Is it Me? Toward Self-Extension to AI Avatars in Virtual Reality

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Zhang, Jieying, Villa, Steeven, Ali, Abdallah El
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Zhang, Jieying
Villa, Steeven
Ali, Abdallah El
author_facet Zhang, Jieying
Villa, Steeven
Ali, Abdallah El
contents Advances in generative AI, speech synthesis, and embodied avatars enable systems that not only assist communication, but can act as proxies on users' behalf. Prior work in HCI has largely focused on systems as external tools, with less attention paid to the experiential consequences of users' speech and actions becoming assimilated with AI-generated output. We introduce the design and implementation of ProxyMe, a work-in-progress VR prototype that allows users to embody an avatar whose voice and spoken content are modified by an AI system. By combining avatar-based embodiment, voice cloning, and AI-mediated speech augmentation, ProxyMe invites the exploration of avatar self-extension: situations in which AI-modified communication is experienced as part of one's own expressive behavior. We chart out research challenges and envisioned scenarios, with a focus on how varying degrees of delegation and steerability can influence perceived agency, authorship, and self-identification.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_06030
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Is it Me? Toward Self-Extension to AI Avatars in Virtual Reality
Zhang, Jieying
Villa, Steeven
Ali, Abdallah El
Human-Computer Interaction
H.5.m; H.5.2
Advances in generative AI, speech synthesis, and embodied avatars enable systems that not only assist communication, but can act as proxies on users' behalf. Prior work in HCI has largely focused on systems as external tools, with less attention paid to the experiential consequences of users' speech and actions becoming assimilated with AI-generated output. We introduce the design and implementation of ProxyMe, a work-in-progress VR prototype that allows users to embody an avatar whose voice and spoken content are modified by an AI system. By combining avatar-based embodiment, voice cloning, and AI-mediated speech augmentation, ProxyMe invites the exploration of avatar self-extension: situations in which AI-modified communication is experienced as part of one's own expressive behavior. We chart out research challenges and envisioned scenarios, with a focus on how varying degrees of delegation and steerability can influence perceived agency, authorship, and self-identification.
title Is it Me? Toward Self-Extension to AI Avatars in Virtual Reality
topic Human-Computer Interaction
H.5.m; H.5.2
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.06030