present and describe how this early work on AR drove his research in an unexpected direction – towards building super-intelligent Hive Minds. Known as Swarm AI, this technology enables groups of networked users to “think together” in shared environments, significantly amplifying their combined intelligence. In recent studies with MIT, Oxford, Stanford, and California State University, Swarm AI has been shown to greatly amplify the accuracy of forecasts, decisions, estimations and diagnoses.
In one recent study, Swarm AI was shown to amplify the IQ of collaborating teams by 12 points. In another study, Swarm AI reduced the diagnostic errors of collaborating doctors by 33%. Rosenberg will describe how this technology could become a central capability of all VR and AR systems, enabling human groups to “think together” in shared environments, extending their combined mental capabilities to super-intelligent levels.
- 16:00 GMT - 17:00 GMT
- Mohamed BALGHOUTHI
- Session 7
Industrie 4.0 & Afrique : une fenêtre temporelle de 15 ans et une opportunité unique pour se positionner dans les nouveaux business mondiaux.
[FRENCH] En 2050, l’Humanité comptera autour des 10 Milliards de personnes, dont 1/4 d’africains (2,5 Milliards). En pyramide des ages, ce sera la population la plus jeune du Monde. L’Afrique, par ses ressources naturelles abondantes, par sa jeunesse et par toutes les infrastructures à construire, est l’Eldorado du XXIème Siècle : elle sera le 1er Marché du Monde. Une simple observation des principaux acteurs économiques du Continent et de leur comportement commercial et diplomatique nous prouve sans aucun doute possible que toutes les puissances de la planète souhaitent en être les partenaires, et pour longtemps. Et les approches de tous les pays du G20 ne sont pas les mêmes, notamment celle des BRICS : l’Afrique n’oublie pas la Conférence de Bandung, même plus de 60 ans après... Si nous prenons les deux équations de la Production et des Cost-Model, et que nous les mettions en perspective de la future démographie africaine, de ses besoins, des outils de la 4ème Révolution Industrielle, de l’accessibilité illimitée au Savoir gratuitement, une vraie réflexion sur la proposition de valeur socio-économique et industrielle se pose : - Quelle est la proposition de valeur de celles et ceux qui souhaitent être des partenaires de l’Afrique ? Répondre à cette question, c’est répondre à la réalisation d’une paix globale et durable bâtie sur une prospérité équitablement partagée.
- 17:00 GMT - 18:00 GMT
- Krzysztof Pietroszek, Ph.D
- Session 7
Artificial Reality Continuum and its applications to film, healthcare, arts, sciences
Artificial Reality Continuum and its applications to film, healthcare, arts, sciences
- 18:00 GMT - 19:00 GMT
- The Cyber-XR Coalition
- Session 7
The New Normal Of XR
Amidst the immersive tech industry’s obsession to create the next best killer app in VR and AR, we also see it dismissing the bigger picture that Extended Reality is a human journey and it brings along with it human-centered challenges. The human-centered design affords the XR industry an opportunity to actively address the human side of what’s brewing beneath the surface of our very existence – the impact and dire consequences of the lack of inclusion, equity, and accessibility in all the facets of our lives.
The same biases displayed in the headlines covering the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor cases are in fact the same biases that go into data sets and moderation tools that put people of color and historically marginalized populations at risk in immersive environments as well.
In this panel, the CyberXR Coalition discusses their unique approach to helping build safe and inclusive environments in XR, while shifting the mindset to create awareness of these very issues and draw a baseline via standards and frameworks to potentially provide solutions coupled with strategic collaboration.