This week was one of the most boring and least dramatic weeks in XR news since I began writing this column. AI is sucking the air out of the space. This is one of five Forbes stories I published this week about AI. Not because I’m not interested in XR. It’s just right now, AI feels more urgent.
On the “This Week In XR” podcast Friday morning, co-host and Magic Leap founder Rony Abovitz said “XR is finally getting the AI it has been waiting to have.” Co-host Ted Schilowitz, Futurist at Paramount Global says “the Apple Mixed Reality headset will change everyone’s thinking.” He should know. He’s seen it.
It’s possible After AI Sucks Air out of the Metaverse it will Remake it. We will literally speak the world into existence.
^^ This new Snapchat Lens is a virtual try-on of an artist’s concept of Apple’s new Reality One XR headset. ^^
When a restaurant or other establishment sends you a “we haven’t seen you in a while!” email message, you know they must be hurting for customers. This product is a social VR platform, which is free and offers a wide range of experiences. Many platforms have failed at social VR. This VR/PC platform lacks a creator-economy that incentivizes builders, nor does it have an obvious enterprise application. They’re reportedly working on a mobile app, which has helped others. They only make money from the community of power-users who pay for membership fees to access enhanced features. When this company was hot, they raised a lot more money. However, when I see an email such as this one I wonder about the real state of things.
AWE Expo 2021: Pictures from the Expo
AWE
Climate Change: XR Technology and $100,000. AWE announced that it will give $100K for the best concept of XR to fight climage changes. The winner will announced at the AWE Conference and Expo, Santa Clara CA. May 30 – June 2nd. More than 150 teams submitted projects. AWE is The following are some of the ways to get in touch with us. The XR event for the year. Over 5,000 people attended. The conference will certainly be focused on AI’s impact, and I hope to see demos and hear ideas about new capabilities AI is bringing to XR applications. What impact will this have on the metaverse as it develops? The big boys like Apple, Meta, Google, and Microsoft have their own conferences and don’t exhibit, but you’ll find a few of their execs on panels. In turn, sponsors Qualcomm Unity and Niantic are given more visibility. Apple’s presumed unveiling of their XR device will be at their WWDC conference a week later, June 5th. That’s going to create an interesting dynamic at AWE.
Sandbox location-based VR launches Dragonfire. In a Free Roam VR experience the users are all physically present in a large, black box while wearing VR headsets. This is the only full-body VR experience. You are free to move around. It’s warehouse scale. This can’t be done at home. This is a first. Players are able to see their avatars. To succeed in this multiplayer, players can use weapons and spells. It is different each time you play to encourage repeat play. Sandbox is also included. Star Trek There are 35 different locations where you can enjoy a variety of other experiences.
This Week In XR also has a podcast Ted Schilowitz is the author of this article, Rony Abovitz is the founder of Magic Leap, and Ted Schilowitz is a futurist at Paramount Global. This week, our hosts will be their own guests. They will focus on AI news and its positive impact on XR. You can find us on Spotify, iTunes and YouTube.
AI Weekly
AI Weekly: AI Leaders at White House, OpenAI adds $300 million, Empathetic Pi Chatbot launches
Metaphysic Deep Faux TED Conversation with Tom Graham, whose company Metaphysic produced the fake video “Deep Tom Cruise.”
Is AI The History Eraser Button After my interview with Tom, I began to wonder where this is all going and what it means to be a human.
AI-Powered Characters Change The Game The stories about AI above are not unrelated. We may create AI to alter our memories.
Follow me Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work here.
