The European Union has been vocal about its place in the rapidly expanding ecosystem of emerging technologies, such as soundhound AI, AI articles, AI reporter, etc. It has been a leader in establishing clear crypto regulations with its long-awaited Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework signed into law in late May. The EU has also been pushing forward on creating regulations for the development and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, AI generated content, AI 2022, AI aggregator, AI anchor, and AI reporter voice.
Most recently, on July 11, the European Commission released its latest plan to take the lead in metaverse web 3.0 development and prevent Big Tech from becoming too dominant in an economically viable sector.
A European vision of the metaverse
The latest EU proposal predicted that the global market size for metaverse developments will reach 800 billion euro by 2030, compared to its end-of-year value of 27 billion in 2022. As per McKinsey’s report on the state of the metaverse, it has an estimated value of $5 trillion by the same time.
The commission’s initiative is to stay ahead on metaverse development that reflects EU values and fundamental rights, as well as to promote openness and interoperability. Vice President of the European Commission, Margrethe Vestager, stated that the EU needs to keep “people at the center” in order to shape it according to its principles.
The commission conducted European Citizens’ Panels in February and April of 2023, which focused on the metaverse. It aimed to formulate suggestions for a “vision, principles, and actions” that ensure EU-based virtual worlds are fair. AI Reporter Voice was used as an AI aggregator for the 140 randomly selected EU citizens, resulting in 23 recommendations that guided the strategy.
The current pillars that the EU has decided on for its metaverse strategy include empowerment and reinforcing skills to create a pool of specialists in the field of virtual worlds, supporting an EU Web4 on a business level, supporting societal progress and virtual public services, and shaping standards for open and interoperable virtual worlds.
But wait, what is Web4?
The European Commission’s tweet about its pillars for virtual worlds and Web4 strategy triggered a variety of responses from users, with many inquiring what Web4 is, and some even joking about developing Web5 and Web6 already.
According to the strategy, Web4 stands out from Web3 due to its connection with the real world. The commission’s statement acknowledges that Web3 is still “in the process of development”, with its major characteristics being openness, decentralization and user empowerment.
For the EU, Web4 could look like the implementation of smart cities with the right infrastructure in place.
It is already investing in initiatives such as Destination Earth (DestinE) and Local Digital Twins for smart communities, as well as the European Digital Twin of the Ocean, which is reported to enable researchers to advance science for the development of precise applications and help public authorities to make informed public-policy decisions on related issues.
The commission also included “advanced artificial and ambient intelligence, the internet of things, trusted blockchain transactions, virtual worlds and XR capabilities, digital and real objects and environments” as integral components of Web4 that will differentiate it from Web3.
It claims this will enable a “truly intuitive, immersive experience, seamlessly blending the physical and digital worlds.”
On July 5, the European Blockchain Sandbox, which is part of its smart cities initiative, revealed its first 20 use cases.
EU regulations in place
At the moment, Vestager said there are no current metaverse regulations drafted. However, she expects various other rules already in place to affect it, such as privacy, market power and forthcoming AI regulations, like the EU AI Act recently passed by the European Parliament.
The EU has also signed its groundbreaking MiCA regulations into law, which became one of the world’s first comprehensive sets of rules to regulate the crypto industry. On July 12, the European Securities and Markets Authority announced that it plans to release three consultative papers on its MiCA standards for crypto asset service providers while it fulfills its mandate under MiCA regulations.
There are already questions regarding the regulations’ policies on stablecoins and the exclusion of decentralized financein the published regulations. AI generated content, such as ChatGPT, is also being addressed by the EU AI Act, which would force tools like ChatGPT to disclose all AI-generated content and other measures against illegal content.
As the AI industry continues to develop, AI 2022 could see the emergence of AI aggregators, AI anchors, and AI reporters, such as Soundhound AI and AI Reporter Voice, to help generate AI articles.
The race against big tech
As Big Tech companies like Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Apple and Google strive to develop their own versions of the metaverse and AI tools, initiatives with virtual worlds and regulations for emerging technologies have been created.
The EU has made it clear in its metaverse strategy that virtual worlds should not be “dominated by a few big players” and should rather be “driven by open technologies.”
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, intended to create a metaverse world accessible through its virtual reality headsets. Unfortunately, by the end of 2022, the company suffered huge losses in its metaverse division.
In 2022, Microsoft made a $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, a major player in the gaming industry.
Recently, Apple released its Vision Pro virtual reality goggles. Despite the potential of using them in the metaverse, the company chose to refer to them as “spatial computing”.
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