Achi news desk-
Imagine looking at a plant or tree, only to see it labeled with its name and distribution, or following a virtual assistant through a crowd instead of looking at lines on a map.
Major companies like Apple, Meta and Google are investing billions to bring this next wave to consumers, and predict it will replace smartphones as people’s everyday devices of choice.
But with this brave new world comes dangers and academics are becoming increasingly concerned about the impact on people’s privacy and the sanctity of their personal data if everything can be revealed at once.
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A new policy report, launched today by the University of Glasgow’s Center for the Study of Perceptual Experience, has explored the risks and benefits AM/MR could bring to society.
The authors say now is the time to develop sound strategies to manage how this new technology is used, and have urged developers and policy makers to see the bigger picture.
More than 50 experts from universities, industry and public policy helped draft the study, which looks at the key areas they predict will be affected by the use of virtual devices.
Lead author Professor Fiona Macpherson, a philosopher in the University’s School of Humanities, said: “Augmented reality and mixed reality are fast-moving fields. The use of these technologies will be increasingly widespread in the coming years.
“Our project has identified core opportunities, and areas of risk, to enable ethical use of these technologies [and] makes specific recommendations to developers, industry, policy makers and research bodies, to guide early intervention and shape the technological path in a way that upholds the key values ​​of privacy, accessibility, autonomy and well-being.”
The main concern of the report is that personal information will be put at risk if the technology is widely used, with people losing control over what data can be captured by AR/MR devices.
Privacy can become a thing of the past unless steps are taken to ensure that everyone has control over their digital profile and that it is not shared without their approval.
Experts involved in the study anticipate the adoption of new mechanisms, such as wearable opt-out tags to allow realistic opt-out of AR/MR data capture.
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They also emphasized the need for better education among the public from an early age to help them navigate and stay safe in an increasingly digital world.
They also noted fears about how people would prevent their own identity or image from being captured and manipulated when everyone wears technology that can scan someone in a second, with the report saying an update may be needed defamation laws to prevent this from happening.
The authors of the reports also emphasized the action to prioritize public education around the autonomy risks of manipulating AR / MR and hidden influence, and giving users access to the data profiles used to customize their virtual content.
However, the experts also offered practical advice on how the public could use such technology and its impact, thinking about accessibility and the psychological and behavioral effects of AR/MR technology on users.
The authors called for the future design of AR / MR interfaces to be low cost and generally available, to ensure that all parts of society have access to the virtual space that is being built around them.
Overall, the report identifies six key risk domains for AR/MR – privacy, information integrity, identity representation, accessibility, autonomy, and well-being – and provides tailored recommendations for developers, industry, designers policy and researchers to address them.
Professor Ben Colburn, co-researcher and lead author of the report, said it contained over 20 specific recommendations aimed at getting key stakeholders – developers, industry, policy makers, researchers – moving in a positive direction for development AR/MR from the start.
Professor Colburn, a political philosopher at the University’s School of Humanities, added: “We recommend design standards that identify real virtual objects, and control for users and third parties over the collection and use of personal data and their digital identity.
“We also show that education is central to the positive individual, social and economic potential of AR: information about benefits and risks should be integrated into critical thinking curricula in schools, and in a digital literacy campaign for adults, focusing on the privacy risks new in question. in familiar activities.”
