Upland’s Navigating the Metaverse: The Synergistic Relationship Between Web3 and Generative AI
Gabby and other guests join Dirk Lueth and Dean Takahashi on Navigating the Metaverse by Upland to discuss the applications of AI in games, what AI could actually mean for jobs, and more.
Hosted by Upland co-founder Dirk Lueth and GamesBeat’s lead writer Dean Takahashi, Navigating the Metaverse is a podcast that features web3 trailblazers sharing their insider advice on how to grow engaging ecosystems and communities. It is produced by Upland, an open web3 platform and Metaverse mapped to the real world. The company’s mission is to build one of the leading and most dynamic creator communities through a strong entrepreneurial economy that enables players, creators, developers and brands to create goods and experiences, monetize assets, and provide utility and fun to other players.
In this episode, YGG co-founder Gabby Dizon joins the podcast with a16z general partner, Arianna Simpson, and Dogamí co-founder and CEO, Max Stöckl, to talk about the current narratives and recent developments in the Metaverse. The group discusses topics like skepticism about the Metaverse, roadblocks for web3 developers, how AI could result in more people looking for work in virtual worlds, and how gaming experiences could be enhanced with AI.
The following is an excerpt from the podcast where the guests share their insights on how generative AI will positively impact virtual worlds as well as blockchain adoption. Listen to the full recording on Spotify.
The Metaverse Under Metamorphosis
Dean (20:43): Gabby, what's your view on the skepticism now around the Metaverse?
Gabby (20:48): I think we've gotten really good at building quality games in the last 20 to 30 years. We haven't been as good at building virtual worlds that are not games specifically. Do you want to log into a virtual 3D world to do a meeting or to just hang out?
So I think that a lot of where we're going with virtual worlds starts out as game-like first, and if you think of EVE Online, calling them a virtual world first — for example, I have teenage kids, and they hang out on Roblox with their friends, where maybe 20 years ago, they would have done it at the local park.
So a lot of the virtual world activity starts out game-like, but of course, it will bleed more into social, maybe more into work. But I think as far as the user experience is concerned, on the virtual worlds’ side that are not games specifically, we’re not quite there yet.
Dean (21:53): If we looked back at some of our history around VR and how people called that a fad, and blockchain games and the Metaverse — now AI seems to be the new fad. I wonder if generative AI is the new star that killed the Metaverse star in terms of investments. Gabby, what are your thoughts?
Gabby (22:23): Generative AI is definitely very interesting. AI research has been around and has had its bubbles for certain points in time. I think it's the same with VR. The first excitement about VR probably came just a little over 20 years ago. So there are definitely cycles around it.
I do think that AI has a very significant impact in that it will create a very unique abundance of content online — an abundance of content that you can’t just do by hand. So there'll be even more content to consume. A lot of it will be made by AI, and we’re not going to be sure what's real or what's not. And interestingly, I think that this abundance will lead to the use of blockchain as a way of verifying what is real, and who has created something.
One of the theories that I have is that if AI leads to the loss of some jobs — because AI can replace the person doing the job — it will result in a rush of people doing jobs inside virtual worlds.
Dean (23:43): Interesting. Max, what about you? Will AI kill off the Metaverse?
Max (23:50): I think it's going to enhance it. I think that it's interesting. Because what we're waiting for in the Metaverse is the ChatGPT moment, when the application is so good that everyone wants to use it. So that's the same for web3 and blockchain.
Although AI has seen its waves, as Gabby has said, and machine learning has been in the making for 50 to 60 years. For the Metaverse, I think what's quite cool is to have generative AI, in particular, interact with virtual characters. A startup called Carter is making non-playable characters for games with generative AI.
Meaning that you can have a character that you don't have to pre-script anymore. You don't have to know all the answers, but you just feed them some context of the overall gaming lore and then you give them character traits.
Then, when a player approaches this character and interacts with him or her, then you get a random answer that might completely differ from another player. I think that's what really makes the virtual world more intuitive, a bit more natural, in a way, because you'd have these random encounters.
Arianna (25:17): Wow, wildcard NPCs! That sounds fun. I agree. I definitely think that blockchains, web3 and AI are very complementary technologies. We're already seeing a lot of really cool applications of the two together across our portfolio. So far, it's mostly in the gaming world, but I think it’s going to quickly expand beyond that. So I'm personally very excited to see the two come together.
You can listen to the full recording on Spotify.
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