There are different visions of how the metaverse will actually form. One of them is something you can easily see in action in action.

Augmented reality (overlaying virtual elements onto the real world through a variety of means, including full-featured headsets and everyday smartphones) is already a part of our lives, whether it’s Pokémon Go or the apps that power our games. overflowing around. arrange the furniture. Previously primarily focused on VR, Meta is also entering the game, continuing its mission to make the Metaverse a reality. The Financial Times reported On Sunday, the company announced it was in talks to partner with augmented reality startup Magic Leap.

While there are no plans to build a Meta-Magic Leap headset at this time, the Metaverse powerhouse and partnership with one of the leading companies in business-centric AR reflects a larger trend.Despite the current struggle to get the social metaverse off the ground, major advances in AR technology are already transforming healthcare, infrastructure and manufacturing. behind the scenes. Adding practical AR technology to Meta’s immersive VR platform could go a long way toward building virtual worlds that allow users to more comfortably live their digital lives.

Last week, before the release of the FT report, I spoke with Magic Leap’s Chief Transformation Officer, Daniel Dees, about the company’s efforts to weave AR into the fabric of the American workplace, and how companies He talked about how the company’s policy of focusing solely on building tools for the industry has helped. Now developing technology that is clearly the envy of Mark Zuckerberg. The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

By now it should be clear that the actual process of developing the Metaverse, AR, and VR runs on long timelines that don’t necessarily coincide with the hype cycles around any particular technology. Is it an advantage or a challenge for your job?

The hype cycle is really important. They get people to understand at least part of the new technology, then experience the inevitable hangovers and disappointments, but then companies start figuring out how to use it. that is happening now.

Look at the AI: there was a cover for Newsweek In 1997, “the last resistance of the brainThen came Watson, then Google’s AI-defeated Go champion, and now ChatGPT. In between these cycles, industries such as advertising have revolutionized. That action happens during the hype cycle and then comes back as a completely different animal.

What role will Magic Leap play in the AR/VR hardware environment?

Magic Leap is a tool for work. A tool for very precise work.

I have a manufacturing scenario. It is used for guided assistance in medicine and surgery. It is used for training first responders and police officers. These are the exact scenarios that require the ability to “pin” digital content to the physical world. When you put a digital model of your phone on this table, it stays there, and when you take your eyes off it, it stays there as if it were a physical object. This device constantly scans the room and constantly creates a digital twin of the room. With cameras everywhere, including my eyes, it knows exactly where I am and perfectly repositions digital content as I walk around.

This is very different from VR, which is best suited for gaming and entertainment purposes. However, even if he threw the ball in tennis while he was wearing the Quest Pro, it would lag and not be caught. Given high-precision use cases like surgery and manufacturing sites, the idea of ​​having lags long enough to miss the ball is Pass-through VRis not really an option.

Given that this technology is still in its infancy, what makes these partnerships successful? I think disaster Microsoft’s HoloLens and the US military.

One of the barriers to AR adoption has typically been the content ecosystem, but now that ecosystem is starting to really grow. We have a real solution that we can offer today. This is a big change since the release of the first HoloLens or the first Magic Leap.

The other part has to do with the device itself and the development platform. AR is usually associated with big, clunky, hot headsets, with lackluster visuals, poor text readability, and a very limited field of view. When producing the second-generation headset, I believe the computing pack and battery remained separate, reducing weight by 50 percent and reducing overall headset size by 25 percent. When we hear of people who aren’t happy with the platform they’re using, it’s usually something that addresses one or all of these issues, and we hope Magic Leap 2 will address those issues. dealt with.

How can artificial intelligence help power these tools?

We have a lot computer vision It’s already built into Magic Leap. The scanning we do, the 3D digital tools we create, the way our devices interpret the world, and much more is machine learning and AI. It’s platform specific.

There is even more room when vendors start looking to enable platform-level capabilities so that they can plug into very powerful tools for ingesting vast amounts of data about the physical world.

Do you think enterprise applications will ultimately play a bigger role than games and entertainment in driving AR adoption?

We chose to work specifically with manufacturing, healthcare and public sector employees because we knew we could provide real value.They were all areas where people were I’m already used to putting something on my eyes. So there was a wall that didn’t need to be crossed to provide that value.The equation is form factor, set a price in addition to the solutions we offer. These three determine how quickly the adoption curve occurs. People will be more willing to see something when they get something of value that actually helps them.

As an AI veteran coming out of woodwork to share their thoughts Some are clearly skeptical of the wave of hype caused by ChatGPT.

Rodney Brooks, robotics researcher and former director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, said: We talked to IEEE Spectrum At last week’s gala, he shared his thoughts on things like “artificial general intelligence” and OpenAI’s very high reputation.

Brooks dismissed the idea that something like OpenAI’s GPT model could lead to AGI, machines with human-like cognitive abilities. “I think they’re better than Watson Jeopardy. IBM called the program ‘This will solve medicine,'” Brooks said. “It wasn’t at all. It was a total failure. I think it could be better. But it’s not AGI.” He denied the “disaster hype”.

But he’s not entirely pessimistic about AI’s transformative potential. However, we believe that it will take some time for the AI ​​to reach its destination. “…[O]One of my other ‘Seven Deadly Sins AI predictions’ was how quickly people thought a new one would roll out,” Brooks said. “There are a lot of things that all have to be balanced, especially when hardware is involved, so deployment takes time. It takes time.”

Meanwhile, in Europe… A group of activists took the obvious opposite of Brooks’ claims regarding AGI.

Jean Volpicelli from POLITICO reported today About the activist group “Pause AI”. On Tuesday, he demonstrated in front of Microsoft’s former offices in Brussels, trying to force Microsoft to stop developing it for fear of its potential in AI development. kill us all. inspired by the work of Nick BostromAI founder Joep Meindertsma explained to Gian his group’s ultimate goal of halting AI development until humanity can ensure that it does not go beyond its control.

“My biggest fear is the speed of AI progress, because we haven’t seen the same progress in AI tuning,” Meindertzma said. “We could face extinction in a short period of time.”

And, as Gian points out, there are leading players who share his philosophy. Elon Musk promotes a pause in AI development, heated discussion Furious over AI risks in influential research institutes.