OceanSpeak - Immersive Conversations with an AI Virtual Seal for Enhancing Ocean Literacy

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 (1) ocean acidification and (2) 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, and 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.