AI and the Metaverse: Opening a New Digital World

The year 2023 is destined to leave a significant mark in the history of human civilization. At the beginning of the year, ChatGPT swept across the globe, bringing the long-silent AI industry back into the spotlight, with people declaring the arrival of the AGI era. By mid-year, Apple released the Vision Pro mixed reality headset, which was very exciting. The rapid development of AI, combined with breakthroughs in hardware, has brought new possibilities for the realization of the Metaverse.

Humans have been exploring virtual worlds, from early science fiction novels to recent movies and games, our imagination of the Metaverse has never ceased. A few years ago, the Metaverse was once a hot topic, but due to technological constraints, the hype quickly faded. Now, breakthroughs in AI have brought new opportunities for the Metaverse.

The core of the Metaverse is not just beautiful virtual scenes, but more importantly, the social experience and the grasp of human nature. AI can greatly enhance the interactive experience in the Metaverse, making it easier for users to receive positive feedback. Currently, there are not many AI applications that have truly broken through the barriers, but the integration of AI and gaming has already shown tremendous potential.

AI has various application directions in games: it can allow players to interact with exclusive NPCs; achieve interoperability in games; players can become AI trainers; use AI to generate game environments and plots, etc. All of these will bring more diverse, random, and infinite experiences to games.

Some projects have begun to explore new gameplay with AI + blockchain games. For example, Gabby World, which is a fully on-chain autonomous world led by humans and self-generated and evolved by AI. Players can create and cultivate their own AI characters by writing prompts, participate in adventures, and shape this world. This gameplay combines personalized AI and UGC creation, giving players more sense of control and creativity.

AI may also help us build simulated artificial societies, observe their evolutionary processes, and provide references for the real world. The strong learning capability of AI gives us the opportunity to simulate the long development of human society in a short period of time.

The Metaverse empowered by AI is not just about games and entertainment; it could become a brand new social platform and way of life, infinitely expanding the breadth of our lives. Although it is difficult to define the first year of the Metaverse, what is certain is that a brand new digital world is on the horizon.