A Holographic Future: Exploring the Capabilities of the Looking Glass Holographic Display

"ME: “Hey SIRI. What do you look like?”

When I was completing my master’s degree, I pondered this question a lot. If SIRI or any AI had a face, what would it look like? 

SIRI: “I imagine I probably look like colourful sound waves.”

I believe that the future of artificial intelligence (AI) will have a face—or, more accurately, many faces. But, rather than a device or the company that makes it determining what an AI looks like (inevitably giving us 3D variations on an old Winamp visualizer), appearances will be determined and customized by individual users—and will be every bit as varied as the live human beings interacting with them. 

In 2018, I demonstrated this idea in front of a class by creating the illusion of myself as an AI hologram. The set-up was simple—just a hacked CD jewel case and a cellphone video of my face, shot in a dark room with blue light—but the effect was convincing enough to capture the attention of my entire class, almost as if nothing else mattered but me and what I was presenting—as though I were the Wizard of Oz. 

This experience made me realize just how useful holograms (or the illusion of them) could be in helping increase engagement and combat distractions in a classroom. 

As is often the case, my curiosity eventually led me through the Looking Glass." --from the introduction