Metaverse is Not Dead!

“Metaverse is dead!” This has been the loud declaration of some skeptics, who argue that the virtual universe seems to have lost its way. However, such claims could not be further from the reality. Metaverse is very alive, growing and evolving strong. Yes, there was lots of news and gossip around Meta and Microsoft about people and development resources. And yet, despite the gossip and rumors, both are making advancements in the metaverse tech. Is the Meta Horizon world included in this? I do not know – and frankly I would not worry even if it was not and was sunset sooner than later. Then what is Metaverse? One definition could be a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of digitally enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual reality. But there are a lot of definitions out there – as it depends on who you ask, and what is the context.

However, it is good to keep in mind that the metaverse is larger than Meta or any individual corporation or platform. And that is one key thing for:

Why is Metaverse Alive?

It is all about technological advancements. And we have seen those happen in rapid succession recently. Corporations like Nvidia and Microsoft are relentlessly pushing the envelope of the tech and how the future will be, opening way to the new era of the Metaverse with innovations and partnerships that are transforming the landscape.

Nvidia, creator of the Omniverse, is harnessing its technology to create more complex and realistic virtual environments that are connected to the physical world. And Nvidia is constantly innovating new ways to utilize AI more and better. The last of what I read is that they came up with an AI model Neuralangelo that can convert any regular video into extremely details 3D graphics and environment. Even large vistas that have been video graphed via drone.

In a demo, NVIDIA researchers showcased how the model could recreate objects as iconic as Michelangelo’s David and as commonplace as a flatbed truck. Neuralangelo can also reconstruct building interiors and exteriors — demonstrated with a detailed 3D model of the park at NVIDIA’s Bay Area campus.

Technology like these speeds up creation of digital twins and virtual worlds. And the easier it is, the more we will have worlds in the metaverse.

Microsoft is making big ripples into the space-time fabric (well, at least on the Earth) with its own breakthrough technologies: Azure Metaverse and AI capabilities and of course Microsoft Mesh. Microsoft Mesh is a virtual-reality platform allowing geographically distributed people to collaborate more effectively – in enterprise-grade secure environment.

With Microsoft Mesh, Microsoft is providing a platform where users can share virtual / metaverse experiences on a variety of devices, allowing for more immersive and interactive experiences in the Metaverse. Mesh for Teams allows us, information workers – all 300 million+ active monthly users – to join the virtual space directly from Microsoft Teams meeting. Microsoft Mesh is currently at private preview, and it was great to learn about Microsoft Mesh at Microsoft Build last week.

And it does not stop there for Microsoft. Azure Digital Twins, IoT Hub, Machine Learning, AI, Custom Voice, Speech and other Cognitive Services and Azure Open AI capabilities with natural language understand packs a big bunch of techs that can be used by enterprises to make the future reality today. And I did not even mention HoloLens2, Mixed Reality and applications that are already available. Applications and tech that is constantly developed with new features and capabilities.

The Industrial Metaverse is far ahead of other domains. It has been taking good steps forward on capabilities of IoT, Digital Twins, AI, Virtual & Mixed Reality, simulations, predictions and other Metaverse tech that has been out there for years now. And Industrial Metaverse has not slowed down or stopped at any moment – it has been growing and evolving steadily but since it was not hyped up like consumer Metaverse it went under the radar for a lot of people.

The Rise of Augmented Reality

Augmented, or Mixed, reality is yet another reason Metaverse is far from being dead. Mixed Reality overlays digital information onto the physical world, enhancing our perception and interaction with our environment. This technology is expanding the realms of the Metaverse, creating seamless transitions between the physical and the virtual worlds, thereby offering the new frontier of possibilities for businesses, education, entertainment, and social interactions. While the term Metaverse is used as a synonym for Virtual Realities, Mixed Reality is something that can make it very usable in the future. Meta just announced Quest 3 headset – and it supports, like Meta Quest Pro, color passthrough and mixed reality on top of virtual reality. It looks interesting for sure; I wonder how it will go face to face with Quest Pro headset I bought last year. Was it a mistake to buy them last October. Probably.

That is technology. Let us add more technology with AI.

Metaverse is evolving through Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence continues to transform our world in ways we could hardly have imagined even a decade ago. Or even a year ago. Among these digital transformations, is also the evolving metaverse.  AI is revolutionizing the metaverse, making it more immersive, interactive, and intelligent. It is giving the Metaverse new skills as natural language interfaces are becoming increasingly common, allowing users to interact with computers using everyday language – and their native language, instead of just English. This technology not only brings a level of personalization and ease of use but also significantly enhances accessibility and inclusion for users with different abilities. The metaverse benefits enormously from this technology, allowing users to engage with digital entities as naturally as they would with human counterparts. And that is why the “hype” in AI is also helping the metaverse. I say “hype”, because natural language AI has already shown that they are a game changer, that scales over the digital transformation metaverse is creating.

Science-Fantasy? Not at all. For example, industrial and healthcare domains are already researching metaverse tech capabilities because of the hands-free option at work. Instead of stopping and taking a device to their hands, employees can just talk with the AI and progress with tasks. The AI is yet another key element here. And I am not even going to healthcare side when researching for new medicine or ways to detect diseases. Or using Digital Twins simulations to discover potential problems in the manufacturing stage, when working at Industrial Metaverse. These are huge opportunities for enterprises.

One of the most remarkable capabilities of AI is its potential for automation and smart processes. Generative AI with Machine & Deep Learning can learn patterns and generate new content or predictions based on its training, is opening new doors in the future. It can orchestrate smart processes such as dynamic storylines, NPC behavior, or responsive environments that adapt to individual user interactions. Or process and fill forms and other data faster and better than applications were able to do before. Generative and natural language AI is not just for pictures and ChatGPT fun. It can help to transform a lot of processes into a higher level of automation, where humans are only overseeing or managing the more complex tasks. AI has the potential of removing the burden of repetitive routine tasks from our shoulders. Microsoft Copilot is bringing all this power to our offices, by adding a personal Copilot for “all” applications that we use at work. From Word and Outlook to ERP and development. And everything between. Connecting AI onto semantic search and data user has access to is going to accelerate productivity by big numbers. It has already done so in the development with GitHub Copilot.

Combine that with the metaverse. Generating content, dynamic NPC behavior, smart environments and AI generated content can manifest the next level metaverse. Think how AI can generate everything from simple objects or models to complex 3D spaces and environments. This capacity for AI-assisted design enables a rapid expansion of the metaverse’s digital landscape, and it also democratizes content creation, as users without traditional design skills can use AI tools to create and contribute to the metaverse.

The Metaverse is NOT dead!

In fact, it is far away from dead. It is a vibrant, evolving space where innovative technology is driving innovation and possibilities. As Nvidia, Microsoft, and others continue to push the boundaries of what is possible, and as AI and Mixed Reality become more refined and ubiquitous, we can expect to see a Metaverse that is more approachable, more immersive, more real, and more integrated with our everyday work life than we ever imagined.

Where Metaverse struggles are commercial or consumer virtual worlds. Metaverse is larger than those. Microsoft Teams brings potentially 300 Million Monthly Active Users who can join Microsoft Mesh experiences – at work. And Metaverse is larger than that as well. When you combine Mesh, Omniverse, consumer worlds and enterprise verses.. that is something. But first, it needs the tech to the level people feel comfortable with gear, or without gear – joining just with their PC or mobile device..

Metaverse is not just surviving, it is thriving and evolving fast.

If you disagree, let me hear that in comments.