Opinion: The Metaverse Is More Dangerous Than Artificial Intelligence

The metaverse carries ‘horrific dangers,’ and humanity must take it under control before it is too late. This was stated by Dr. David Reid, a professor at the University of Liverpool’s Hope.

An expert in artificial intelligence and spatial computing urged urgent discussions on how to protect metaverse users before the technology becomes a reality in the next five to ten years.

“We need a robust system to regulate the metaverse. We are clearly at a very early stage, but we need to start talking about the threats right now,” Reid said.

According to the professor, these risks relate to governance of the technology, as well as data collection and protection.

He added that the threats emanating from the creation of the metaverse are on par with the risks associated with widespread deployment of artificial intelligence.

“The ultimate goal of the metaverse is not merely virtual and augmented reality, but mixed reality. The fusion of the digital and physical worlds can be so ubiquitous that the virtual and real become indistinguishable,” the professor said.

He noted that most mixed-reality headset prototypes are equipped with numerous sensors and cameras that track various parts of the human body, as well as their physical state. This enables the generation of a vast set of valuable data about users that, at this stage of the sector’s development, is not protected in any way.

“And that is precisely why we need a system to regulate the metaverse,” the expert added.

As an example of regulation, the doctor cited the standards in Internet technologies developed by the independent consortium W3C. According to him, the organization encourages involvement and knowledge sharing, which strengthens trust on a global scale and influences how the World Wide Web operates.

Nevertheless Reid acknowledged that the metaverse is the next stage in the evolution of not only the Internet, but computing in general, which, despite its flaws, offers a range of advantages.

Earlier, ForkLog examined the history of the emergence of virtual worlds and the role of cryptocurrencies in this future industry.

In October, Facebook announced a major rebranding, renaming the company to Meta. This demonstrates its commitment to building the metaverse.

During the presentation, the company demonstrated realistic avatars, the environment for their existence, and a neural interface that allows controlling them.

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