Metaverse and the Future of AI

A Conversation with Alex Tapscott

On February 1, 2024, Alex Tapscott, a renowned expert on blockchain and cryptocurrencies, joined Samir Morani to discuss the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the metaverse and the future of economic growth during the session "Pioneering the Metaverse." Tapscott is known for providing insight into the impact of emerging technologies on business, government, and society as a whole, and his latest book, Web3: Charting the Internet's Next Economic and Cultural Frontier, was published by Harper Collins in September 2023.

A Conversation with Alex Tapscott
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In this session, Tapscott discussed how AI and the metaverse are playing an important role in the process of moving culture, social interaction, and economic activity online in unprecedented ways. In particular, he focused on synthetic reality and immersive metaverse experiences, shedding light on the transformative potential these technologies offer.

Hyper-realistic metaverse experience

Using the Everdome initiative as an example, Tapscott emphasized the importance of projects that combine hyperrealistic production values with accessibility to provide a true metaverse experience for a broad audience. This is a classic example of a project that aims to bridge the gap between the current Internet ecosystem (web2) and the next generation of digital interaction and economy (web3).

The Role of AI in the Metaverse

According to Tapscott, AI plays a central role in enhancing the user experience and shaping economic opportunities within the digital landscape by providing more engaging and realistic interactions within the metaverse. He also mentioned the potential for integrated, immersive experiences that the metaverse can provide by interconnecting digital and physical reality.

Economic Growth and Cultural Frontiers

In Tapscott's view, the metaverse and AI have the potential to open new frontiers of economic growth and foster cultural innovation. He focuses on how individuals and businesses can access and use this new technology to seamlessly connect the digital and physical worlds.

This dialogue is critical to understanding how the integration of metaverse and AI will have a profound impact on how we interact with our society, economy, and technology. Alex Tapscott and Samir Morani Agenda

The theory provides insight and guidance in navigating the new digital frontier.

Click here for the full translated version.

The rise of AI, metaverse, and blockchain technologies are reshaping the future of technology and online experiences, offering the potential for greater control over identity, data, and assets, and revolutionizing the traditional art market.

Metaverse is a new online shared reality encompassing culture, social interaction, commerce, and economic activity in an immersive environment, requiring industry standardizing organizations to avoid fragmentation and disorganization.

Metaverse governance should be organized at the grassroots level by industry standards bodies to avoid fragmentation and disorder.
Blockchain, AI, augmented reality, and connected devices are all emerging technologies that are collectively creating a new era of the web, known as Web 3, that will impact every industry, institution, society, and culture.
A metaverse is a new online shared reality that encompasses culture, social interaction, commerce, and economic activity in an immersive environment, and there is only one metaverse.
While the integration of software and AI is progressing rapidly, there are still challenges in hardware that need to be addressed before the full experience of the metaverse can be realized.
The metaverse requires an open, persistent world in which millions of people interact, but current processing power and hardware interfaces are not yet capable of fully realizing this vision.
Mainstream adoption of virtual and augmented reality will require hardware that is easier to use and more discreet, similar to the evolution of cell phones.

The creation of a metaverse with privacy and digital property rights enabled by blockchain is essential to avoid perpetuating the dominance and data ownership of large tech companies.

Investments in the metaverse by large companies like Facebook and Apple have created a controlled and closed environment, perpetuating the same model as the big tech companies, where users have no privacy and the data and transactions belong to the company.
Data is the most important asset of the digital age, but it now belongs to the platform. Therefore, to create a metaverse that represents the richness of online life, several things need to be done right.
Online virtual worlds require privacy rights and digital property rights, which currently do not exist in a closed-loop environment.
Blockchain technology enables the transfer of real-world assets and economic freedom in the virtual world, which is currently not possible with platforms like Facebook's Metaverse.
Blockchain allows individuals to move and store assets online without traditional intermediaries, creating scarcity and enabling peer-to-peer value transfer in the metaverse.
Blockchain technology is the only way to truly own and transfer assets without permission from a central authority.

Metaverse relies on blockchain technology, decentralized governance, and open interoperable virtual environments to empower individuals and create new shared realities.

We need more computing resources, better user interfaces, and technology that empowers individuals to realize their vision of the Metaverse.
Since blockchain forms the foundation of the metaverse and the metaverse cannot exist without blockchain technology, governance and the rule of law are essential to its development.
The Metaverse is not just a virtual Disneyland or video game, but a fusion of augmented reality experiences and property rights that creates a new shared reality.
The future of Web3 and Metaverse is a decentralized version where corporate control is lessened and users have more control over their identities, data, and assets.
Governance standards are critical to the development of the web3 metaverse, and the ma3 consortium is working to establish common standards for their operation.
Virtual environments need to be open and interoperable, allowing the movement of assets and identities between different platforms, but creating common standards for digital assets and identities is a major challenge.

Governance in the virtual world should be organized at the grassroots level to avoid fragmentation, while AI plays an active role in the metaverse.

Governance in the virtual world should be organized at the grassroots level by industry standards bodies to avoid fragmentation and disorder.
The rule of law is essential to protect property rights and ensure that no one is above the law, as seen in liberal capitalist societies.
Creating standards and governance for the virtual world is a challenging undertaking because it is still new and everyone is still learning as they go.
AI plays an active role in the metaverse, speeding up the build process and improving the user experience through intelligent agents.

As AI raises the possibility of fraud and the need for governance, government and industry are working to standardize Web3 and the metaverse.

AI has the potential to deceive with infinite patience, and humans are not prepared for a world where machines are indistinguishable from humans.
Humans can adapt to technology, but the transition to the AI age will be difficult.
As the metaverse has been widely adopted, government attitudes toward it have changed, creating a need for governance and standards.
Governments and industry standardization bodies are working toward standardization of Web3 and the metaverse, with the EU, US, and China having the most influence in terms of regulation.

The Internet was initially developed by the U.S. government and posed regulatory challenges to innovation in metaverse and financial services.

The Internet was initially developed by the U.S. government as a distributed communications network that could withstand a nuclear attack. The legacy of the Web is rooted in government research and development, and the invention of the World Wide Web in 1989 led to its commercial and cultural use.
Government legacies and regulatory tailwinds shaped the first era of the Web, and proposals to regulate the Internet had the potential to limit the number of websites.
Rules and updates in telecommunications law created the conditions for the value and utility of the commercial web to grow, and these rules are still in place today.
Innovations in the metaverse, such as blockchain and digital assets, face regulatory challenges due to concerns and lack of clarity.
Although financial services are heavily regulated, the metaverse presents a new frontier with potential regulatory challenges.

Metaverse and Web3 are challenging traditional finance and creating new opportunities for artists and creators to reach a global audience.

The issue is whether the purchase or sale of virtual assets constitutes a sale of securities or a capital gain.
The financial regulatory framework in the metaverse needs to adapt to reflect the new reality of digital assets and virtual products.
Speakers are excited about how the Metaverse will revolutionize culture by offering a new business model.
Artists have historically depended on wealthy patrons, but industrialization and the rise of modern capitalism have made it possible to sell their work directly to large numbers of people.
Creators in the industrial age were able to reach a large audience and make a living through mass communication and the mass market of culture.
The Internet was supposed to benefit creators by eliminating intermediaries, but instead it has made music a free commodity, created new intermediaries, and reduced transparency for artists.

Web3 and Metaverse offer solutions to the culture's broken business model: the NFT allows creators to earn royalties, and the Metaverse offers immersive experiences and fair compensation opportunities.

While AI poses a threat to culture creators, Web3 and blockchain-enabled metaverse offer potential solutions to culture's broken business model.
NFT allows creators to earn royalties in perpetuity by reselling their digital assets, which can be programmed to pay the original creator each time they are consumed by an AI.
Metaverse provides immersive experiences and opportunities for creators to use tokens to represent digital assets such as credentials, tickets, and unique services.
Metaverse enables immersive cultural experiences while ensuring fair compensation for creators, and the synergy of blockchain and augmented reality creates something more than the sum of its parts.
This book, Web 3, provides insights and examples for understanding and shaping the future of the Internet.
Alex Tapscott shares useful content on Twitter and talks about pioneering in the metaverse.