How AI is Enabling the Metaverse (2024)

The concept of the metaverse has captured the imagination of many, promising to transform the way we interact with each other and the digital world. Then we read news like Zuckerberg has quietly buried the metaverse and in the article is stated “the metaverse is dead”. I disagree with that. It can be accurate for Meta’s vision and implementation of the Metaverse but the Metaverse is much much larger than Meta, Microsoft or any individual company. Metaverse is a network and a layer that is connecting the physical world to the digital one, it is enabling us to use the power of the cloud and omnipresent services in our life. Metaverse allows us to visualize persistent digital world and collaborate with others.

In fact, with the help of AI, the Metaverse is closer realization than ever as Artificial Intelligence is playing a crucial role in making this vision a reality, from generating realistic environments to enabling natural language interactions. The metaverse has the potential to transform the way we interact with each other and the digital world, and AI is the enabler – making this happen. AI plays a key role for providing a more immersive and engaging virtual experience for users.

The enabling potential of AI in the metaverse goes beyond mere technological advancements – it can also foster social equity, accessibility, and inclusion. AI-powered tools have the potential to make the metaverse more accessible, inclusive, and empowering for all users, by providing a range of tools and features to help them interact with the virtual environment.

AI can also promote social equity and diversity within the metaverse, by detecting and preventing discriminatory behavior, facilitating cross-cultural understanding and collaboration, and creating a more equitable virtual environment. By leveraging the power of AI, we can create a metaverse that truly reflects and embraces the diversity of human experience. In the same time we need to be careful – AI models are trained what we, people, have written and created. This means these models can, and do, contain our view of the world, people and what is acceptable. It is not once or twice when you can get output that is biased or can be even rude. The training and learning continues and AI will get better, have better safe-guards and thus be more help to us, people. Responsible AI and Metaverse are very important topics we face today and in the future.

1. AI in Creating and Enhancing the Metaverse
2. The Application of AI in Facilitating User-Generated Content
3. The Potential for Accessibility, Inclusion, and Assistance
4. Responsible AI and the Metaverse
5. Conclusion
6. Afterwords

AI is playing a significant role in creating and enhancing the virtual world of the metaverse. One of the most promising use of AI with the metaverse is its ability to generate environments, characters, and objects. Generative AI technology is now being used to create 3D models of buildings, landscapes, and other elements of the metaverse,

For instance, AI can generate immersive landscapes, textures, lighting effects, and weather patterns to create an immersive experience for users. AI algorithms that can create and animate characters with advanced facial expressions and body movements, giving them a more lifelike appearance exist. Moreover, AI can enable natural language interactions within the metaverse, users could use their own language to explore the metaverse, make purchases, and interact with other users and virtual assistants (bots).

Algorithms will also be able to generate the metaverse space itself with natural language or way, allowing users to describe (or paint) their ideal environment and have it created. Users can specify the details of their virtual space, and the AI system will generate a unique environment that meets their specifications. This means that users can create custom virtual spaces and objects that are tailored to their individual needs and preferences. Just like using generative AI today to create pictures for blog posts, articles and presentations in the future the “no code” version of virtual space generation will be the use of natural language.

Think Azure OpenAI Service (and OpenAI models generally) that you can use to generate code or text. How about using that technology to generate code easily to 3D scenes or generate objects. I have seen a really cool demo where you can create 3D objects and control them using natural language.

The Application of AI in Facilitating User-Generated Content

One of the most exciting aspects of the metaverse is the potential for user-centered content. AI is already playing a significant role in facilitating this content creation by providing tools for users to design and customize their virtual environments. But it can go way beyond that.

How about using the technique Amazon and other major players are already doing in the web2? Analyze user preferences and behaviors to provide personalized recommendations. Instead of just recommending new books or home appliances, AI could recommend virtual objects and environments. For example, an AI-powered virtual assistant could recommend furniture and decor that match a user’s preferred style or suggest virtual spaces that align with their interests.

Today creation avatar can be .. annoying. Especially when you start from the scratch. There are already platforms that can generate your avatar based on your photo and based on that provide realistic facial features, hairstyles, and clothing options. Or perhaps you just want to describe your avatar and AI will generate it for you?

AI is also assisting in the creation of virtual spaces by providing users with tools to design and customize their environment. AI-powered design tools can help users create virtual buildings and landscapes, allowing them to shape the virtual world in their image.

Additionally, AI-powered virtual assistants can provide users with feedback on their designs and offer suggestions for improvements. These virtual assistants can be trained to understand user preferences and provide personalized guidance, helping users create virtual spaces that meet their needs and preferences.

Ready Player Me, allows you to describe clothing for your avatar. While you can test the lab version already, it still needs some work.

The Potential for Accessibility, Inclusion, and Assistance

Accessibility and inclusion are important considerations in the development of the metaverse. AI-enabled solutions have the potential to make the metaverse more accessible and inclusive for everyone, by providing a range of tools and features to help them interact with each other and the virtual environment.

Speech-to-text and text-to-speech translation are two important AI-powered tools that can make the metaverse more accessible for users with different communication needs. Users who are deaf or hard of hearing can use speech-to-text translation to convert spoken words into text, allowing them to read what others are saying in real-time. Live Captions are already available in Microsoft Teams meetings and on other solutions as well. Conversely, users who are unable to speak can use text-to-speech translation to have their written messages converted into speech, enabling them to participate in voice-based interactions within the metaverse.

Moreover, AI is creating more inclusive virtual environments, accommodating diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. AI-powered translation tools can be used to translate written and spoken content into multiple languages, allowing users to communicate with others in their native language. This means that users can engage with others and explore virtual environments without being limited by language barriers. Microsoft Teams meetings have Live Captions with Translations, which means I can do a webinar in Finnish and attendees don’t have to know Finnish to understand what I am presenting. Yes, I have used this – in my February Finnish webinar I had attendees who didn’t understand Finnish but were able to follow the content with the help of Live Translated Captions and translating PowerPoint slides to their preferred language (instead of seeing them in Finnish). These capabilities will make their way to virtual worlds and to the metaverse.

AI can also assist users with disabilities in navigating and interacting with the metaverse. AI-powered virtual assistants can provide personalized guidance and assistance based on individual needs and preferences, detecting and accommodating specific disabilities such as visual or hearing impairments. Virtual assistants can provide visual and audio cues to assist users with navigation, making the metaverse more accessible for users with disabilities.

For example Microsoft Azure includes lots of capabilities to improve accessibility. Many of these capabilities are key elements when building the accessible Metaverse. The following list is from that Microsoft blog post:

1. Conversation, meetings, and live broadcasting: Microsoft Teams supportsspeech-to-text transcription and captioningfor meetings and calls, powered by Azure Cognitive Services, making it easier for people who are Deafor Hard of Hearing to participate in online communication. These features also benefit people with ADHD, people who are multi-tasking, or those in noisy or low-bandwidth environments.
2. Content reading: Microsoft products such as Outlook, Edge, and PowerPoint include aread-aloud feature, powered by Azure Cognitive Services, that uses text-to-speech technology to read web pages, documents, and emails aloud. This makes it easier for people who are blind or have lowvision, in addition to people with Dyslexia, ADHD, or Autism to access and consume digital content. It also enables all users to multi-task and listen to content on the go.
3. Communication: Microsoft Translator is atranslation servicethat supports speech-to-speech, text-to-speech, and optical character recognition (OCR) to enable communication across different languages and formats in Teams or Outlook.
4. Device access: Windows Hello usesfacial recognition technology, powered by Azure Face API, to allow users to log in to their devices with their face, making it easier for people with mobility disabilities to access their devices, and providing a hands-free, efficient login experience for everyone.
5. Device control: Microsoft products such as Windows and Xbox includevoice assistants powered by speech-to-texttechnology, which can be used by users of all abilities to control the device and access information and services through voice commands.
6. Images and surroundings: Microsoft Edge, PowerPoint, and Seeing AI are products that include Azure Computer Vision capabilities such asimage captioning, which can provide descriptive text for images to make them more accessible to people who are blind or who have low vision. Image descriptions also improve search engine optimization (SEO) and provide alternatives for people listening to content, or in low-bandwidth environments.

Looking that list, it is in fact all these are and will be important capabilities when building accessible Metaverse. And let’s not forget to add Azure OpenAI Service to that list as 7th capability.

Finally, AI can promote social equity and diversity within the metaverse by detecting and preventing discriminatory behavior. AI algorithms can analyze user behavior and interactions within the virtual environment, identifying and flagging discriminatory behavior. By creating a more equitable and inclusive virtual environment, AI-powered tools can help to ensure that the metaverse is accessible and welcoming to all users. We just need to be careful how we do this and how we use AI for this. Is our algorithm biased or tuned to wrong levels? Is there already some issues we have carried from our world to the AI training materials? This is definitely a part that can needs a lot of consideration, so I have included a Responsible AI and Metaverse chapter.

As the metaverse becomes more prevalent, it is important to ensure that the development and use of AI-powered technology are responsible, ethical, and transparent. This includes addressing issues such as bias, privacy, and safety within the metaverse.

One of the biggest concerns surrounding AI in the metaverse is the risk of perpetuating existing societal biases. AI algorithms are only as unbiased as the data they are trained on, and there is a risk that AI-powered metaverse platforms could perpetuate existing biases and prejudices. To prevent this, it is important to ensure that AI-powered metaverse platforms are trained on diverse datasets and that there is ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the algorithms to ensure that they are fair and equitable for all users.

Privacy is another key concern when it comes to AI in the metaverse. As users engage with virtual environments and interact with other users, they may share personal information that is collected and analyzed by AI-powered tools. It is important to ensure that users are informed about the types of data that are collected and how they are used, and that appropriate measures are in place to protect user privacy.

Safety is also a crucial consideration in the development and use of AI-powered technology in the metaverse. AI algorithms can be used to detect and prevent harmful behavior such as hate speech, discrimination, and harassment. However, there is also a risk that malicious actors could use AI to perpetrate harmful behavior within the virtual environment. It is important to develop and implement safety measures that protect users from harm and prevent the abuse of AI-powered tools.

Finally, transparency is key to ensuring that the development and use of AI in the metaverse are responsible and ethical. Users should be informed about the types of AI-powered tools and features that are being used, and how they are being used to enhance the virtual experience. Additionally, there should be transparency around the data that is collected and how it is used to inform the AI algorithms that power the metaverse.

Conclusion

The metaverse has the potential to transform the way we interact with each other and the digital world, and AI is playing a crucial role in making this vision a reality. From generating realistic environments to enabling natural language interactions, AI is transforming the metaverse by providing a more immersive and engaging virtual experience for users.

Some of capabilities presented in this post are not there yet, or don’t exits today in truly usable format. Many are experimental or in beta / preview. Some, on the other hand, are reality and usable. This is technology that is new and innovating every day. Why I wanted to compose this post, is that I have seen lots of speculation that metaverse is dead and AI is the new game changer. In the beginning I mentioned that the Metaverse is larger than Meta or any company. Perhaps the hype is dead and people and companies are looking what the real solutions you can build. How you can really use metaverse. When I have been talking and writing about the metaverse it has never been about just virtual worlds. It has been about “metaverse technology” that enables the metaverse. Artificial Intelligence has always been a key part of this – like a digital canvas on top of other digital clouds, tools and canvases that can make help us have better worklife and experience – see the big picture, help us work better and automate routines so we, people, can focus on what we do the best. Innovate and create something new.

Afterwords

For those who wonder, I did use AI (ChatGPT) when writing this article. It helped me to save time, innovate on what to include, and make the language richer than what I usually produce. I also generated pictures with AI (Midjourney). AI is a tool and the point is that AI is enabling the Future of Work and Metaverse.