The metaverse promised to revolutionize the way we interact with digital reality.
It has played a lot with our imagination, but from its explosion to today it has also left a lot to the imagination. Indeed, with the rise of artificial intelligence which offers immediate and tangible solutions, the focus has shifted. But this doesn't mean that the metaverse has deflated: it is simply heading towards specific sectors and in some cases towards actual ones niches. Furthermore, the comparison with AI is not exclusive and one-way, because there is an integration between the two technologies (as expected).
Let's start from this and then move towards the specific applications of the metaverse with a final focus on Italian realities.
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Metaverse + AI = digital twins
The metaverse is not only a platform for virtual reality, but also a fertile field forintegration with AI. An interesting example are digital twins. We are talking about virtual replicas of physical objects, processes or systems, which use AI to build, analyze and optimize features and operations in real time. The sectors where digital twins find expression are industry, manufacturing and logistics.
Let's take a closer look at these and other fields in which the metaverse continues to grow and apply.
Fields of application today: specific sectors and niches
As we have told you dozens of times now, going to the specific and the niche is the basis of advertising logic. Think about it: among those who sell the same category of products, those who stand out the most are those who have a characterized brand and who is aimed at a specific audience.
Then it goes without saying that if you have a technological passepartout (like AI) it is obvious that you can create a system and throw yourself into multiple sectors... but you will also have more competition, which sometimes grows, but other times causes it to sink.
Developing video games by creating a metaverse is the first thing that comes to mind, but there's more.
Augmented reality and virtual reality they are used in the industrial sector for predictive maintenance and immersive training. For example, technicians can use headsets to receive detailed instructions during repair operations, improving accuracy and reducing downtime. And, with virtual reality, workers can train by replicating real situations without risk and the use of expensive resources.
Virtual reality and augmented reality which also find their raison d'être in architecture, which opens up a thousand worlds. For today the most developed uses are in field of urban planning, where the above are used digital twins to recreate every element of the city. You could say that this has already been happening for 5000 years with scale projects, but it is one thing to represent, another thing to reproduce. Furthermore, designing urban spaces taking energy efficiency into account is very complex, so having refined and fast digital allies is an important turning point.
Italian realities
Why do we move immediately from urban planning to Italian realities? Our bridge is thereal estate. In fact, we'll mention you right away Reesty, a virtual real estate marketplace where you can buy, sell and rent digital spaces.
Another significant reality is Over the Reality, which uses augmented reality to create a metaverse where users can purchase virtual land mapped onto the real world. Then there is Igoodi, which is a startup specialized in the creation of hyper-realistic 3D avatars used for various applications, from fitness to retail. And finally, we have AnotherReality develops immersive solutions for education and entertainment, collaborating with companies and institutions to integrate their operations into the metaverse.
The metaverse has had no end
In light of this information we can say that the metaverse has no "end".
It just turned out that large-scale applications are evidently not yet possible or not of sufficient interest. However, the specific uses are undoubtedly interesting and will most likely be an increasingly part of our future. If you think about it, some metaverse applications (such as the industrial one) facilitate and optimize work without replacing the person who does it. In this sense, even by massively using AI, we can arrive at uses that better preserve our humanity.
That the metaverse is a bridge between human and AI? A connection that follows a reverse process to AI entering the human world. Rather, the human enters a virtual world, shapes and explores it, uses simulations and then integrates them into the real world which (optimistically) remains untouched.
