"Artificial Intelligence is the key to the metaverse, we are committed to building an open and responsible technology, with a high level of privacy and respect for human rights": said Mark Zuckerberg opening the streaming event 'Meta Inside the Lab: Building the metaverse with AI '.
Meta's CEO - under whose hat are Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Oculus - explained that the company is testing an artificial intelligence (AI) system that allows people to build virtual worlds by adding 3D objects, environments. and sounds just describing them with the voice and showed an example.
The trial, called the Builder Bot, allowed two avatars to first build a park, then a beach, and add music or chirps.
Among other projects based on artificial intelligence that Meta is working on, explained Zuckerberg, is CAIRaoke to allow people to have more natural conversations with voice assistants, a step towards how they will communicate in the metaverse.
But also 'No Language Left behind' and 'Universal SpeechTranslator' which will perfect the translation from language to language, without the intermediation of English for a "richer communication" in the virtual world.
The challenge is to create translation software that works for "everyone in the world" - basically an AI-based universal voice translator.
A field that Google is already working on.
"The ability to communicate with anyone in any language - it's a superpower people have always dreamed of and AI will deliver to us in our lifetime," said Zuckerberg.
Meta claims that although commonly spoken languages such as English, Mandarin and Spanish are well handled by current translation tools, around 20% of the world's population does not speak languages covered by these systems.
"The elimination of language barriers would be profound, allowing billions of people to access information online in their native or preferred language",
Finally, Zuckerberg recalled that the metaverse is "a long-term goal" and will offer "an immersive version of the Internet" that will allow you to interact in a virtual environment with other people, thanks to the support of new hardware and software.
"There will be more elements to process to navigate efficiently", he concluded, so artificial intelligence and machine learning will be fundamental and will build the models for "richer communication".
