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Changing minds through Virtual Reality: the science of empathy and bias with Kiin

We partenered with Kiin in 2024 for the first edition of Fair Barcelona - Beginnings Matter. Kiin are pioneers in immersive training to develop soft skills. Their immersive experiences foster real empathy and promote equality.

a girl with a VR headset

They use neuroscience and VR to create immersive scenarios that allow people to experience discrimination and bias from the perspective of others. Their immersive VR trainings are the result of extensive scientific research in virtual reality, bias, and neuroscience. Participants are 3.5x more likely to “act as an ally” after experiencing our immersive training.


So we caught up with them for a new Fair Cultures exclusive interview. Dive deeper below.


Kiin is known for being a pioneer in immersive training to develop soft skills using VR technologies. What inspired Kiin to focus on soft skills development through immersive technology rather than more traditional training methods? What has changed during the past year or so in terms of products and services? 


Kiin grew out of the significant and ever-growing research of its co-founders, Mavi Sanchez-Vives and Mel Slater. Since the late 1990s, they have been pioneers in VR research, having published over 500 papers and being cited hundreds of thousands of times. Soft skills training was not the original reason for performing this research, it was understanding Embodiment, the technique in VR of convincing your mind that the avatar you embody in the scenario is actually you. When Mel and Mavi discovered Embodiment, the first way of testing whether it actually existed was to measure participants’ implicit bias towards the characteristics of the avatar they were going to embody before and after they embodied the avatar. It was conclusively shown that implicit bias decreased, and so empathy increased, towards people with these characteristics. It was at this point that the concept of using VR for and Embodiment for soft skills training emerged. 


There are a good number of areas which have changed in the past year - we are growing fast! Two of the most impactful though have been bringing AI into data analysis and content creation, and improved learning design.


A core part of the business is our ability to show with hard data that people respond better to challenging situations as a result of our training. We achieve this by measuring body movement, gaze direction, and analyse the sentiment of what participants say when they’re in the VR experience. The advent of highly accessible LLM’s has allowed this process to happen much faster. Furthermore, the process of iteration when creating content has been improved with the likes of AI voices in Beta versions so that we can see what the scenario looks like before employing professional actors, as well as other (top secret!) improvements.



The other main facet of constant iteration and improvement within Kiin is our learning design. Each deployment tells us something new about how best to train people. We have built out multiple different training structures in terms of how to use our core learning techniques, and the way in which we engage learners post-experience is always being improved upon. The conversations you can have with a class after they’ve shared the same visual and aural experience is truly phenomenal.

a virtual setting with 4 people at a table

Your training programs leverage immersive VR technologies to reshape behaviour through neuroscience-based approaches. Can you tell us more about how neuroscience and bias research have influenced the design of Kiin's immersive experiences?


Kiin and its founders have been performing neuroscience and bias research for over a decade and a half now. Perhaps the most major study was in conjunction with GoogleJigsaw and the Newark Police Department. Here, participants engaged in VR scenarios that allowed them to view their actions during a racially charged interrogation from a third-person perspective. By embodying the viewpoint of individuals with different backgrounds, the participants experienced firsthand the consequences of their behaviours in a controlled and reflective virtual space.


The findings were groundbreaking: participants who saw their actions replayed in this way displayed a marked shift in behaviour in subsequent sessions. They became 3.5 times more likely to support individuals from diverse backgrounds who faced mistreatment. This empathy-driven change was achieved through Embodiment, which allowed officers to "inhabit" the experience of others and understand the impact of their actions on people from different racial or social groups. The experiment underscored how Kiin’s approach to neuroscience and bias research could effectively recalibrate implicit biases through a blend of VR and psychological insight, demonstrating the potential of VR in fostering social understanding and behavioural change on a larger scale​​​.


Looking at the impact of scientific research on Kiin more generally, it has meant that we are always research led - we don’t do anything that we’re not sure works. This is one of the reasons why we offer to run studies within the companies who purchase our services so that we can create a foundation of understanding before delving into the strongest solution.


XR4Europe has joined forces with several other organisations in advocating for more European Commission support for virtual worlds and immersive technologies. How do you see this initiative impacting Kiin’s mission, particularly in advancing immersive learning experiences across Europe? You can also avoid talking about the initiative, but address the overall topic of ethical virtual worlds and immersive technologies. How does Kiin align itself with these goals, and how are you contributing to Europe's digital future?


Kiin is deeply committed to the ethical use of immersive technology, aligning with European initiatives to advance virtual worlds in a responsible way. The company’s work centres on fostering respectful, inclusive environments and addressing topics like unconscious bias, empathy, and inclusive behaviours. By engaging with Europe-wide projects, such as the EU-funded GuestXR initiative, Kiin not only promotes digital innovation but also upholds high ethical standards, ensuring that immersive experiences are beneficial, inclusive, and accessible. Kiin’s focus on data privacy, consent, and transparency strengthens its role in Europe’s digital future, ensuring that VR technologies contribute positively to social learning and behavioural insights​​​.


Looking ahead, what’s next for Kiin, and are there specific new projects or collaborations planned?


Kiin plans to continue pushing the boundaries of immersive learning by deepening the integration of AI to make experiences more adaptive and personalised. This means that future training will not only measure user behaviour in real time but also adjust scenarios based on participant responses, enhancing the effectiveness of each session.


Furthermore, Kiin is exploring new collaborations to expand its offerings, including projects that leverage augmented reality to create shared virtual spaces where users can engage in dynamic group learning. Through such partnerships, like the recent pilot with the Rail Delivery Group, Kiin aims to bring immersive VR experiences to broader sectors, creating more impactful training for various industries across Europe​​​.

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