Almost all of us have already heard about the Metaverse. It is a hot topic these days and companies like Facebook and Microsoft are actively building out the Metaverse in real-time. It is considered the natural evolution of the internet.
This makes perfect sense as society is engaging more with technology nowadays. We went from communicating with people on landline phones to wireless cellphones. Then we went from sending texts and pictures to zooming and face-timing with people.
And now we are about to enter the metaverse with our avatars and interact with other people’s avatars in real-time. But even if this new realm is a hot topic nowadays, the most important foundational technology of our time is Artificial Intelligence.
Artificial intelligence is everywhere. Today its importance in our life cannot be overstated. Artificial Intelligence is managing to beat people’s expectations every time it accomplishes something.
And now new types of hardware design as well as revolutionary new and complex algorithms are enabling AI to have new abilities and enter previously thought impossible domains. But what exactly is artificial intelligence?
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What is Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the application of computer science techniques to create intelligent agents. The intelligent agent is a system that can reason, learn, and act autonomously to some extent.
AI research is concerned with the creation of machines that can understand natural language, process information, and act on data just like a human being would.
And it is able to do so by processing the enormous amount of data that we generate every day. Artificial Intelligence can process a large amount of data faster and more efficiently than humans.
Machine learning leverages data to improve its performance. It processes data to seek patterns and learn from them. And while it learns from the data, it improves itself from the experience to get better.
We are already using simple machine learning systems which is a subdomain of AI to parse information for us. Today every time you search for something or get a recommendation there is machine learning working in the background.
A lot of research is being done to keep increasing the relevance and abilities of AI. Scientific papers in the field are also increasing year after year. Most AI research is focused on understanding the physical world and human behavior.
Computing is becoming increasingly contextual instead of a static experience. Devices are now adapting and getting better at understanding and anticipating what we want. And AI is very important to the Metaverse.
What is the Metaverse?
The Metaverse is an exciting convergence of the physical and virtual worlds to create an internet universe. It is the convergence of physical, augmented, and virtual reality in a shared online space.
The Metaverse can be considered an internet that you are inside of, rather than one that you are merely looking at. It is like a 4D version of our current internet.
The Metaverse market size was valued at USD 27.21 billion in 2020. It is projected that by 2030 the market size will reach 824.53 billion which is a CAGR increase of 39.1% between the period 2022 to 2030.
The Metaverse consists of immersive worlds with a very intuitive interface. And in it, you can create and interact with visual information. You will be positioned in a first-person perspective so you can experience it and move through it.
Many companies around the world are in the process of bringing this technology to life. Fortnite is a hugely popular game that is played in a type of metaverse that has its economy and you can use your avatar to move around the universe.
Epic Games which is the company behind Fortnight is laying the foundation for this immersive world and has already hosted a virtual concert for the rapper Travis Scott.
Over 12.3 million avatars attended the concert of Travis Scott and with over 194 million worldwide users, Epic Games is an ever-expanding major player in the metaverse domain.
Microsoft is also becoming a big player in the Metaverse. The company has recently acquired Activision Blizzard for USD 68.7 billion. Activision Blizzard is a company that creates the most innovative and interactive video games.
Microsoft is also actively working to give digital developers the skills and tools needed to develop virtual replicas of basically every part of our world. And something that you must have come across is Facebook changing its name to Meta.
Facebook or Meta is also heavily investing in the metaverse. It is actively developing interactive 3D worlds where users can virtually connect to people all over the planet. The company is committed to hiring 10 000 developers over the next five years to help build out their version of the metaverse soon.
Facebook also acquired VR startups Oculus for USD 2 billion. Additionally, companies such as Nvidia are working with developers, designers, and engineers across different industries to create innovative virtual worlds.
One of Nvidia’s newest projects, the Nvidia Omniverse Avatar, will target different markets. Eventually, 3D virtual agents could be present in retail stores and warehouses.
These companies recently mention are also market pioneers in the AI domain. And AI is considered to be an important pillar for the development of this virtual environment.
Roles of Artificial Intelligence in the Metaverse
The metaverse makes use of a combination of different advanced technologies such as Augmented Reality( AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Artificial Intelligence, and Blockchain technology.
For instance, we will concentrate only on AI. Advancements in AI are elevating the concept of computer-controlled characters while also bringing autonomy and self-learning capabilities to avatars.
The most astounding and highly discussed concept of the metaverse is digital avatars. A digital avatar is a visual illustration of a person in games or virtual worlds.
A virtual avatar is essentially a digital version of a chatbot. Because they can mimic human body language, they will be important for building this immersive universe.
While we are wandering in the metaverse, realistic-looking, AI beings can interact with us and each other. These AI beings can adapt to situations and people can interact with them naturally as they would normally do in the physical world.
Depending on the scenario and type of virtual world, they could be programmed with their own life stories, motivations, and objectives. And if and when AI reaches artificial general intelligence, this can result in an amazing and surreal immersive experience.
We may even see advanced AI capabilities integrated with game engines. And it can also process data to streamline the creation of virtual assets such as characters, landscapes, buildings, character routines, avatars, and more.
In addition to AI-based avatar creation, a metaverse AI will study 2D and 3D images to produce hyper-realistic avatars. One such AI-based avatar is being actively developed by developers for the virtual realm.
It will also need an AI-based system to help users interact with virtual objects. Using blockchain technology, the metaverse will create a digital environment where multiple users can work and play.
Blockchain is an important component of this universe. And one specificity of blockchain is that it allows the creation of smart contracts. Smart contracts allow trusted transactions and agreements to be carried out without human intervention.
The terms are carried out by computer code automatically. And Artificial intelligence can be used to create, audit, and secure smart contracts on the blockchain.
AI can also streamline software development processes to build increasingly more complex assets faster with less effort. And it can also be used to enforce cybersecurity since we all know cyberattacks are on the rise.
According to Yahoo Finance, the artificial intelligence market will grow from USD 65.48 billion in 2020 to USD 1581.70 billion in 2030. This means that AI is a technology that will grow in importance.
For instance, NVIDIA is developing an AI system that can help users create virtual worlds. This breakthrough will allow the metaverse to scale as new worlds are created with minimal human intervention. That way, more users can access the world.
Creating an AI system for the metaverse will require many skills. One example is the ability to translate between different languages. For this to happen, a model needs to understand the language spoken by one user and translate the text into the other.
It will also need to be able to mimic human speech. This is a huge task since the metaverse will create a universe for international users. The problem here is that there are more than 7000 languages around the world.
Human language is extremely complex as it contains diverse vocabulary and accents. This is why the field of natural language processing (NLP) is needed. NLP is another branch of AI that aims at mimicking human linguistics behavior.
Facebook recently revealed its project CAIRaoke, a fully end-to-end neural model for building on-device assistance. It uses the latest conversational AI to deliver better dialogue capabilities.
Using artificial intelligence, these programs can analyze the behavior of Metaverse users and then classify them according to their personality or intelligence. They can also determine their economic and intellectual levels.
In the end, the goal of metaverse AI is to create an extended reality environment that is as realistic as possible. With this technology, the virtual environment will be an incredible tool for humans and the people who inhabit it.
Importance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Metaverse
Everything in the world generates data, including objects and individuals. All actions, decisions, and intentions generate data, and the more data that is generated in the physical world, the more accurate the machine-readable versions will be.
There are around 5 billion internet users and 4.65 social media users around the world. We generate 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every single and that number is estimated to reach 463 exabytes by 2025.
We generate so much data that it is impossible for a human brain to make sense of it. Even if we could, by the time we finish the data would be outdated. This is why we turn to artificial intelligence to make sense of the data we generated.
And that’s why AI is being embraced by both the physical and virtual worlds. The Metaverse is a collective virtual space that blends the real world to create an extended reality. Its users will be able to interact with virtual avatars, 3D digital objects, and various other technologies.
Advancement in artificial intelligence is paving the way for new kinds of immersive experiences. The future of the metaverse is based on AI. This will help process user-generated data and provide highly realistic avatars.
The AI will look at the body movements of a user and translate these movements into commands for the avatar. It can analyze user images to produce hyper-realistic and precise avatars.
The system will then translate texts into target languages and provide them in audio form. Once complete, the system will be able to simulate the voice of the user.
Artificial intelligence will make it easier to interact with digital versions of products. Manufacturers can see how people react to new products and how they are traveling, and they can tweak features to improve the experience.
The era of design-driven manufacturing will bring with it enormous marketing opportunities, as people can use virtual reality to experience products and services from a first-person perspective in the metaverse.
The development of AI is one way to make the future more inclusive. Inclusion and diversity are crucial because the world has diverse norms, cultures, habits, and ethics, but AI can also create a more homogenous digital world, or a more exclusive one.
Despite the potential of AI, we must be wary of the potential for discrimination in a digital world. While technology can be highly beneficial, there are also significant ethical considerations.
As with any technology, artificial intelligence affects all aspects of society. It requires multi-stakeholder collaboration to ensure that the technology is ethical and transparent. There are many moral dilemmas associated with the use of AI and the Metaverse.
As humans interact with a virtual world, they are increasingly exposed to some form of intelligent agents. Fortunately, there are ways to use AI to increase inclusivity in the virtual world without creating a biased or discriminatory one.
Blockchain is another key component in this future virtual world. The use of augmented reality and virtual reality merged with AI and blockchain will create an accurate, multidimensional virtual world with a high level of security.
If it is successful, this technology will allow us to experience anything that we can’t do in the real world. Some consider that the metaverse is the next step in leveraging AI’s natural evolution.
The Metaverse is expected to provide unprecedented access to content and experiences. In addition to creating immersive virtual worlds, AI will also enable low-touch processes by parsing huge amounts of data and making decisions.
The internet provides a 2-dimensional search engine with intuitive interfaces where people can access information, services, and communications. Every day more than 7 million pieces of information (blog posts) are uploaded to the internet search engine.
To classify and analysed these uploaded pieces of information the search engine provider use AI to process the data. It does so to analyze the intent behind the post and its quality.
Hence, when a user enters a query or question in the search bar, the search engine will know the intent and can suggest the best answers or options.
Now the metaverse will not just create a virtual world where people can just walk and interact with people etc… It will also act as a search engine where people can access information in a 3D space.
So here also AI will be important to deliver the best answer to user queries. It can also translate human language into machine-readable form. Similarly, AI can analyze natural languages and arrive at a response.
These AI models can then convert back the language and send the results to their users. They can learn from historical data and outputs to improve their skills.
Avatars are a fascinating concept in the Metaverse. AI can analyze 2D and 3D images and create a completely different version of the user. It can also read speech and body language, and even understand the meaning behind it.
Some digital humans are already building Avatars using AI. But what’s more, it can even interact with millions of other users in different languages and styles. Ultimately, AI is shaping the future of virtual worlds.
But the technology is still in its early stages and there are likely to be many bugs and problems. AI implementations are not always able to detect these problems.
Future of Artificial Intelligence in the Metaverse
We live in a world where technology and AI are constantly intermingling, with many companies and projects already using Metaverse technologies to advance their business.
This future will be paved with the development of supercomputers. These massive, parallel arrangements of computers can perform the most complex computations, including the analysis of massive amounts of data.
As more advanced systems are developed, the accessibility of the metaverse will improve. Companies will use AI and supercomputers to attract and retain users. The role of AI in the metaverse will become crucial in its development.
And while the industry is nascent, it’s a huge business. Aside from bringing new forms of computing to the public, virtual universes are also set to transform the world of work.
The future of artificial intelligence is bright. The metaverse promises to make artificial intelligence more accessible and convenient. Combining blockchain, virtual and augmented reality, and AI can create scalable and accurate digital worlds.
AI can even analyze the data derived from all these components at once. These advances are promising, and some expert believes that the metaverse will be a new frontier for AI development.
Companies like Microsoft and Google are already working to bring this new platform to life. These companies are launching new products and expanding their existing product lines. And as the industry continues to grow, it’s only going to get brighter.
In addition to speech and language recognition, AI also can understand several modalities at once. It can also read lips while listening to a speaker’s speech, this can be useful in identifying policy-breaking actions.
While this is certainly exciting, it’s also concerning to think that artificial intelligence will lead to a more discriminatory digital world. This technology can be very useful, but it also has significant ethical implications.
The future of artificial intelligence and the metaverse will require multi-stakeholder collaboration to achieve transparency, accountability, digital trust, and privacy.
The metaverse is a hybrid of technologies that have been merged to form a single platform. Artificial intelligence will play an important role in the future of the metaverse. And this gamified environment will increased user engagement.
For instance, computer vision is one of the key applications of AI in the metaverse. It has the potential to transform online interactions and create a more inclusive, open world. And it’s becoming more affordable every year.
Final words
As technology advances, artificial intelligence will help simplify access to these virtual environments and improve the interaction between humans and virtual worlds. In the metaverse, humans will be able to create and interact with digital objects, such as avatars.
As this immersive realm continues to expand, it will become increasingly important for enterprises to consider how AI will affect our work. In the future, you will be able to interact with virtual characters using the same technology as in real life.
Similarly, you’ll be able to market and sell products, create digital art (Non-fungible tokens), and participate in virtual events without being physically present.
Imagine being able to shop in a virtual mall with real clothing stores. You can even attend concerts in the virtual world by joining a virtual concert. The future of the metaverse is more realistic than you might think.
The technology is advancing exponentially, VR glasses and headsets have gotten so good and resolution is getting so high, ultimately the metaverse will completely change our society and it’s up to us to decide how we want to adopt it.
In the future having a face-to-face chat with your friend on the other side of the world may be as simple as putting on a pair of glasses. Metaverse advocates point out that the concept of a virtual world that is entirely based on virtual assets is too new.
And just as when the Internet was just getting started, not all predictions were realized right away. We don’t know whether it’s really real yet, but the idea behind the concept is exciting and companies are already working on it.
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