May 9 2025 - - - NYU Tandon
MAIA
An Immersive AI Experience
What is MAIA?
MAIA is an AI-powered multisensory immersive experience designed as a “pre-show” into a larger fictional universe called FAIRYLAND.
In under five minutes, participants engage with a living AI character in a private space, answering questions and receiving a personalized, one-of-a-kind interaction.
By the end of the experience, you won’t just observe the world—you will become a Guardian of Sol, awakened to your own hidden potential.
Delve into an immersive world with an AI character who listens, sees, and responds.
Awaken your potential. Step beyond the screen.
TRAILER
PROJECT OVERVIEW
We are living through a profound shift:
Media is moving beyond screens into physical, social, and personal worlds.
AI offers hyper-personalization, yet often feels cold or transactional.
Doomscrolling isolates us, when what we crave is meaning and connection.
MAIA is a new kind of interface: one that listens like an actor, responds like a human, and invites you to step into a story where you are the hero.
Inspired by my background in acting, human-centered design, and emerging technologies, this project explores how immersive storytelling and AI can bring wonder, self-reflection, and connection back into our daily lives.
PURPOSE & INSPIRATION
4. How it Works (Tech Stack & Pipeline)
Purpose: Give tech-minded folks something to dig into.
Content:
Diagram of your AI pipeline (e.g., vision → STT → LLM → TTS)
Summary of tools & frameworks: FastAPI, Next.js, ESP32, Coqui, LLaMA, MediaPipe, WebSockets, OSC, etc.
Hardware setup if relevant (LEDs, camera, mic, etc.)
Maybe a bullet-point flow:
Input: Voice + Facial Cues
Process: On-device AI inference
Output: Spoken response + lighting + certificate
HOW IT WORKS
1. Tablet Phase
Choose your name, color, and signet—your portal key into the world.
2. Introduction Phase
MAIA greets you, sensing your presence and emotional state.
3. Lore Phase
MAIA shares cosmic lore and invites you to ask questions about your destiny.
4. Assignment Phase
Reflect on yourself through guided questions—and discover your Guardian title.
5. Departure Phase
You are crowned Guardian of Sol. A new journey begins.
6. Behind the Scenes (Process + Iteration)
Purpose: Showcase your creative process and problem-solving.
Content:
Timeline or journal of development
Photos of sketches, prototyping, code, or hardware builds
Lessons learned and major pivots
Challenges (e.g., “Had to fine-tune model on local M3 chip using MLX”)
The Phases
Behind the Scenes
DEMO
This is only version 1. I want to go deeper with MAIA and make her character even more robust.
🚀 Expand MAIA into portable mixed-reality kits for traveling installations.
🚀 Integrate real-time sentiment analysis to deepen emotional intelligence.
🚀 Launch public onboarding to The Lighthouse chapter of FAIRYLAND.
🚀 Explore partnerships with experiential venues, festivals, and studios.
MAIA is part of a future vision for the future of entertainment. MAIA is the onboarding of building a immersive gamer profile in the most natural language way possible. If you would like to participate in its future. sign up at fairylandshow.com for future iterations and we will let you know when you can continue your adventure in FAIRYLAND.
If you are in building spacially aware AI characters - lets connect! Or, if you would like to build a multi-sensory AI character for your funded project. I dream of bring characters to life with spacial awareness.
Future Vision - The FAIRYLAND Universe
MAIA experience and technology created by
Phil Olarte
Fairyland Universe Story by
Alba Albanese
Props provided by
Flower Power Apothecary. New York, NY
Generative AI tools were in use to create assets for this project
Midjourney, Reve, Kling, OpenAI
Thank you to open source AI model providers
Meta Llama, Coqui, Vosk
CONTACT & CREDITS
About the Creator
Phil Olarte
Creative Technologist | Technical Director | Storyteller
Merging a background in performance and emerging tech, I create experiences that listen, respond, and ignite human imagination.
Let’s shape the future where worlds break through the veil of ordinary life.
📩 phil@newyorkcity.com | 🌐 phillipolarte.com
Phil Olarte | Copyright 2025