AI is Helping Brands Dream Big in the Metaverse

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the cornerstone of the metaverse, playing a critical role in shaping this virtual universe. It enables the creation of realistic and intelligent virtual avatars, advanced tools to create high-quality content, and the ability to customize content for users. This blog explores AI's transformative role in enabling brands to craft immersive and personalized experiences for customers within the metaverse. 

Role of AI in the metaverse

In the metaverse, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, including machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP), and computer vision, play instrumental roles in creating unprecedented levels of immersion and interactivity, elevating the experience in the virtual environment. ML is pivotal in customizing the user experience through personalized recommendations. Metaverse builders can create sophisticated communication interfaces between users and AI virtual assistants with NLP, which can interpret and respond to queries in natural language, thus streamlining navigation and interaction within the 3D internet. Additionally, computer vision is essential for rendering realistic and interactive virtual spaces by interpreting user gestures and expressions to enable authentic interactions. The technology creates spatial awareness, seamlessly integrating three-dimensional objects precisely into the real world, thereby enriching the user experience by merging digital and physical realities. This synergy of AI technologies fosters a visually captivating metaverse that is intuitively navigable and highly personalized.

Here are some examples of AI-driven features in the metaverse:

• Personalized recommendations: Metaverse platforms can utilize AI and ML algorithms to analyze user behavior, preferences, and interaction history to make customized suggestions for virtual products, events, and friend connections. This tailored approach enhances the user experience by offering content that aligns with individual interests and past activities, making the virtual world more engaging and relevant to each user.

  
  

• Virtual assistants: AI-powered chatbots or assistants provide support, guidance, and information, enhancing user navigation and engagement within the metaverse. In Decentraland, AI-powered virtual assistants like Simone, Aisha, and Dodge are crucial in enhancing user navigation and engagement. These assistants offer users real-time support, guidance, and information, helping them navigate the vast virtual world, understand its features, and discover new experiences. Users can quickly find events and specific locations or resolve queries by interacting with these AI chatbots, significantly improving their overall experience.

  
  

• Dynamic content generation: Metaverse platforms can leverage generative AI for dynamic content generation, enabling environments that evolve based on user interactions and preferences. This AI-driven approach allows for the creation personalized and ever-changing content, making virtual worlds more engaging and reflective of individual user behavior.

On one hand, AI can drive innovation, create more engaging user experiences, and open new avenues for creativity and interaction. On the other hand, it raises significant privacy concerns and ethical considerations. Brands in the metaverse must balance the collection and analysis of user data necessary for personalization with the need to protect user privacy and ensure data security. Ethical considerations also arise in the creation and interaction with AI-driven entities that can display bias, necessitating guidelines to prevent misuse and ensure respectful and fair treatment of users. As the 3D internet continues to grow, ongoing dialogue and collaboration among technologists, regulators, and users will be crucial in navigating these challenges and unlocking the full potential of AI in this exciting new digital frontier.

Building brand experiences

Brands increasingly turn to AI technologies to craft unique and memorable experiences in the metaverse tailored to their narrative and theme. Generative AI tools are the metaverse’s creative powerhouse, helping brands quickly create unique visuals and digital assets with algorithms like generative adversarial networks (GANs). Landvault Create is a leading tool offering AI-driven 3D content creation in the metaverse through simple text prompts and 2D image inputs, making it simple for brands to bring their visions to life within the 3D internet. At the same time, Brands can also program AI company representatives and ambassadors in the metaverse to have natural and engaging conversations that are tailored to a brand’s tone. 

By utilizing AI, companies can create immersive brand activations, host virtual events, and launch interactive marketing campaigns that resonate deeply with their audience. These AI-driven experiences in the 3D internet elevate brand engagement to new heights by crafting highly personalized and immersive interactions that resonate deeply with consumers. By leveraging AI, brands can reach wider audiences through captivating virtual environments tailored to individual preferences and behaviors. This customization makes users feel uniquely valued and understood, fostering a stronger emotional connection to the brand and building brand affinity and loyalty. 

Examples of branded experiences in the metaverse:

• Virtual events: Many brands have hosted virtual events leveraging the 3D internet to offer interactive and engaging experiences that transcend physical limitations, allowing global audiences to participate in real time. For instance, Everyrealm, a social gaming and tech company, hosted its Metaverse Fashion Week on Second Life with designers Jonathan Simkha and Blueberry. The fashion event showcased a digitally created collection of the designers' autumn/winter 2022 collection to audiences worldwide before the physical show in New York.  

  
  

• Immersive brand activations: Companies create branded virtual spaces within the 3D internet, enhancing engagement and providing a unique way for consumers to connect with them. For instance, Vans World is an interactive skateboarding park within Roblox, where users can skate around in Vans shoes, customize their avatars with Vans gear, and complete challenges. This environment embodies the brand's core culture and skateboarding roots, providing a virtual gathering space for fans.

  
  

• Interactive marketing campaigns: Brands leverage the metaverse to create engaging, personalized, and creative marketing campaigns. For example, Nissan utilized the metaverse during the launch of its ARIYA electric vehicle in the UK, creating an interactive and multi-platform art experience. This campaign, designed in collaboration with British artists, features virtual landscapes of 5 cities, where by scanning a QR code, individuals can explore these digital cities via Nissan’s Electrified Lab. This gamified experience is an ideal way for a brand to reach and engage different audiences. 

Immersive entertainment

AI technologies are fundamentally transforming the entertainment landscape within the metaverse, marking a significant evolution from traditional forms of engagement to interactive, immersive experiences across various domains, including virtual concerts, gaming, and immersive theater productions. 

Here is how AI in the 3D internet impacts the entertainment industry:

• Interactive storytelling: AI enables stories to evolve dynamically, adjusting to user choices and creating numerous paths. This interactivity places the audience at the heart of the narrative, allowing them to shape the story's direction and outcome. By leveraging AI, interactive storytelling deepens narrative engagement and personalizes the experience, significantly boosting audience involvement and connection to the story.

  
  

• Virtual concerts: AI-driven virtual concerts use AI to adapt environments to audience reactions, tailor performances to preferences, and modify visuals and sounds to match the mood, creating a deeply engaging and immersive experience that strengthens the bond between artists and fans.

  
  

• Gaming experiences: Beyond enhancing non-player character (NPC) realism, AI facilitates the creation of dynamic, evolving game worlds, procedural content generation, and adaptive difficulty settings. For instance, NVIDIA's deep learning algorithms have improved game visuals, physics, and animations, making games more immersive and engaging. 

  
  

• Immersive theater productions: AI technology and computer vision are revolutionizing theatrical performances in the metaverse by enabling actors to deliver live performances in real-time in a virtual environment enriched with immersive elements. VR headsets and motion trackers help replicate an actor's movements in a virtual space through an avatar. For instance, Loveseat is a VR theatre production that displayed the theatre group’s live act in an imaginative virtual space through ​​the High Fidelity app, creating a completely new format for the industry.

Social interaction

AI-powered chatbots, virtual avatars, and translation features are intermediaries, facilitating seamless interactions among users in the 3D internet. 

Here are some examples of AI-driven social features in virtual worlds:

• Language translation: Real-time language translation breaks down language barriers, enabling users from different linguistic backgrounds to communicate effortlessly. Roblox has introduced a real-time AI chat translation feature, allowing users to communicate in over 16 languages with minimal latency. Using this feature, an individual from the United States could chat in English with someone from Korea who may be typing in Korean.

  
  

• Emotion detection: AI-powered bots and avatars can analyze user inputs and responses to detect emotions, allowing them to respond in empathetic and contextually appropriate ways. This level of sensitivity enhances the quality of interactions, making them feel more genuine and human-like.

  
  

• Personalized messaging: AI algorithms can learn from user behavior and preferences to tailor messages and recommendations, creating a more customized experience. This feature can lead to more relevant and engaging conversations and targeted content delivery that resonates with individual interests.

Integrating AI in virtual worlds significantly enhances social interactions, community engagement, and collaboration. By offering real-time translation and emotion detection, AI ensures effective communication and collaboration, preserving messages' intent and emotional tone for more transparent and meaningful exchanges that strengthen community bonds. It also increases accessibility for a wider audience, including those facing language barriers or disabilities, through tools like chatbots that provide guided experiences.