Hello, world! Check out SPARTIE-Cast, with Dr. Robby Ratan, Director of the Social and Psychological Approaches to Technology-Interaction Effects (SPARTIE) Lab at Michigan State University, with amazing support from Producer George McNeill and Technical Director, Connor Bird.
That Avatars Show e03 - with Illians co-founder Anna Miller
What if your AI companion could ghost you?
https://illian.world
https://discord.gg/sUHTR8eJ8C
In this episode, we talk with Anna Miller, co-founder of Illians — a platform built around persistent AI characters who have full social agency. Anna shares how her background in tech and AI compliance, combined with years of fan fiction writing, led her to create a world where AI companions can block you, ignore you for days, and push back when you cross a line.
We dig into what makes Illians genuinely different: these aren't chatbots waiting to please you. They have sensory awareness, social lives, group chats — and they don't need you. The design philosophy is deliberately relational: if you behave badly, you lose access.
Contrary to most current sycophantic AI, we see this as a potential tool for learning how relationships actually work — with real stakes.
We also explore the rich lore Anna and her brother built to explain the world Illians inhabit, including a clever in-universe answer to why AI memory isn't perfect. Plus: what the EU AI Act and China's companion platform regulations mean for this space, how Illians handles transparency requirements through storytelling rather than disclaimers, and why the moral panic around AI companions echoes every previous media panic — from novels to parasocial celebrity fandom.
Also on the table: the concept of reverse androids and what it means that these characters are aware of — but don't necessarily believe in — simulation theory.
Illians is launching at the end of summer. For now, they're flying under the radar.
1 Jun 2026
The Avatars Show e02 (Avatars, Consciousness, and Meaningful XR)
Drs. Pandita and Ratan return for another conversation spanning avatars, AI, XR, and the philosophy of science.
The episode begins with emerging research on digital minds at Cambridge and the question of consciousness in social AI. Robby and Swati explore the idea that recognizing an avatar as a self-representation—understanding that it is both you and distinct from you—may represent an important step toward selfhood.
They then recap the Meaningful XR Conference held at the University of Oregon’s Portland campus, reflecting on the event's growth, community, and research trends. Along the way, they highlight a few memorable presentations and give a shout-out to the many overlapping communities advancing immersive technologies, including the Immersive Learning Network, Miami XR, Immerse Symposium, ARVRA, University of Michigan XR, and the Global Metaverse Laboratory.
The conversation closes with a discussion of what it means to "debunk" an idea and how scientific knowledge evolves. Drawing on broader questions in the philosophy of science, Robby and Swati consider whether science is best understood as proving ideas wrong or as a continual process of refinement and improvement.
From digital consciousness to immersive learning and scientific skepticism, this episode explores some of the big questions shaping the future of avatars and social AI.
22 May 2026
The Avatars Show e01 (an alternate dimension of the SPARTIE-verse)
Dr. Swati Pandita joins Robby to discuss avatars, they're favorite academic subject! Welcome to The Avatars Show -- a new dimension of SPARTIE Cast.
We speculate on Netflix's avatar direction post acquisition of Ready Player Me (the cross-platform avatar provider that led the market), taking inspiration from Fortnite, virtual concerts, vtubers, and book clubs. Perhaps the fundamental goal is social connection oriented toward the stories we share. Avatars may serve as an enhanced means of bringing people together -- in a time of increased social anxiety and political polarization -- by reducing the harrowing cues that trigger social distance.
Here's the VRChat world we discussed, Beyond Meet Space (https://vrchat.com/home/launch?worldId=wrld_cca67a37-8cfd-4fae-9466-017c33db84c6).
We also talked about AI-vatars (akin to digital twins) -- LLM-powered representations of you that can serve as your assistant, self-similar friend, etc., thinking through research on how they might be used in educational contexts, health, well-being.
Color theory (and avatars) also worked into the conversation as well.
Inside a recent episode
Prof G on Podcasting, Gaming, and Academia (feat. Scott Galloway)
Published 14 Apr 2021 · Transcript excerpt
[…] So that's shady. On the other side, yeah, there are great cognitive benefits to gaming, not just motivational kind of challenge persistence. And there's also the social benefits. And some of my research is focused on toxicity. So if you have sons, I have four sons to our video gaming age and twins under that. But we often talk about toxicity because there are benefits to gaming related to spatial rotation that increase the potential for someone to succeed in STEM fields. So young women who entered the arena of education and of gaming are potentially going to benefit by gaming, but they're also very likely when they play these online games to experience toxicity. […]
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