OceanSpeak - Immersive Conversations with an AI Virtual Seal for Enhancing Ocean Literacy
Short description
The project "OceanSpeak" recently received support from the Swedish Research Council Formas to develop a virtual seal that will use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual Reality (VR) to make life below the surface more accessible.
Equipped with VR headset and handheld controllers, museum visitors will be able to interact with a seal in virtual underwater environments. By asking the seal questions, visitors will learn more about the seal's habitat and how it is affected by the acidification of the oceans.
About the project
Ocean resources are degrading from human activities. One of the pressing marine environmental issues is ocean acidification. An important step to mitigating the negative effects of human activities on the ocean is to make people aware of their influence on the ocean and vice versa (i.e., increase their ocean literacy). However, this is made difficult by the remote nature of the ocean and the invisibility of many marine issues.
A solution to the challenge associated with marine environmental education is immersive virtual reality (VR). Equipped with head-mounted displays and hand-held controllers,
VR users can engage with virtual marine environments that seem real. In the OceanSpeak project, we propose to leverage state-of-the-art immersive VR and artificial intelligence (AI) by creating an immersive underwater world where museum visitors in Sweden can converse with a beloved species, an AI-powered virtual seal.
OceanSpeak will create two communication activities designed to provide first-hand experiences with ocean acidification and its effects on marine wildlife. Our goal is to impact four key dimensions of ocean literacy:
- ocean acidification knowledge
- ocean attitudes
- emotional connection to the ocean
- pro-environmental behaviors.
As a proof of concept, we plan to deploy the activities at two Swedish museums. Ultimately, we plan to expand OceanSpeak to other science centers in the Nordic countries and beyond.
Multidisciplinary team
- Géraldine Fauville, Associate Professor in Education, University of Gothenburg
- Gustav Petersen, Postdoctoral Fellow in Educational Psychology, University of Copenhagen
- Sam Dupont, Associate Professor of Marine Biology, University of Gothenburg
- Karl-Johan Nylén, Communications Officer, University of Gothenburg
- Björn Källström, Marine Biologist and Development Manager, Maritime Museum and Aquarium
- Renée Göthberg, Programme and Exhibition Manager, Gothenburg Museum of Natural History.
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