February 19th at 9:37am

Pretend gamer-workshop

There are countless things beyond our reach—physical constraints, cognitive limitations, and societal boundaries that prevent us from becoming someone else. I have often dreamed of stepping into the shoes of a character in a story, navigating the boundless transformations of a magical world. I have wondered what it would feel like to exist as something other than myself. In the past, literature gave form to these fantasies through words, and later, cinema brought us even closer to our imagined realities. With the advancement of digital simulation, we can now construct our own virtual identities, shaping a hero in three-dimensional space and dictating their every move.

Yet, no matter how far technology progresses, it cannot truly allow us to become another person. As users, we can assume another’s perspective through a screen—experiencing, for instance, the battlefield through the eyes of a soldier in a shooting game. We accept that the people we encounter in such virtual realms are strangers. But what if they were our real-life friends and family? The collision of these two disparate worlds breeds a strange discomfort. Stranger still, if I were to view myself from this simulated perspective—as just another unfamiliar figure—then who, indeed, am I?

This methodology of empathizing with objects or others originates from my mentor Kosta’s concept of ‘Diapathy.’ Diapathy invites us to abandon our human-centered viewpoint and perceive the world as an object might. Though current VR and metaverse technologies attempt to simulate this sensation, they engage only our sensory faculties—vision, hearing, motion—offering, at best, a superficial approximation. They do not truly encapsulate what it means to "become" an object. Yet existence is not bound solely to material form. One could, in theory, "be" a cup—experiencing the world as a cup does, sensing its weight, its fragility, and even the moment it is discarded.

We cannot contemplate the realm of consciousness without first anchoring it in the material world. Descartes' dualism separated the physical from the mental, much like the relationship between hardware and software. Hardware requires software to function, just as software needs hardware to manifest itself. Inevitably, the two intertwine, dependent upon one another. Diapathy offers an interpretation of this interdependence: software materializes through hardware, leveraging its physical vessel to attain existence. Yet, while hardware is distinguishable by its form, software is not. Two identical software systems, even if indistinguishable in code, can behave entirely differently with only a slight variation in processing.

Existence is not confined to our corporeal form; we transcend our physical appearance. If we could find a way to detach from our flesh and immerse ourselves in a world where we could do anything, be anyone, and contemplate any idea without constraint, then the limitations of our earthly reality would become insignificant. In such a realm, boundless and unhindered, we would be free to explore, create, and exist beyond the confines of identity and form.

With the rise of artificial intelligence, this new technology offers us unprecedented possibilities for deep simulation. AI can resurrect lost loved ones or bring to life the historical figures we admire, allowing us to converse with and interact with them. This renders the realm of imagination more intimate, more personalized. Yet, tragically, as adults, we are burdened by biases and preconceptions. Unlike children, who embrace the world with fresh, untainted minds, we struggle to believe in the authenticity of what technology conjures before us.

Children, by contrast, trust their perceptions and believe that the objects around them possess their own thoughts and secret worlds. Consider the living toys of Toy Story, or the miniature realms of It Takes Two—it is precisely this unprejudiced belief that allows them to connect so effortlessly with objects, to step beyond their own perspective and into another’s.

In this project, I hope to transcend the boundaries of materiality and identity, granting players the freedom to imagine themselves as anyone they wish, much like a child unshackled by rigid definitions of self. I can be a young sorcerer in a magical realm, or a master weaponsmith in a cybernetic world. There is no profound meaning behind this endeavor—AI, as an emerging technology, simply offers me a gateway to boundless imagination, and I wish to bring those imagined possibilities to life.

1 / Title of your project

Diapathy: Immersive Identity Experience Beyond Self-Boundaries

2 / Describe your project in one sentence Be as concise as possible

This is an experimental interactive experience that uses artificial intelligence and immersive technologies to allow users to temporarily "become" another entity, breaking the boundaries between material and identity to perceive the world from a completely new perspective.

3 / Document and argue a universe of reference projects Be fairly direct here. Normally you have your project well in mind, and have even started to shape it, so show one or more references that are very close to the aesthetic result of what you want to achieve.

"Everything" (David OReilly, 2017) — This allows players to become anything, from microscopic particles to cosmic entities, providing a new way to understand existence. "The Machine to be Another" — It uses VR technology to allow users to "become" another person in the first-person perspective, exploring the boundaries of empathy. "Detroit: Become Human" — This interactive narrative explores the intersection of artificial intelligence and identity, which resonates closely with the themes of my project. These projects all involve identity transformation, immersive experiences, and non-traditional interactive methods, which are highly aligned with the concept and technology of this project.

4 / Describe your project in more detail and why it makes sense in relation to the use of AI What you want to say and do in absolute terms beyond your current technical limitations. As a reminder, you can make a video to compensate for any technical limitations. Be clear about the benefits of using AI in your project, and in particular about your position on its use, both positive and negative.

This project explores the experience of "becoming another" and uses artificial intelligence to provide a more authentic self-recognition for virtual identities. Specifically: User Experience: Users can choose to become an entirely different entity, such as a futuristic AI engineer living in a cyber world or a thousand-year-old bronze artifact. Through audio-visual, haptic feedback, and AI-driven behavior simulations, users not only observe the world of the identity but also interact with it in a unique way. Role of AI: The core functions of AI in this project include: Identity Creation: AI generates highly personalized virtual identities based on user input (e.g., voice, behavior preferences, background stories) and assigns them consistent logic and behaviors. Immersive Interaction: AI enables the virtual identity to interact with other users and AI characters, using natural language understanding and generation (LLM) technologies to engage in real-time conversations. Environmental Adaptation: AI dynamically adjusts the user's virtual experience, enabling them to immerse deeply in the new identity's world through computer vision and behavior modeling.

5 / Describe the visitor's usage scenario or that of the video Sequence step by step how your project will be used. In other words, just the user experience, which will either be in real time if you're proposing an installation, or a video montage.

Identity Setting: Users can describe the character they want to become, such as "I want to become an AI engineer in a future world" or "I want to become a fox in the forest." Interactive Exploration: Users can interact with the environment and NPCs, with AI adapting to the user's behaviors to create a smooth and natural experience.

**6 / What technical resources will you use to carry out your project? Here you need to detail :

• The workflow for creating the assets for your project. With or without AI.
• The AI tools your project requires to run.
• Can it be run locally or online?
• Is there any specific hardware to be used or purchased?**