Lauren Trimble, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences & School of Public and International Affairs, Department of Psychology & Criminal Justice Studies Program, Psychology & Criminal Justice, 1st year
Joshua Achiu, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, School of Computing & Institute for Artificial, Intelligence, Intended Computer Science & Cognitive Science, 1st year
ZoneOut aims to provide users of all demographic backgrounds with an accessible opportunity to express their emotions through written word (in a journal format) and in turn receive a brilliantly immersive virtual reality experience accompanied by calming music tailored directly to the user’s written input with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) tools ChatGPT, Dall-E, and MusicGen. Through interacting with the ZoneOut experience, the user effectively builds their own virtual environment and tailors their own audiovisual escape experience, colloquially allowing the user to “zone out” and divert their active attention from their stressors.
After the user completes their “journal entry” on the website’s home page and presses the “Generate” button, ChatGPT, DALL-E 3, and MusicGen quickly work together to produce a one-of-a-kind rotating AI image (most oftentimes a nature scene) along with a music piece derived directly from reverse-coding the verbiage and emotions expressed in the journal entry. After being presented with this audiovisual media, the user is given the ability to scroll back and forth through the 2-dimensional ai-generated image (although the image automatically rotates without the user’s communication) and has the option to mute the accompanying music. In doing so, ZoneOut serves as an ever-accessible and easily digestible method of providing a means for escape.