The Metaverse
- [Oregon State - Forbes]
- Overview
While the virtual reality world can technically exist without artificial intelligence, the combination of the two unlocks a whole new level of realism. This may affect the following five use cases:
- Accurate Avatar Creation
The user is at the center of the virtual world, and the accuracy of your avatar will determine the quality of experience for you and other participants. The AI engine can analyze 2D user images or 3D scans to produce highly realistic simulation renditions.
It can then map various facial expressions, emotions, hairstyles, features brought on by aging, etc., to make the avatar more dynamic.
Companies like Ready Player Me are already using artificial intelligence to help build avatars of the Metaverse, and Meta is developing its own version of the technology.
- Digital Human
Digital humans are 3D versions of chatbots that exist in a virtual universe. In fact, they're not a replica of another person, but rather, they're more like AI-enabled non-player characters (NPCs) in video games that react to your actions in the VR world.
- Explore the XR Market
Constructed entirely using artificial intelligence technology, digital humans are central to the landscape of the virtual universe.
Applications range from NPCs in games to automated assistants in VR workplaces, and companies like Unreal Engine and Soul Machines are already investing in this direction.
- Multilingual Accessibility
One of the main ways digital humans use artificial intelligence is through language processing.
AI can help break down natural language like English, convert it into a machine-readable format, perform analysis, come up with a response, convert the result back to English and send it to the user. The whole process takes a fraction of a second - just like a real conversation.
The best part is that the results can be translated into any language, depending on how the AI is trained, so that users from all over the world can access the Metaverse.
- VR World Scale Expansion
This is where artificial intelligence really comes into play. When an AI engine is fed historical data, it learns from previous outputs and tries to come up with its own.
With new inputs, human feedback, and machine learning reinforcement, the AI's output gets better every time.
Eventually, AI will be able to perform tasks and provide output almost as well as humans. Companies like NVIDIA are training artificial intelligence to create entire virtual worlds.
This breakthrough will help drive the scalability of virtual universes, as new worlds can be added without human intervention.
- Intuitive Interface
Finally, AI can also assist in human-computer interaction (HCI). When you don a sophisticated, AI-enabled VR headset, its sensors will be able to read and predict your electrical and muscular patterns, knowing exactly how you want to move in the virtual universe.
Artificial intelligence can help recreate a realistic sense of touch in VR. It can also help with voice navigation so you can interact with virtual objects without using hand controllers.
- Challenges Around AI in the Metaverse
It is important to remember that virtual universes are a new field of research and operations, and the implementation of artificial intelligence may encounter problems. For example, there might be questions like:
- Ownership of AI-created content – who owns the copyright and can monetize AI-created content and VR worlds?
- Deepfakes and user transparency - how to ensure users know they are interacting with AI and not other humans? How to prevent deep fakes and fraud?
- Fair Use of AI and Machine Learning - Can users legally apply AI/ML techniques to Metaverse interactions? For example, can they use AI code to win games?
- The Right to Use Data for AI Model Training – How Do We Ethically Train AI for the Metaverse? What consent mechanisms are involved?
- Liability for AI bias – what are the possible recourses if a digital human or similar AI algorithm exhibits bias?
Ultimately, it will be difficult to create engaging, authentic, and scalable Metaverse experiences without AI. That’s why companies like Meta are working closely with think tanks and ethics groups to curb the risks of AI without limiting the technology’s potential.
[More to come ...]
