The word "metaverse" is formed by combining two words, firstly meta, which means “beyond” and the second part, verse, which means “the universe”. That basically means we are here dealing with something beyond the universe, or the future. This is meant to describe the iteration of the internet as it moves forward made up of persistent shared 3D virtual spaces, linked into virtual universes. This new web has become one of the hottest technology and socio economic topics. Combining different technologies like VR, blockchain and many others, lots of companies are already working on creating services for this new digital world. The big giant Facebook has also changed its name to “Meta”.
This also cleared the fact that the metaverse is truly on the verge of becoming the next big technology. The idea of Metaverse came upon a fiction writer named Neal Stephenson in the early 90s .
Introduction to Metaverse and web3.0
Metaverse generally refers to shared virtual world environments or a computer-generated environment, which is accessible to users via the Internet. Basically a digital space, extended reality space with the combination of augmented, virtual and mixed reality. At the moment, people interact with each other through social media platforms or by using messaging applications. In the virtual space, users will have their own “character” that can walk around and interact with other users. They can communicate with one another through avatars, text messages, sounds, music videos, video games, etc.
This means that people will have a 3D experience on the Internet. They can interact, play, work, or join in digital environments as if they are experiencing it in reality rather than just watching the content.
Web 3.0 is vital in making the Metaverse a reality, specifically if it uses blockchain technology. Enabling the virtual world to exist online and be accessible through a web browser.
The Metaverse is the distant evolution of Web3. In its most complete form, it will be a series of decentralized, interconnected virtual worlds with a fully functioning economy where people can do just about anything they can do in the physical world.
Chris Dixton, an internet entrepreneur defines web3 as the internet owned by the builders and users, orchestrated with tokens in his tweet thread explaining what web3 is and why it matters.
He also mentions that Web3 is about providing advanced digital services but, instead of these services being controlled by big technology corporations like in the Web2, they will be created and governed by the community, returning to the ethos of Web1, where the value of the internet was generated by the users at the edge of network, but mainly in a write mode. This makes it the most important aspect of web3.
John Radoff,CEO and co-founder of Beamable mentioned there are seven layers of Metaverse(the concept of value chain of the Metaverse).
- Experience
- Discovery
- Creator Economy
- Spatial Computing
- Decentralisation
- human Interface
- Infrastructure
AI in the Metaverse
AI has the potential to parse big volumes of data at lightning speed to generate insights and drive action for users. Users can either leverage AI for decision-making (which is the case for most enterprise applications), or link AI with automation for low touch processes. Artificial intelligence (AI) applications are now much more common than you might think. AI according to various reports is being used by major companies in atleast one business function. AI now plays a major role via facial recognition, natural language processing (NLP), faster computing, and all sorts of other under-the-hood processes.
AIOps
AIOps is the combination of big data and machine learning to automate IT operations processes, including event correlation, anomaly detection and causality determination.” The availability of these capabilities will be key not only to ensure the robustness of the Metaverse infrastructure, but also to provide activity insights that are relevant to the upper layers.Coinbase mentioned the platform required for the metaverse needed to be always on and massively scalable. In such cases AIOps will play a relevant role to manage all of hardware, base software, and communications.
Inclusive User Interfaces
Highly Immersive experiences is one of the keys for the potential success of metaverse. It will be of greater help for people with disabilities to access this future digital world and also improve social interactions for some people. People with a low level of digital capabilities can find themselves out of this new social economy and experience. That is why AI for accessibility should play a fundamental role in guaranteeing the access of everyone to the Metaverse, despite their abilities.
Some relevant technologies in this space could be,
- Image recognition for people with visual disabilities
- Automatic translation
- Intelligent exoskeletons to interact with the digital world
- Brain computer interfaces for the most vulnerable
Enhanced Smart Contracts
Adidas recently launched its first NFT. Although purchases were limited to 2 by person, the sale was sold out in less than a second and one single person was able to buy 330 in a single transaction.
The power will maybe move away from big corporations, but it does not seem it will be returned to the people, but only to a few, in this case, with software skills. enhanced smart contracts, incorporating AI, could help identify this kind of scenario. infrastructure information related to transactions could be used to trace this kind of “antidemocratic” activities, although it would not be enough to stop blockchain transactions once they have been completed.
AI as a Creative Partner
The latest Natural Language Processing models have opened the door to use AI as a creative partner, generating creative writing based on user inputs. But not only can AI generate creative writing, but also realistic images from text descriptions or even from very simple drawings. That is the case of technologies like OpenAI’s DALL-E.
These are only some ideas about how AI can contribute to build differential and inclusive experiences in the Metaverse. We are only scratching the surface, and we will see lots of creative use cases in the future.
Ultimately, without AI, it will be difficult to create an engaging, authentic, and scalable metaverse experience. That’s why companies like Meta are working closely with think tanks and ethics groups to stem the risks of AI without curbing the technology’s potential. know more about the future of the digital world with the coming of metaverse
Disclaimer: This blog has opinionated information which does not make us liable for anything.