The 2021 rebranding of Facebook to Meta marked Mark Zuckerberg’s journey of adopting virtual reality. His vast investments into the Metaverse showed his belief in making a world that revolves around VR. Before ChatGPT and other revolutionary inventions of AI stole the spotlight, Zuckerberg’s metaverse dominated tech news. The idea of VR ruling our society and making life a truly immersive experience was appealing. It seemed it would stay that way until Zuckerberg’s vision appeared to be forgotten.
In April of this year, Zuckerberg declared to investors that he was “jettisoning the idea” due to the staggering sales making him lose over $21 billion since last year. So why the large investment? In July Zuckerberg stated that,
“I can’t guarantee you that I’m going to be right about this bet. I do think that this is the direction that the world is going in.”
But as Meta’s unprofitable numbers came in, Zuckerberg began changing his belief of creating a pure digital world, to incorporate a blend of the physical as well in defining his new metaverse. Even so, he continues to exclaim that the future will prove that the digital world is the way forward.
Even though he claims to have 300,000 monthly users, games such as Horizon Worlds don’t reflect these numbers. Players who abandoned VR claim that it is becoming increasingly difficult to connect with other players. Even then 300,000 appears low compared to comparable social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.
During Wednesday’s Meta Connect 2023, Zuckerberg announced his plans to adapt Meta AI tech and new features like chatbots for games and social media platforms. His hope is for AI to jumpstart this new project as well as the introduction to the Quest 3 virtual reality headset. Meta has even gone as far as to partner with celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Mr.Beat, and Kendal Jenner, to promote his futuristic vision for VR. Nevertheless, only time will tell if Zuckerberg’s new technology could become the next ChatGPT.
Written by Milanni Contreras
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