Brendan Bradley is an actor and storyteller who got into real-time animation systems and social VR during the pandemic, and then starting putting on live theatre shows in Virtual Reality both onsite, hybrid, and in-venue, and fully virtual. He co-founded OnBoardXR, which has been embracing accessible technology like WebXR and social VR via Mozilla Hubs, which has enabled his immersive shows to be available on mobile phones, tablets, PCs, and virtual reality headsets.

Since the beginning, OnBoardXR has featured projects that have integrated AI systems for generating scripts, and most recently Bradley put on a show called Degenerate VR featuring generative AI images that audience members within a social VR context were able to prompt. Bradley takes more of a skeptical take on AI deconstructing the current state of generative AI in relation to human labor and creativity as well as some of the potentials and perils of the technology. OnBoardXR has been on the forefront of integrating open web and immersive technologies for live performance, and is pushing forward on what's possible in immersive and interactive theatre.

There is an experimental and avant-garde vibe to most of the shows I've attended, and AI has been thematically integrating into many of the recent segments. I had a chance to break it all down with Bradley at AWE, and we brainstorm a bit more on how generative AI could help facilitate group conversations and explorations on specific topics as long as there is a deliberate invitation or incisive question provided to the audience. There's a lot of potential for how some of these AI technologies could facilitate novel social social dynamics and interactions (see Frankenstein AI at Sundance 2019 and their subsequent AI-facilitated group discussions at DocLab 2019).

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Music: Fatality