How do our brain and consciousness work? VR can help us find out

You started your career as a biologist and pharmacologist, and today you are a frequent speaker on issues related to digital innovation and virtual reality. When and how did technology cross your professional path? 

Technology crossed my path during my early years of life science and pharmacological research. While collaborating with International research teams first in France, then in Austria, I realized the potential of digital technologies in pushing the boundaries of my work, accelerating innovation and providing meaningful value in healthcare and beyond. Back in 2015 I started attentioning Extended Reality (XR) technologies in bridging gaps within the healthcare sector, especially in supporting patient experience in the clinical context and this propelled me towards the application of immersive tech and the development of practical solutions to solve real-world challenges, embracing an entrepreneurial path as a startup founder. 

You are working on creating e-health innovations - could you tell us what digital health actually is? What are the differences with telemedicine? 

Digital health encompasses a broad spectrum of technologies used to enhance patient care, healthcare services, and wellness. It includes telemedicine, mobile health apps, wearable devices, and virtual reality solutions, among others. On the other hand, telemedicine is a subset of digital health, primarily focusing on delivering medical services remotely via digital communication tools. 

Can technology replace medicines - in which cases? 

Technology can complement traditional medicine in certain scenarios, such as in pain management or alleviating mental health issues. For example, the VR solutions we’ve developed at Softcare Studios are designed for drug-free stress and pain management for patients undergoing medical treatments, with the specific goal of providing an alternative to traditional sedation and minimizing the downsides that result from it. However, technology cannot replace medicines entirely and should be seen as a tool strategically to be integrated within wider therapeutic protocols. 

Virtual reality is booming - what are the most advanced, disruptive and interesting innovations with VR right now? 

The VR realm is witnessing a surge of innovations. First of all, we’re witnessing an evident shift towards commercially available and affordable mixed reality, with new hardware interfaces enabling access to both fully immersive and quality passthrough experiences, something I call a blended reality approach. This flexibility better fits the complexity of our life needs, increases the applicability of the technology in a variety of contexts and facilitates the development of agile solutions for developers. Also, VR is rapidly converging with multiple technologies, such as AI and the blockchain, generating new paradigms of digital experiences, services and products. And we cannot forget the increased data collection features embedded in current devices, enabling a more accurate understanding of individuals’ behaviour, facilitating the interaction with virtual worlds with natural UX and opening new scenarios for content personalization at scale. 

AI + VR: How does artificial intelligence enhance virtual reality immersion? Conversely, how does VR technology help improve algorithms? 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and VR are symbiotic. AI enhances VR immersion by enabling more realistic simulations and personalized experiences, while VR provides a unique platform for training and refining AI algorithms through real-world simulations and data collection. The convergence with AI, especially within the context of the current wave of generative AI, dramatically increases the access to content creation (the incoming paradigm of world crafting through “text-to-virtual worlds” operations), allowing individuals and teams to better focus on aligning the content to the real needs of final users. From the next generation of virtual humans and hyperrealistic avatars to virtual environments customized around human biometrics, they all are the result of the productive mix of VR and AI. Of course, the mix of new opportunities is mirrored by a mix of new potential threats and challenges that need to be addressed.

As VR advances, there is an increased sense of realism - more philosophically and psychologically speaking, how are these technologies changing our perceptions of reality? 

The enhanced realism brought about by VR is altering our perception of reality, blurring the lines between the virtual and the physical, lines we’ve been used to recognize as absolute and unchangeable. This psychological shift challenges our understanding of consciousness and identity, raising profound questions about our existence in a rapidly digitizing world. VR  emerges as a fascinating new lens through which to observe and study how our brain and mind work: it can help us understand how we establish our body’s perception through the exotic possibility of embodying multiple avatars on demand; it can inform us how we develop biases and habits; it shows us our brain does not prefer a specific reality, but evolved to adapt to any reality in order to protect us and ensure our survival based on physical laws it is able to quantify and model from the senses. From my perspective, it is a unique tool we can use to explore the depths of our human identity and behaviour, something that can happen to the extent we’re ready to understand the technology and use it responsibly. Otherwise, the same research potential can be used for malicious interventions, such as manipulation and persuasion in ways we’re not supposed to recognize and identify, and thus to counteract.

Deepfake content is finding ground almost everywhere. What is the situation with fakes in virtual realities and where are the critical points? 

In virtual worlds individuals embody computer-generated avatars: this creates multiple opportunities to deliver visuals and voice that are crafted on demand to fake someone else. Current technology allows to collection of complex data from people visiting VR platforms and potentially steals those data profiles to recreate the same motor and behavioural patterns that can be delivered with no actual control to the audience of virtual worlds. Fakes in VR are actually easier than in video content, where generative AI is already disrupting our certainties at a unique speed. This leads to the need to establish more solid digital identity standards, in order to couple our virtual presence with a trustful identity. Lack of trust in virtual worlds can become a serious issue when we consider platforms enabling access to young individuals who can find themselves in the company of unwanted or harmful adults. Also, with the spread of virtual solutions aimed at professional applications, a trustful virtual identity becomes paramount to ensure accountability, security and privacy.

On October 26, you'll join AI N' CYBER CONFERENCE 2023 for a panel dedicated to ethical issues in a time of rapidly evolving innovation. What are the ethical challenges you will focus on?  

I'll delve into the ethical conundrums posed by rapid technological advancements and the convergence of multiple technologies, especially focusing on data privacy, cognitive manipulation, the challenges in the field of child safety, and the potential for digital discrimination. Highlighting these challenges, I aim to foster a dialogue that will hopefully lead to more proactive, responsible and inclusive digital innovation.