On Wednesday 23^rd March, Brainpool hosted its newest “Future of AI” online debate. This event saw AI experts from various backgrounds discussing some of the most prominent benefits and concerns relating the future potential of Artificial Intelligence. In this session, we discussed the future prospect of Virtual Reality (VR) technology, and its role in the growing world of the ‘Meta-Verse’.

Debate topic 1 - What will the Metaverse look like in 50 years?

The first debate topic of the event saw the team discussing the future potential of the Metaverse, and speculating its future implications, such as how it will change our daily lives and interactions with each other. Here are some of the points the team explored:

· Will everyone use the Metaverse?

The Metaverse poses great potential to transform the way that we communicate. Similarly to the way we now use our mobile phones as a commonplace method of communication, there is a good chance that, as we become familiar with the Metaverse, it will play a key role in our everyday communication. The Metaverse could offer an equal playing field when it comes to interacting with each other, and mitigate many of the barriers that may come with communication within the real world. What’s more, it poses great opportunities for new and innovative methods of entertainment. Many opportunities to interact will likely shift to this new medium as it becomes more prevalent.

However, it is worth noting that not everyone in the modern age relies on their phones for communication. There is good reason to believe that some people simply may choose to avoid using the metaverse as a method of communication, instead opting to communicate via other methods (similarly to the way some people dislike communicating with phones nowadays). While the Metaverse may become an exclusive method of communication for some people or organisations, it is likely that some will opt to avoid it entirely.

· Will the Metaverse be addictive?

Humans are naturally hard-wired to seek pleasure. While the Metaverse can offer great forms of entertainment at ease, there is the concerning potential that this could divulge towards addiction. Already, there are examples of people becoming deeply engrossed in virtual lives, which can become increasingly harmful to peoples health and wellbeing in their everyday lives if not cautious. This concern is especially prevalent when money becomes involved, and there is no reason to believe that certain customisation for our meta-avatars won’t be locked behind paywalls. Furthermore, if the stimuli we receive from the metaverse is paramount to the real world, then we lose incentive to interact with the outside world, and can fall to addiction far easier.

Fortunately, the situation is not all doom and gloom, as there are methods that could be taken to ensure we can enjoy the benefits of the Metaverse while reducing these risks. Regulations can be established (with the right incentive in mind) to ensure that people’s wellbeing is considered within the use of the Metaverse, ensuring that profit incentives of organisations do not prevail at the detriment to users of the Metaverse. Examples could include monitoring and limiting the amount of time that people can use the Metaverse, ensuring that they receive regular breaks and do not spend unhealthy amounts of time interacting with the virtual world. Finally, it is important to remember the there is a substantial amount of entertainment that already exists outside of the metaverse; these wont simply disappear as soon as people have access to a VR set. While there is a risk of the Metaverse being addictive, it doesn’t have to be.

Debate topic 2 - Is the VR Experience Close to the Real Experience?

For the second debate topic, the team discussed the important diff