What’s next for augmented reality? [MIT Tech Review]

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10.28 We’re now going to take a half-an-hour break, and when we come back we’re talking all things body tech. See you on the other side!

10.20 AR works best in environments such as museums, galleries or other cultural institutions when it’s least expected, says Cason. Layering an AR experience over the top of a piece of art that’s already beautiful risks detracting from it, she says, whereas if you put an experience around something like a sign, or a box, people are surprised and delighted to interact with it—which is exactly the kind of reaction its creators want.

A metaverse-style approach to AR is not something she can ever see taking off. “I don’t want to fully invest in an AR or VR world,” she says. “I’m not super-excited about it because AR is for a specific time, it doesn’t work properly when it’s on all the time.”

10.10 AR is a more natural way of interacting with technology than VR, says Murphy, because it tallies with the way we move through the world, including how we move our heads to look around us. “AR really aligns to how we as humans already naturally operate,” he adds.

“AR is a key component of our ability to drive engagement and enable people to do some fun and really exciting things,” he says.

“It’s true there’s a lot of potential privacy risks in the way AR is used,” he adds. “We look to always put a time limit and an expiration date on data and keep it for the minimum amount of time needed to get it to work effectively.”

09.50 Next on the agenda is augmented reality (AR)—the technology we use to layer digital elements including everything from interactive filters to gaming assets into our real-world environment.

Joining Charlotte onstage is Lauren Cason, a creative technologist who’s worked on award-winning video games including the charming Monument Valley 2, and Bobby Murphy, one of the cofounders and current CTO of Snap.

09.45 As a society, we need a project, says McCourt. He wants to know where the innovation is, and where we can find the space for discussions regardless of politics, backgrounds, race and ethnicity. Focusing on a single project, such as the race to get a man on the moon, or the human genome project, helps to focus people’s attentions and heighten the likelihood of actually achieving something.

“We’re in a new Cold War,” he says. “We want all democracies to get involved with Project Liberty, but Europe seems like the place to start because they’re ahead in terms of public policy objectives, such as human rights. In the US, our technology is being used much more like it is in China because it’s centralized, our data is scooped up and can be used to manipulate people.”

09.25 If our information is corrupted, everything just becomes noise, says McCourt. Focusing primarily on fixing the inherent problems with social media doesn’t mean it’s the be all and end all when it comes to cleaning up the internet, but it’s a worthwhile place to start because of its disproportionate power. “I just don’t think tweaking what we have is going to work,” he says. “This is the moment right now to fix the internet—and get it right this time.”

09.10 What will it take to remake the internet into a fairer, more equitable place? Frank H. McCourt, Jr, a civic entrepreneur and the CEO of investment firm McCourt Global, believes the current internet is built on a fundamentally broken model. Instead, he believes, we should be looking to a new internet architecture built around the needs of users, rather than corporations.

09.00 Hello, and welcome back to the final day of EmTech 2022! I’m Rhiannon, a reporter at MIT Technology Review, and today we’re going to be focusing on the technologies that hold the biggest potential to change our lives, one innovation at a time.

We’re going to dive straight in with some welcome remarks from our news editor, Charlotte Jee.

Come back to this page for rolling updates throughout the day as we kick off the final day of EmTech 2022, MIT Technology Review’s flagship event on emerging technology and global trends.

Global changemakers, innovators, and industry veterans will take to the stage ​​to distinguish what’s probable, plausible, and possible with tomorrow’s breakthrough technologies.

We’ll be hearing from some of the biggest names in the industry, discussing everything from how to get promising ideas off the ground and commercialize space, to building tomorrow’s AI and tackling the world’s biggest challenges. 

Today we’ll be focusing on unpacking what the future holds for Web 3.0, body tech, and AI. Yesterday’s schedule explored the exciting technologies promising to change our lives.

Programming starts at 9am ET, and it’s not too late to get online-only access tickets, if you haven’t already.