How AI is making the metaverse more interactive 

As digital technology advances, the metaverse promises an exciting shift in how we interact with each other and our environment. Artificial intelligence is playing a major role in this transformation of physical and social connections.

Despite the cloud of doubt that has hit the crypto and financial sector in the past few months, the metaverse has great potential. According to Market intelligence organization Contrive Datum Insights, the global metaverse industry may exceed $1.3 trillion by 2030. With the emergence of cryptocurrency and online games, the expansion of the metaverse industry is not stopping soon. According to a survey by CoinWire, most people believe the metaverse would reshape social lifestyles due to recent trends in fashion and entertainment.

AI and the metaverse

According to web 3 strategist and author Cathay Hackl, virtual experiences in the metaverse are not limited to virtual spaces as they also exist in the physical world. She further explained that the physical world would take about ten more years to emerge in the metaverse.

Hackl highlighted that technologies like volumetric video- a system that captures three-dimensional spaces to allow more immersive experience-will change the dynamics of communication in the future. 

Hackl also explained that artificial intelligence(AI) would be pivotal in creating more interactive metaverse systems in the future. Although AI and the metaverse are relatively new technologies, several promising signs exist. For instance, the co-founder and CEO of The Sandbox Sebastien Borget stated that more than 1 million people played games on the platform in 2022. According to him, users can sync with their digital identity, forge friendships, and enjoy genuine emotions on The Sandbox. 

Borget also admits the potential of metaverse platforms to reshape social lifestyles. With three billion individuals now digitally native, internet users now interact with avatars across several social media channels.

Borget stated the platform would eventually integrate physical movements into users’ digital avatars, thereby allowing more personalized characteristics. In addition, according to the CEO, The Sandbox will partner with Kinetix, an AI startup, to release animations that express emotion(emotes) to virtual worlds and video games.

AI helping people record movements with phone cameras

According to Kinetix CEO Yassine Tahi, users can animate their avatars through personalized dance moves with emotes. He further explained, “we have successfully created an interested that enables people to record movements with their phone cameras.”

Stressing the importance of emotes in recreating social interactions, Tahi envisioned embodying physical world traits in virtual worlds. 

“In the future, people will want to embody the physical world to behave in certain ways in virtual worlds. For instance, if someone falls during a runway show in the physical world, this can be recreated in the metaverse with avatars using emotes.”

Yassine Tahi, Kinetix CEO

Implementing voice characteristics

Another way AI is being leveraged is in implementing voice characteristics to improve interactions in digital worlds. Humans.ai, a layer-1 protocol created on Cosmos, is a fine example of how AI creates more engaging user interactions in the metaverse. According to the CEO of the platform, Sabin Dima, inventing a digital voice will increase user interaction.

Dima explained that Humans.ai allows users to own digital voices and speak several languages to breed diversity and prevent discrimination. According to Dima, “you can adopt a different voice in a zoom call to prevent discrimination if you wish to remain anonymous.” The Humans.ai CEO also noted that the voices could be minted as NFTs to allow users to gain ownership of their digital voices.

“Humans.ai is the blockchain of AI and is being used to mint ‘superskills’ and voices that users can apply to avatars within different virtual worlds.”

Sabin Dima, Humans.ai CEO

Explaining how AI will improve metaverse experiences, the co-founder and Chairman of Animoca Brands, Yat Siu, mentioned using chatbots. He believes AI will change how we know and interact with non-player characters in video games.

“One primitive example of this is chatbots. In video games, we constantly engage with non-player characters with rudimentary character development. AI changes this significantly. They will deepen and enhance engagement as well as create deeper meaning and utility to their related ownership of their assets in the metaverse,” 

Yat Siu, Animoca Brands CEO

Will metaverse environments replace physical interactions?

As the metaverse continues to evolve, it’s no secret that AI is transforming social engagement within this virtual world. But it is unclear if the digital connection will ever entirely replace face-to-face interaction in our physical lives.

According to Siu, the metaverse will not replace physical interactions but rather take the interactions to a new level. As a result, online experiences will increase in influence in the years to come.

Dima thinks the metaverse and AI will engineer a digital transformation that would lead to “smarter” individuals. For all the advancements and changes virtual worlds will bring, Hackl noted that the physical world would remain a significant part of the metaverse. According to her, “metaverse experiences will remain experiences. However, these experiences will be buoyed by technology.”