What would you do if you were abducted by an alien and forced to argue for your own freedom? Utilizing a unique blend of virtual reality and generative AI, When They Came for Us takes the next step in storytelling as a tool for advocacy. In this experience, our participants are in the place of someone who has been abducted by a powerful extra-terrestrial who then asks them to defend the position that the alien should not simply use them for their own pleasure as humans do with other animals. The participant can speak to the alien through the headset’s microphone, and the alien then responds in kind to whatever is said through the latest AI language software.
The exprience is meant to feel like a fluid back-and-forth, similar to a real discussion between two people, versus a scripted narrative of closed-answer prompts. The participant can truly engage with the alien in a much more natural and honest way, leading to the development of empathy for others.
PETA opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview, and focuses its attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: in laboratories, in the food industry, in the clothing trade, and in the entertainment business. PETA works through promoting empathy toward other animals through public education, investigative newsgathering and reporting, research, animal rescue, legislation, special events, celebrity involvement, protest campaigns, and the use of emerging technology.
Developed in conjunction with Demodern, a leading German-based software development company specializing in VR and AR technology, the strategy was to build off of the work in technology-driven projects PETA has been developing for over a decade while also finding new ways to use storytelling as well as new and innovative emerging technology that will entice people to engage with the experience. PETA is using When They Came for Us as part of its college-based outreach initiatives, with the experience traveling around the United States with a team of people who engage with students through the technology to further our mission of overcoming speciesism and helping develop empathy for other animals.
The experience is available for free through the Meta store and usable on all Meta Quest 2, 3 and Pro headsets.
When They Came for Us has been well received by those who have gotten to use the experience, finding it to be a very natural and casual way to engage with the subject matter as well as finding the technology itself to be exciting. In the fall of 2024, we took the experience out to a handful of universities where we engaged with students, professors, and administrators. At Eastern Michigan University a philosophy professor who tried the experience said it felt like he was talking to an extremely informed and well-educated activist about the subject. He noted that he was impressed by how clearly the virtual alien he was conversing with understood what he was saying and came up with unique responses to each of his questions and answers. Lowering the bar for people to engage with their own biases on a topic is exactly the kind of work we aim to do with this technology, and we're excited for what the future holds.
