How the Metaverse Can Leverage AI

The metaverse creates opportunities to revolutionize various sectors, including gaming, education, retail, and real estate. Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into the metaverse further transforms its potential as a key building block in developing the space. AI aids in developing dynamic and realistic 3D content and enables natural interactions through intelligent avatars. This relationship between AI and the metaverse betters user experiences and increases accessibility, making these virtual spaces more intuitive and inclusive.

AI-powered virtual environments

AI is revolutionizing virtual environments, significantly enhancing their realism and complexity through dynamic spaces, realistic objects, and intelligent entities through techniques like procedural generation and neural networks. 

Here are some ways AI creates highly immersive virtual spaces:

• Dynamic environments: AI can adapt environments in response to user actions through changing weather patterns or evolving landscapes, creating a more immersive experience. Advanced AI algorithms also allow digital environments to simulate realistic physics, adding depth to interactions within these virtual worlds. 

  
  

• Realistic interactions: AI can enhance interaction and immersion with virtual characters through natural language processing (NLP) and emotion recognition, particularly in virtual reality settings. Algorithms also elevate the intelligence of non-player characters (NPCs) so they can exhibit complex, context-sensitive behaviors and emotions, making interactions more lifelike. 

  
  

• Personalization: AI can also learn and evolve, adjusting game difficulty in real-time and allowing game worlds to change dynamically based on player actions. Predictive modeling by AI anticipates player actions, tailoring the gaming experience to individual preferences. 

Decentraland, a metaverse game on the Ethereum blockchain, enhances its virtual world with AI-powered gameplay and interactions. The platform developed virtual characters in collaboration with AI startup Inworld, introducing NPCs like Simone the Robot, a meme-inspired Doge, and Aisha, a gaming streamer, each with unique personalities and backstories. These NPCs interact with users in real time.

Content creation

AI is transforming the creation of virtual worlds, making it more efficient and accessible. Tools built using generative adversarial networks (GANs) and procedural content generation allow creators and developers to build complex textures, models, and even complete landscapes automatically. 

Here are some ways AI helps create content in the 3D internet:

• Environment generation: AI models like GANs help efficiently create large, complex environments with minimal manual input, offering unique and varied experiences for each player. It balances automated generation with some artistic control, ensuring both efficiency and creativity in the design process. Tools like NVIDIA's GauGAN support the creation of unique and creative environments by converting simple sketches or text into realistic landscapes. Developers and creators can also build digital twins of entire cities, environments, and buildings by leveraging generative AI tools and feeding them with data and visuals from cameras and sensors in the physical world. 

  
  

• Asset creation: In asset creation, AI streamlines the process by automating the design of images, 3D models, and animations through simple text prompts. It generates models quickly by analyzing existing data, applies realistic textures automatically, and effectively animates characters. This process enhances efficiency and consistency in the design and allows creators to focus more on creative aspects. Tools like Google’s Dream Fields create AI-generated images, whereas other platforms like OpenAI’s Shape-E and NIVIDA’s Get3D generate 3D models to use within the metaverse. Landvault Create is another no-code tool leading in AI-enabled 3D content generation that helps creators transform ideas into 3D objects and experiences. Users can generate 3D elements by describing their concepts, and the platform uses procedural generation and AI for rapid prototyping. This tool will be released soon.

  
  

• Audio and music generation:  AI-generated music or adaptive audio, like sound effects that respond to user interactions and context, enhances immersion in the 3D internet. Tools like Meta’s MusicGen and AudioGen are trained with licensed music and publicly available sounds to create entire compositions or environmental sounds with text prompts. This functionality streamlines a creator’s content development process in the metaverse.\

Social & character interaction

AI enhances social interactions in the metaverse, making them more realistic and context-aware. Conversations with non-player characters (NPCs) are more personalized as they can analyze user behavior, emotion, and preferences, enabling them to mimic real-life social cues and respond appropriately. AI-enabled language translation and accessibility features also ensure inclusive interactions across diverse user backgrounds in the virtual world. 

Here is a deep dive into how AI enhances interactions in the metaverse:

• AI-driven chatbots: Leveraging AI, retrieval, and generative methods, chatbots help engage in conversations with metaverse users to help assist and guide them. These bots help improve the user experience in the 3D internet by helping users navigate the environment, provide information about events, or assist in buying virtual goods and items.

  
  

• Emotionally intelligent NCPs: Emotional intelligence algorithms in the metaverse are specifically engineered to improve NCP interactions by accurately interpreting and responding to the emotional cues of users. These sophisticated algorithms meticulously analyze various user input forms, including text, voice, facial expressions, and body language, to gauge emotional states and modify their responses to align with these cues. For example, if an NCP interacts with a user’s avatar that appears slumped or speaks in a low tone, the NCPs might infer sadness and respond in a comforting manner. This technology is particularly impactful in social VR spaces, where understanding and responding to emotional cues can significantly enrich the quality of interactions and create a more supportive virtual community.

  
  

• Avatars with personality: AI can help users customize their avatars beyond their appearance by modifying characteristics like behaviors, interests, and communication styles. Algorithms can understand and adapt to users over time, modifying their personalities as they evolve or grow. This ability ensures more realistic and authentic interactions when engaging with user avatars. 

  
  

• Real-time translation: To ensure inclusivity and accessibility to the metaverse, users from across the globe can interact seamlessly with other avatars or NCPs as AI-powered natural language processing (NLP) technologies offer real-time translation to users who speak different languages.

Conclusion

New AI models and algorithms are becoming highly relevant in enhancing virtual experiences across metaverse platforms. The marriage between Artificial Intelligence and the metaverse is what will allow the development of this space to accelerate. With new AI tools constantly popping up and providing new ways to build, the metaverse is in a great place to progress steadily in the coming years.  

If you’re looking to build immersive 3D experiences we can help you develop your idea with AI and monetize it in the metaverse. Get in touch with us!