You've probably seen the viral social video of an Apple Vision Pro user controlling a new virtual reality headset at his fingertips on the New York City subway. He swipes and clicks the air and it's like he's in another world.
The internet is full of videos like this of users wearing the lenses in the real world (even courtside at NBA games), but a quick search of social media posts reveals an overwhelming number of early adopters. You can see that they are predominantly male and overwhelmingly white. . Here's a look at who the $3,499 virtual reality headset is designed for, and how this technology will affect the lives of women, people of color, and other marginalized groups, from public safety concerns to wearability. It raises questions about how it fits into life.
Users of Subway Vision Pro are not directly causing trouble to anyone, and it would not be considered an act of illegal proliferation, but it is worth considering how the lens will affect public spaces. said Kishona Gray, an associate professor and researcher at the University of Kentucky. The intersection of women, race, and technology design.
Wearable technology has a long history with racist and gendered implications. Research shows that artificial intelligence technology is rife with bias and discrimination, reflecting and amplifying real-world inequalities in content generation (such as associating negative emotions with non-white men). ing. Facial recognition systems have struggled to recognize Black people, raising concerns about equal opportunity in new technologies that are becoming increasingly powerful in our lives, from employment to international travel.
And when these systems find non-white people, they are often recognized in the context of surveillance and police programs.
The problem, Gray said, is that masculinity is the “standard operating system” in technology design. “Right now, they have a very narrow set of users in mind for this technology.”
Wearable technology has a history of racial and gender issues
Gray likened this technology moment to the launch of Pokémon Go, the wildly popular augmented reality game that allows users to find Pokémon anywhere in the environment. Users running around public spaces trying to “catch” Pokemon have stepped into new boundaries regarding socially acceptable uses of technology and what this usage means for marginalized groups. .
The black children Gray works with in the Kentucky community have to consider different concerns than white children when playing Pokemon GO, such as being exposed to other people while running around. Children need to consider how they will be perceived, whether that attention could provoke violence, and what children should do, she said. response.
Watching Vision Pro review videos shot by technology enthusiasts in carefully designed home studios or walking around major U.S. cities, you'll realize just how few Americans get to see this kind of technology in their daily lives. The associate professor said that this was a great reminder.
“I'm from Kentucky, and if you were to travel to the eastern part of the state, you don't have the infrastructure to use (Vision Pro) because in some places cell phones are almost non-existent,” Gray said. He added that promoting basic access to technology and its responsible use should occur before new innovations become widely available.
University of Kentucky academics and other experts say Vision Pro is clearly designed with inclusion in mind, but only time will tell if the technology is truly available to everyone. There is.
The Apple Watch isn't made for skin like mine.We all deserve technology that works for everyone.
Who can use Vision Pro in public?
So what kind of person would feel okay covering their eyes and waving their arms in the air in front of an audience of strangers?
According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 81% of women and 43% of men in the United States report experiencing some form of sexual harassment or assault in their lifetime. Enduring racism affects Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders living in U.S. cities. Last year saw the highest number of reported police killings, with black Americans most likely to be victims.
Apple calls Vision Pro an “infinite canvas,” but this claim means that public spaces, let alone virtual realms, cannot be experienced in the same way across racial or gender boundaries. appears to be ignoring the issue, Gray said.
“Can you imagine a group of black boys doing that and the threat that might create? Or can you imagine a group of women doing that and the attention it would bring? ” Gray said. “Most people who watch our unveiling videos and reaction videos are just seeing how amazing this technology is. It's beautiful, but it's rooted in so much privilege.”
Meanwhile, Jasmine Uniza, founder of virtual reality consultancy Impact Reality XR, said the technology may help users feel safer. That's because when you're wearing technology, you look up at your phone instead of down to get an idea of what's going on around you.
Apple says Vision Pro can “continuously listen to certain sounds” such as a doorbell to notify users, but it does not “rely” on Vision Pro to hear sounds that could alert users to dangerous situations. I'm warning you.
Uniza said he would like to use the headset outside of his home, but it is too risky.
“Physically, it's 5 feet. If someone tries to take it away from me, I can't stop them,” said Uniza, who spent $4,500 on the headset.
hair, makeup, head strap
Both Uniza and Gray echoed concerns about the Vision Pro's wearability. Uniza talks a lot about the types of straps and often buys his straps from third-party companies that better balance virtual reality hardware overhead. She says the Vision Pro's soft fabric straps seem like a promising innovation for lying down and comfortably styling hair for a variety of hair types, but she also notes that the Vision Pro's soft fabric straps seem like a promising innovation for lying down and comfortably styling hair for a variety of hair types, but that they can also be worn over the head “like a hat” to improve comfort. I mentioned that I would likely buy a “bulky” replacement strap to put it on. When wearing the headset for a long time.
Apple recommends sliding the strap over your head for the best fit, but the adjustment isn't easy for people with limited fine motor skills, says California-based Accessibility.com. said Stephen Aquino, a tech writer who focuses on
Apple offers a variety of accessibility features for visual, audio, and physical controls, including hearing aid compatibility. If Aquino doesn't have his right eye set straight, he can choose to operate the headset with left eye input only.
Nevertheless, he has a stutter and is concerned that he will have to rely on other control options if the headset cannot understand his voice commands.
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Aquino said the extra-large screen will make entertainment and FaceTime more comfortable, but added, “The challenge is not what this will change for me, but finding out what the headset can do for me.” .I'm not convinced about what it is yet. ”
Gray said she doesn't want to wear a headset that weighs 23 ounces (Meta's Oculus Quest 2, one of the most popular virtual reality headsets, is 17.7 ounces) and is concerned about users with different hairstyles that won't allow her to wear it. He said that there is. Easily lays flat under gear like dreads, braids, hair braids, etc.
Marketing for Apple's headset featured a black woman with her curls tied back in a high ponytail. Gray said the image exploits a “cool black aesthetic” and “commercialized ghetto cool” to sell the product as “hip-hop,” but black people using this tool Many things remain unresolved about the experience (for example, how dark makeup will discolor when the inside of the headset is white).
“Can black women who look like her actually use the product?” Gray said in response to the campaign. “A lot of us are going to be thinking, 'What are we going to do with our hair?' … Let's get a group of black girls here and actually wear it.”
There are also concerns about the physical presentation in the Vision Pro. His FaceTiming with the headset is done using a persona that mimics the user's body, rather than the actual video that the iPhone uses.
Uniza is used to using avatars in her work in virtual reality and enjoys spending time creating versions of herself on other systems that feel authentic. But she said Vision Pro's customization options are too limited for self-expression.
Her persona's jaw is larger and rounder than her actual face, and she doesn't like the washed-out, blurry, 1980s-style quality of her persona. Although she felt that the representation of her body was not accurate, she told Vision that she did not get the impression that professionals were imposing beauty standards or standards on her body.
“It wasn't successful yet, but I felt like it was meant to be a mirror rather than a commentary,” Uniza said of the character.
“Adding women” does not mean inclusion.
Mr Gray said Vision Pro was a “beautiful and innovative” product and he was looking forward to bringing the technology into the classroom and teaching university students about the ethical use of its features. But for now, she thinks the launch will follow the pattern of past hardware announcements she's been studying, with Apple likely offering an initial launch before developing a headset for broader public use cases. He said he is waiting to see what kind of hacking and moderation users generate.
But in the tech and gaming industries, these early adopters have historically been white men, meaning marginalized groups are often left behind in creative evolution, said the University of Kentucky assistant professor. . Technology would probably look a lot different if women and people of color were included from the beginning, she says. Instead, they are incorporated late in the process to create an “add female and stir” effect.
“At the idea stage, only a few people are making decisions that affect all of us,” Gray said. “If we don’t have women in that conversation and other groups, we won’t be able to think about what that full range of experiences could be like.”
Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer for USA TODAY.
