Unlike the web, which is mainly geared towards consuming 2D information, the metaverse places participants into an interactive space where it will be very natural to interact with AI services. This track is designed to explore just that. Given how early it is in the formation of the metaverse, here are a few ideas which are practical to take on for this contest. This list is by no means exhaustive, so feel free to get creative and think outside the box -- Claude's not going to to that on his own!
Have you seen the movie Inception? While we might not be able to build scenes with our mindpower just yet, AI is the next closest thing. Is it possible to generate entires scenes merely by giving AI a prompt and letting it do all the work a thousand times quicker than you could on your own? Probably. Be among the very first to start constructing scene generating software for the open metverse.
There are somewhere between one and two billion structures on this planet. And many more than that on an unlimited number of other imaginary planets. Each of these structures and their surrounding landscaping will eventually need to be represented virtually. Even the most complete GIS data sets have only a tiny fraction of buildings modeled, and about 0.000% of them are properly set inside a spatial fabric. That leaves a lot of work to be completed though some vast process requiring an intense amount of manual labor, or we'll need to find a way to automate this task. And that's just on Earth!
Beyond earth, there are an untol number of galaxies to explore in our imagination. And the places we visit far, far away are not limited by the physics we have on Earth. From age old tales of dragons and hobbits to futuristic cities and space stations, people will want to homestead on just about every planet in the universe. Let your creativity run wild. Or actually, teach AI and let it do all the heavy lifting.
Google AI tells us that civil engineering is the professional discipline focused on the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and natural built environment, including infrastructure like roads, bridges, buildings, dams, and water systems. In the metaverse, this will include virtual environments too.
People naturally gravitate to city centers where lots of other people also hang out. So it's going to be important to create many thousands of well thought out communities that can support a wide array of activity for games, entertainment, and general exploration. Again, that's going to require an intense amount of manual labor, unless someone creates software that allows AI to do the work for us.
Earth has, roughly, 7 continents, 250 countries & territories, 3,500 states, 50,000 counties, and 250,000 cities, plus somewhere between a half a million and a million communities. Then there are hundreds of thousands of rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans. Mountains, hills, plains, and valleys. Also highways, streets, dirt roads, and trails. Each of them have a name (in multiple languages) and a border or path.
Now, imagine a galaxy far, far way in which there were 2,000 or more planets to create -- each as complex as Earth! How would one go about terraforming a planet? We suspect it's not by hand, because each planet would take eons for one person to populate. The answer, of course, is AI.
Note that 27 hours is not enough time for an AI program to generate data for an entire planet. A good goal here would be to make significant progress in the right direction.
Inanimate objects aren't the only things occupying the metaverse. We expect the will be billions of people alongside potentially just as many AI driven humanoid and non-humanoid agents. These agents will serve a variety of purposes including greeters, assistants, nps, and companions.
We strongly suspect that humanoid AI agents will be found everywhere in the metaverse. Going to the local home improvement store and can't find anyeone to help you? No problem. An AI agent will be happy to accompany you throughout your entire visit and anser any question you have like a pro. Need a personal assistant? Yes, please -- and preferrably one with a snarky attitude.
RP1's prototype browser currently supports avatars with human skeletons, so adding an AI agent into the world is relatively straightforward. Simply create an account, login, and send the requisite updates to control the agent's body, head, hands, and voice. Easier said than done, no doubt. But it's defintiely achievable.
Let's be honest. Who wouldn't want a virtual pet? We've been saying for years that the first company to create virtual AI pets will become a multi-billion dollar enterprise. To date, no one has accepted this challenge, so it's yours for the taking.
Virtual pets instantly bring to mind furry little cats and dogs. However, who's to say you can't have a pet dragon or a pet teddy bear. Do you want your pet to talk? If so, how funny, compassionate, smart, or sarcastic should it be? Is it cuddly, rambunctious, independent, or aloof? There are all things one ought to be able to dial up or down with AI.
Note, however, that RP1's prototype browser currently does not support animal skeletons, nor does it have any animal avatars. So you're going to have to demonstrate AI pets in a separate program first. If someone creates a compelling demonstration, we can add a new animal skeleton in the near future. Please keep in mind that your solution will almost definitely need to use the same API as that for human avatars.
What if you could speak normally, but the words people hear from you are in a completely different language or humorous accent? That would not only be an amazing party trick, but could have unlimited potential and application in the real world.
The key points to focus on here are accuracy, speed, and cost -- likely in that order. To demonstrate, the audio from the microphone can be intercepted, translated, reproduced, and then sent to the server using the regular avatar update.