The View | The metaverse market is expanding so rapidly, creators will need the help of AI to keep up with demand

Where building new digital spaces manually would take too long, creative AI can automatically generate images of practically anything, given enough data

Perhaps the greater challenge will be for regulation to keep up with this pace of growth, with a need for policies on data privacy and AI ethics

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A visitor experiences the metaverse at an expo in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 12. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 10:15pm, 1 Jun 2022Updated: 11:45pm, 1 Jun 2022

Over the past couple of years, the metaverse economy has exploded, with people immersing themselves in digital worlds to play games, buy NFT art and fashion, attend virtual concerts, and invest in virtual real estate.

We have seen numerous milestones. In March 2021, Christie’s sold a non-fungible token (NFT) of a digital artwork by Beeple for US$69 million. Some 78 million people attended Ariana Grande’s first metaverse concert in Fortnite last August. Republic Realm (now called Everyrealm) paid a record US$4.3 million for roughly 7.8 sq km of virtual land in The Sandbox metaverse last November.

Adidas sold its 30,000 NFTs of virtual sportswear almost immediately for over US$23 million in December. And the world’s first metaverse fashion week was held in Decentraland just a few weeks ago, with over 60 fashion brands showing off 500 virtual looks.

Locally, HSBC bought land in The Sandbox to create virtual sports-related venues, such as a stadium and golf course to drive fan engagement in immersive virtual environments. And the MTR has just announced that it is building a virtual station in The Sandbox with railway-focused games and experiences.

According to market tracker DappRadar, the NFT sales volume in 2021 was close to US$25 billion, up from US$95 million a year before. Bloomberg predicts that the overall metaverse market may reach a whopping US$800 billion by 2024. Citi GPS further estimates this value to jump to US$13 trillion by 2030.

A digital space created in The Sandbox metaverse, a virtual world where users can build and sell land or gaming experiences. Photo: The Sandbox

Demand is driving the expansion of the metaverse economy, but it is not scaling fast enough. This is where artificial intelligence (AI) can assist. To understand AI’s role in the metaverse, I thought it would be fun to ask an AI system directly, and this is what it said:

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The View | The metaverse market is expanding so rapidly, creators will need the help of AI to keep up with demand

Where building new digital spaces manually would take too long, creative AI can automatically generate images of practically anything, given enough data Perhaps the greater challenge will be for regulation to keep up with this pace of growth, with a need for policies on data privacy and AI ethics

Where building new digital spaces manually would take too long, creative AI can automatically generate images of practically anything, given enough data

Perhaps the greater challenge will be for regulation to keep up with this pace of growth, with a need for policies on data privacy and AI ethics