AI Chatbots in the Metaverse: Enhancing Experiences

AI chatbots in the metaverse

The Metaverse, while still in its infancy, has taken the world by storm, and companies are on the search to keep up. Many businesses are now exploring metaverse platforms to engage with their clients and prospects better. Navigating it all may seem daunting, especially for companies that are not familiar with virtual environments. Add in AI bots, and things just got more interesting!

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The Role of AI Chatbots in the Metaverse

AI chatbots have made their way to main-stream use and are enhancing experiences across all sectors. AI chatbots are computer programs that can interact with users, understand natural language, and perform a variety of tasks. In the Metaverse, AI bots can help users navigate the virtual environment, find the information they need, and interact with other users. They can also be programmed to perform specific tasks, such as scheduling meetings, answering questions, and providing customer support.

According to a recent TIME article, “Metaverse industry insiders say that these AI technologies will be crucial toward building virtual worlds that are detail-rich and customizable—that they hold the key toward creating metaverses that regular people will actually want to spend time in.” Other AI tools are having a huge impact on metaverse creation by helping to quickly build virtual worlds filled with rich detail using prompts. This allows users without design or 3D backgrounds to eventually create virtual 3D environments and generative experiences according to their needs, interests, and desires

AI Tools Adding Value to Metaverse Experiences

Contrary to what some are saying, AI bots are not here to replace the Metaverse. Instead, they are completely complementary to it. The Metaverse is all about social interaction, exploration, and creativity and AI bots help enhance these experiences by providing support, information, and entertainment. AI bots can also be used to automate repetitive tasks, freeing up human resources to focus on more critical tasks. By using AI bots in the Metaverse, companies can provide a more personalized experience to their clients and prospects, making them stand out in the crowded virtual environment.

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AI Chatbot Examples in the Metaverse

To illustrate the impact of AI bots in the Metaverse, consider a B2B company that wants to host a virtual event in an avatar-based metaverse platform. The company can use AI bots to help attendees navigate the virtual environment, find the information they need, and interact with each other. AI bots can also be used to provide support during the event, answer questions, and address concerns. By using AI chatbots, the company can provide a more personalized experience to attendees, making the event more engaging and memorable. Up until now, a lot of these tasks were limited to pre-scripted virtual assistants. But now, with tools like ChatGPT, AI characters will be able to respond to users in a natural way with factual information.

Other AI tools are still being developed and tested. Google, for example, has announced a generative AI tool that turns text prompts into 3D models

Let’s check out a few ways AI chatbots can be integrated into the metaverse today:

AI bots can be used to provide automated customer service and support, answering frequently asked questions and helping users with basic tasks.

AI bots can be programmed to perform specific tasks for users, such as scheduling appointments or organizing virtual events.

AI bots can serve as virtual guides, offering suggestions and recommendations to help users navigate the metaverse and discover new experiences.

AI bots can be used to automate the creation of virtual content, such as 3D models, animations, and music.

AI bots can be integrated into virtual storefronts to assist with product recommendations, customer service, and purchase processing.

AI bots can be designed to interact with users in a social capacity, offering friendship and support, or serving as virtual pets or companions.

AI bots are a powerful tool that can complement the Metaverse and address the specific needs and pain points of B2B companies exploring metaverse platforms. By using AI bots, B2B companies can provide a more personalized experience to their clients and prospects, making them stand out in the crowded virtual environment. If you’re interested in exploring the power of AI bots in the Metaverse, try Virtway Events, the leading metaverse platform that offers a wide range of features and integrations to enhance your virtual experiences.

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Case Study: Metaverse Asia Expo (MAE 2022)

Metaverse Asia Expo - MAE 2022

MAE 2022 Features Dozens of Exhibitors and Guest Speakers

The first-ever Metaverse Asia Expo (MAE 2022) started on October17, 2022 and marked a new milestone in the world of Metaverse business landscape. The five-day event saw participation from nearly a hundred exhibitors from across Asia who showcased their latest products, innovative solutions, and creative ideas. With support from professional institutions such as the Association of Blockchain Development (ABCD), Asia CEO Community, PWC, and more, MAE 2022 was a resounding success.

Over 30 keynote and panel discussion sessions attracted more than 80 speakers and nearly 10,000 virtual visitors from more than 20 countries. The event was organized to accommodate participants from different time zones and was a huge success, attracting senior management from various corporations.

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High-Level Government Support and Enthusiasm for the Metaverse

In his opening speech, Dr. Bernard Chan, Under Secretary for Commerce Economic Development, noted that the Hong Kong SAR (HKSAR) government is closely monitoring the development of new and innovative technologies like the Metaverse and will continue to update its policies to support these advancements.

MAE 2022 opening speech

Dr. Kyle Wong, President of the Association of Blockchain Development, expressed his gratitude to the HKSAR government and other partner organizations for their support and said that the Metaverse economy is expected to grow rapidly in the coming decades. He advised enterprises to invest promptly and take advantage of the new market.

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MAE 2022: A Successful Example of 'Metaverse-as-a-Service

MAE roundtable

The MAE 2022 event demonstrated the potential of “Metaverse-as-a-Service”, showcasing various  discussions on topics like the Metaverse capital market, education in the Metaverse, and ESG and Carbon Neutrality in the Metaverse. Visitors from all over the world to participated in the exhibition and other interactive activities, bypassing geographical and pandemic-related restrictions.

The event ended with an immersive VIP party, featuring live music, beautiful lighting, sponsors’ posters, and 3D virtual art pieces. Guests could take pictures, dance, sing on stage, and participate in games and a best-dressed avatar contest.

The tremendous success of MAE 2022 has not only revealed the strong business potential for the Metaverse, but it has also demonstrated how commercial activities can be conducted in an innovative and sustainable fashion there. The event received widespread media coverage, with over 70 news reports and a target audience of one million.

MAE 2022 VIP party
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The Perfect Altspace Alternative

altspace-alternative

Virtway is the perfect alternative to Altspace for hosting virtual events. With a wider range of features, easy accessibility, high performance, and flexibility, Virtway offers event organizers the tools they need to create engaging and immersive virtual experiences for attendees.

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Virtway Events Now Accessible via Browser

metaverse accessible via browser

Are you looking for the perfect Metaverse Experience without needing to download anything?​

Virtway Events Now Accessible via Browser
- No Downloading
- No 50-person limit per scene

All the other web-based Metaverses probably told you 50 users is the limit across the world… Well, we’re here to tell you that’s NOT true! Bring together 250+ avatars in the same scene with Virtway’s web-based solution. The same quality App experience, on your browser.

Virtway, together with Ludium Labs, has created browser access to the Virtway Events App. Made possible with state-of-the-art cloud-gaming technology, you and your entire team can access Virtway Events from anywhere in the world from the browser.

Want to know more and host your next event in the Metaverse?

events in the metaverse
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We can show you a demo and talk you through how it works. If you’ve already seen the app from the inside, then you’ll already know what to expect. The experience is a mirror image of what is happening in the app.

You can enter all the high-quality scenes with your interactive avatar, participate in events, attend conferences, interact with content, take part in team building activities, get through escape rooms… EVERYTHING that is in the app, is now available via the browser.

Telva Opts for the Virtway Metaverse to Target a New Generation of Followers

Telva1000 Metaverse

The most prestigious fashion magazine in Spain, steps towards the Metaverse

Telva, the most prestigious fashion magazine in Spain, takes a decisive step towards the Metaverse with the aim of addressing a new audience that will allow it to remain a leader for another 60 years.

Enter the Telva Metaverse

To celebrate its 1000th issue, the well-known magazine will offer its readers a unique immersive experience, providing them with a virtual meeting point such as the TELVA Showroom, from which they will be able to access exclusive brand content, interact by voice and, to top it off, attend a live hybrid concert by group Marlon.

But that’s not all, there will be prizes and lots of them, as the events in the metaverse also allow visitors to participate in fun challenges and gymkhanas through their avatar. From a dress-up game to walking the streets of Paris looking for products hidden by the sponsoring brands. Anything can happen in the TELVA Metaverse.

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You can participate in the challenges from today until the 27th at 12:00h CEST. 

Enter the Telva Metaverse

Case Study: Fortune 100 Software Company Trains 100’s in Virtway’s Metaverse

Case Study: Fortune 100 Software Company Trains 100’s in Virtway’s Metaverse

Due to the amount of confidential, in-house content shared at the event, this Fortune 500 company has asked to remain anonymous. Virtway respects the security and confidentiality of all companies, big or small, that use our Metaverse to carry out events.

Coming back for a second time, this top international software company again chose Virtway to deliver their cutting-edge immersive Training event in our Metaverse. Innovation is in their nature and they didn’t let travel restrictions slow down their work around the globe.

Over 130 employees from around the world joined the 2-week virtual training pop-up. By offering their training event in Virtway, the company found original ways to gamify key learnings built from their LMS right into the platform, like Top Performers winning gift cards and prizes!

They also had their different offices compete and participate in interactive team building sessions, and enjoy freshly designed and personalized scenes that were branded to match the product and the energy of the event.

“Our goal was creating a virtual space truly personalized for our team, just as an in-person event would be.”
Event Organizer

In Virtway, personalization and gamification are next-level. Teams are able to set the theme, deliver the message, challenge and energize participants, and carry out constructive workshops.

To kick off the event, all teams from around the globe met in their customized auditorium where they had special guests from top VPs of the company. This kick-off, complete with theme music and celebrity cameos, launched the high energy that kept building up and crescendoed with a Live DJ set.

Teams also split up and attended a number of training workshops to focus on adapting their business to remote work and customer success.

There were many thought leadership sessions where teams learned and received exclusive news. Special guests included one of the best marketing leaders in the consumer technology space!

Some other key points on the agenda included:

  • Workshops based on how to achieve further market growth
  • Product launch announcements
  • Role-playing sessions
  • Partner program updates
  • A Partner Pavilion for meaningful 1:1 & group conversations
  • Workshops to focus on social and brand guidelines

Of course, it wasn’t all work with no play! The team celebrated some big wins that were achieved over the last year and had some awesome team building activities for everyone to participate in. These activities included a personalized version of our Wipeout course and a prize wheel with some big prizes.

And no one went home empty-handed. Each team member received a digital swag bag at the end of the event to brighten their day.

Motivation is key to unlocking true employee potential, and this Fortune 100 company did exactly that. A post-event survey for feedback confirms the success:

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Overall Event Rating out of 5
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% Knowledge Increase
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Motivated team members ready to take on any challenge and succeed!​
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Demystifying the Metaverse: A Guide for Business Leaders

metaverse-talk-ceo-virtway-stand

The new buzzword “Metaverse” is creating a great deal of confusion and noise for corporate executives. Faced with such a degree of uncertainty, it remains unclear how to take action in the short term to prepare for this new revolution that is in the making.

We spoke with Virtway’s CEO, Jose Antonio Tejedor, to take a more in-depth look at the concept of the Metaverse and demystify what it means for companies now and in the near future. One thing is for sure, what is here and what is to come is full of opportunities.

Questions Covered

Let’s start with the obvious question, what is the Metaverse?

It’ s important to first mention that the concept of the Metaverse originally emerged in the sci-fi novel Snow Crash (1992) where it was described as a 3D world where people interact with each other through avatars. Among the “experts”, a simple version that is fairly widely accepted is that the Metaverse is a 3D space where you can do (at least) the same things as in reality. In an attempt to apply a strict generic definition investor Matthew Ball describes it as:

“The Metaverse is a permanent network of real-time rendered 3D worlds and simulations that support continuity of identity, objects, history, payments and entitlements, which can be experienced synchronously by an effectively unlimited number of users, each with a sense of individuality.”

It is unlikely that we will see this continuity and interconnectedness between different 3D worlds in the next 10 years. There’s a long way to go before there is that level of standardization in information between the different 3D spaces. If we also intend to integrate virtual and augmented reality into the definition, the situation becomes even more complicated.

We have to resort to a much simpler description so that users who are not experts in technology (and philosophy) can understand what a Metaverse is. We could say that a Metaverse is a 3D space where people interact through their avatars and enjoy different types of experiences. What do we mean by experiences? They are interactions between people similar to those we make in reality or to the dynamics already created in the world of video games.

Will cryptocurrencies and NFTs be required in the Metaverse?

It’s optional. A Metaverse will have an internal virtual currency that is often used as a gamification element but this currency does not have to be in a blockchain. Including NFTs is an interesting way of monetization when the company has a digital asset of value for its users: sports clubs, singers, etc. It is also possible to create NFTs that only exist within the metaverse itself: clothes, objects, furniture, apartments, buildings, land…

It is important to mention that creating NFTs can have implications on the community and should be evaluated carefully as not all users are reacting well to this type of digital assets as seen in this article.

Will the Metaverse be in VR?

It’s clear that the future is VR but right now this depends on the target audience. According to studies there are about 26 million active VR devices on the market compared to 14,000 million mobile devices. If you want to reach as many users as possible it is much more interesting to focus on compatibility with mobile devices and, of course, PCs and MACs.

virtway-metaverse-desktop-tablet-mobile

Will the Metaverse have to incorporate AR?

Not at all. Augmented reality hardly has anything to do with the Metaverse at the moment (although the philosophers of technology insist on it), and it will be difficult to connect in the future. The Metaverse is a 3D virtual world, and augmented reality is based on “augmenting” reality by projecting objects or elements on top of it through glasses or cell phones. Being able to see the clothes of someone’s avatar projected on their real image is something anecdotal or “nice to have”, but totally irrelevant for the Metaverse.

What is the difference between a Metaverse and a video game?

In a Metaverse there is no single mechanic or objective as in video games. In all video games there is a fundamental “core loop” that the player understands and follows with a purpose. Fortnite, for example, is a video game where users fight each other in groups of 100 people with the goal of eliminating opponents.

The principle of a Metaverse is that it is open and users can explore, interact and engage with the 3D world without a predefined goal (gameplay).

Is there a Metaverse that exists right now?

We could say that Second Life is the closest thing at the moment to a Metaverse for adults. It is a large 3D space where users can interact, build, trade…, without a specific objective predefined by Linden Labs.

Roblox, on the other hand, is a Metaverse for children. They can interact with each other, explore and play a multitude of mini-games together.

Do you think there will be a single Metaverse?

Just as there is no single social network, there will be no single Metaverse. There will be multiple Metaverses with different market shares and geographic and demographic segmentation. Each of us will have our own favorite Metaverse where we will meet friends, have our private space, and “play” online.

Companies will have a presence in the main Metaverses as they do now in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn…

Will we work exclusively in the Metaverse?

For corporate environments there are already a multitude of tools that allow online meetings with avatars, desktop sharing, webcam… These are not Metaverses, they are productivity tools. Surely it will be rare for companies to propose to their workers to enter a Metaverse more focused on leisure and entertainment, as it seems that Meta is going to do in an attempt to regain its young population that they have lost in recent years.

On a personal level, Metaverses will allow people to work in them and earn a living. There are many options and dozens will emerge:

  • Create content such as clothes, furniture and sell them in internal virtual stores as virtual objects or as NFTs.
  • Manage entertainment spaces such as pubs where parties, dates, live concerts, etc. are organized.
  • Work as a virtual assistant for companies that have spaces within the Metaverse.
  • Mining cryptocurrencies. There are Metaverses that allow you to perform actions to acquire the world’s cryptocurrency, although balancing it to allow a person to make a living working in this way will be a challenge.

Is Virtway a Metaverse?

THE CORPORATE METAVERSE OFFICE MEETING

According to our own definition mentioned above, we are not yet a Metaverse since we do not have an open space for all users where they can explore, play and interact freely. We are still a tool to create Metaverses.

We are in the middle of a fundraising round to create our Metaverse with a unique design and position in the market. At the moment, we use our technology to provide private spaces to companies within VirtwayEvents.com and we create 100% customized Metaverses for companies.

What can companies do right now in the Metaverse?

Let’s differentiate according to budget.

Low budget: To provide “Metaverse-like” experiences to employees and customers, the best option is to hire a private space in one of the existing tools where you can have meetings, present the company’s products in a memorable and spectacular way and carry out fun training activities with employees.

Moderate or high budget: In this case I would follow a diversification strategy.

  1. Negotiate presence in the existing 3D worlds/games/Metaverses according to the traffic they have: Roblox, Zepeto, Avakin, IMVU, Animal Crossing, Core, etc.
  2. Have a 100% independent Metaverse where you control the data, the users, the experiences, the gamification, etc.

For a company, the difference between having a private space within a Metaverse or having its own Metaverse will be like having an account on a social network or having its own website/application.

We all lived through the Facebook boom when companies spent millions of dollars to attract traffic and gain new followers. At a certain point Facebook decided that companies should pay for their wall posts to reach their own followers. From that moment on, marketing budgets became more focused on their own websites, applications and creating user databases. Will the same thing happen with the Metaverse: create your own, promote it and make it grow, or create it in an existing Metaverse and be exposed to its rules? It will all depend on the available budget.

What would a company in the Metaverse look like?

Let’s explain it according to the type of objectives that we want to accomplish:

- Branding

  • Show the company as highly innovative by offering a spectacular and fun environment to users. The main focus is the design of the environments and the games or interactive elements that are created to surprise visitors. Imagination is the limit.

- Sales

  • Sell online showing the product in a novel way connected with the online store that the company already has. This could be 3D stores for clothing, appliances, books, etc.
  • Create a new source of income for the company through the selling of virtual goods or NFTs. It is usually based on the creation of a new business model, normally Free to Play and/or subscription based.

- Marketing

  • Create a wow effect with customers. The company’s products and services are shown in an interactive and fun way. These are usually services or products that require high value-added assessment. There is usually online support staff, just like in reality.
  • Create or retain a community of users. The goal is to get users to return regularly to the Metaverse, interact with other users and get value from this new medium.

- Training

  • Offer a new type of employee training that is more fun and focused on skills development.

- Meetings

  • Have original and unique meeting spaces, a soccer stadium, the streets of Paris or an apartment for each employee. From time to time, parties and celebrations can be organized with live or recorded music and games.

- Internal communication

  • The two previous points can be combined in a more ambitious approach.
    • Encourage team communication.
    • Reinforce corporate values
    • Motivate participation and engagement in the company’s performance by means of challenges, games and social activities.

Will it be possible to reuse 3D content between one Metaverse and another?

If the model is created using the tools of a particular Metaverse, it may not be reusable, but if it is created using standard tools from the gaming world, the models can be used between Metaverses with slight adaptations.

Do you have more thoughts about the Metaverse and Virtway’s vision? Contact us and we would love to continue the conversation

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2021 Virtual Event Trends

2021 Virtual Event Trends

2021 gave way to innovation in both online and hybrid events. Here are the event trends we’ve seen at Virtway over the last year which perhaps are some telltale signs for what’s to come in 2022!

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