To Reduce AI Costs, Google Wants to Ditch Broadcom as Its TPU Server Chip SupplierRead more

Stanford's Jeremy Bailenson. Photo provided by Bailenson

TI Reality Check: How a Stanford Professor is Using VR to Measure Minds

By  |  April 29, 2021 11:00 AM PDT
Photo: Stanford's Jeremy Bailenson. Photo provided by Bailenson

Since 2003, Jeremy Bailenson, a cognitive psychologist who leads Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, has been at the forefront of studying the use and potential impacts of AR and VR. His work touches on how the technologies can change human perception and the ways that they can be leveraged to monitor and understand our minds.

In a recent interview with The Information, Bailenson told me about one of his most recent efforts, a consulting gig with HP Labs on a new VR headset coming out next month that is equipped with sensors and software that are geared for academic research and enterprise training purposes. The $1,250 headset, the Reverb G2 Omnicept, has trackers for the face, eyes and pupil size along with a heart rate sensor. Bailenson helped shape how the Omnicept’s software uses those sensors to measure cognitive load, a measure of how mentally engaging or exhausting given tasks are for people.

Access on the go
View stories on our mobile app and tune into our weekly podcast.
Join live video Q&A’s
Deep-dive into topics like startups and autonomous vehicles with our top reporters and other executives.
Enjoy a clutter-free experience
Read without any banner ads.
OpenAI's Greg Brockman (left) and Google's Demis Hassabis (right). Photos by Getty.
AI Agenda google ai
OpenAI Hustles to Beat Google to Launch ‘Multimodal’ LLM
As fall approaches, Google and OpenAI are locked in a good ol’ fashioned software race, aiming to launch the next generation of large-language models: multimodal.
Photo by Getty
Exclusive google ai
Google Nears Release of Gemini AI to Challenge OpenAI
Google has given a small group of companies access to an early version of its highly anticipated conversational artificial intelligence software, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Flexport founder, Ryan Petersen. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.
Exclusive e-commerce
Flexport’s Revenue Dropped 70% in First Half of 2023
Flexport’s revenue fell nearly 70% in the first half of the year to $700 million and the company burned through cash, people familiar with the company’s financials said.
From left, a Google TPU, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan and Google Cloud chief Thomas Kurian. Photos via Getty, Google and YouTube.
Exclusive google semiconductors
To Reduce AI Costs, Google Wants to Ditch Broadcom as Its TPU Server Chip Supplier
Google executives have extensively discussed dropping Broadcom as a supplier of artificial intelligence chips as early as 2027, according to a person with direct knowledge of the effort.
Org Charts enterprise Finance
The People in Power at Tech Private Equity Juggernaut Thoma Bravo
Orlando Bravo may be the face of Thoma Bravo, but he’s not the only one calling the shots. The hard-charging, helicopter-riding managing partner has become the most recognizable person at the software-focused private equity firm.
Gigafund co-founders Luke Nosek and Stephen Oskoui. Art by Clark Miller; Oskoui photo courtesy Gigafund.
The Big Read space entertainment
The Elon Musk Investors With Dreams of a New Social Order
In February 2021, a Mormon film producer named Jeffrey Harmon returned home to Provo, Utah, raving about an exclusive gathering he’d just attended in Austin, Tex.