This event is organized by the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society.

Our weekly SRI Seminar Series welcomes Bree McEwan, an associate professor at the University of Toronto Mississauga’s Institute for Communication, Culture, Information and Technology, an associate director at the Data Sciences Institute, and a faculty affiliate at the Schwartz Reisman Institute. McEwan’s research is situated at the intersection of interpersonal communication and technology, and investigates how the dynamics of online social networks, virtual and augmented reality, and generative AI transform the human experience.

In this talk, McEwan will survey the use of generative AI in virtual environments and highlight potentially beneficial opportunities while also proposing areas of concern regarding ongoing social and virtual interactions with AI as well as areas for future exploration. This session will be moderated by Karina Vold.

Talk title:

“Generating the metaverse: Musings on agents, authenticity, and artificial intelligence in virtual reality”

Abstract:

Within virtual reality environments, there are emerging and interesting use cases for generative AI to help both create the metaverse through generative art as well as populate it through virtual agents powered by large language models. Social VR allows multiple users to synchronously interact in a shared virtual space. While these interactions currently mostly involve human users, advancements in generative AI will hasten the mass creation and integration of AI-controlled virtual agents in social VR. The possibilities for communication with virtual agents within VR lead to variety of potential opportunities such as offering training on difficult conversations, conflict, and support interactions while also presenting a series of concerns related to the training of such models as well as the way humans interpret messages from and engage with such virtual agents. McEwan will draw upon her expertise as an interpersonal communication scholar and her current work studying social interaction with virtual environments to propose areas of concern regarding ongoing interactions with AI as well as areas for future exploration.

About Bree McEwan

Bree McEwan is an associate professor in the Institute for Communication, Culture, Information and Technology at the University of Toronto, with a graduate appointment in the Tri-Campus Department of Sociology. She is an associate director for the Data Sciences Institute, and a faculty affiliate at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society. McEwan’s research is situated at the intersection of interpersonal communication and communication technology. Recent and current projects involve investigating relational communication through mediated channels including social media, the diffusion of issues information through online social networks, and understanding interpersonal communication processes in virtual reality. Related to this work is the underlying question of how advances in technology, including online communication, virtual and augmented reality, and generative AI transform the human experience. She has established the McEwan Mediated Communication Lab to investigate social and parasocial virtual reality experiences. 

McEwan is the author of Navigating New Media Networks (Lexington Books, 2015) and Interpersonal Encounters (Sage Vantage, 2022). She is currently a co-organizer of the International Communication Association Communication and Technology/Mobile Doctoral Consortium, the Post-API Conference (focused on social media data acquisition), and the Questioning Reality conference focused on scholarship related to social VR, funded by the Sloan Foundation. 

About the SRI Seminar Series

The SRI Seminar Series brings together the Schwartz Reisman community and beyond for a robust exchange of ideas that advance scholarship at the intersection of technology and society. Seminars are led by a leading or emerging scholar and feature extensive discussion.

Each week, a featured speaker will present for 45 minutes, followed by an open discussion. Registered attendees will be emailed a Zoom link before the event begins. The event will be recorded and posted online.

Note: Event details can change. Please visit the unit’s website for the latest information about this event.