GenAI is arguably one of the most significant promises in recent technology history. While other technology promises quickly follow the hype cycle with a fairly noticeable decline, genAI appears to be bucking this trend.
GenAI has demonstrated significant cost and time-saving benefits, is workplace agnostic and can be used across many industries. Meanwhile, XR has struggled to regain momentum, and genAI has arguably stolen it.
But as the hype around genAI continues, so too does its success, making it an essential investment for companies like NVIDIA, Meta, and HTC VIVE, who recognize not only the paradigm-shifting nature of genAI, but also its impact on enterprise XR.
Recently, John Dabill, Head of Product Operations for VIVERSE by HTC, spoke exclusively with XR Today about the simultaneous emergence of XR and AI and how these technologies will impact the AR/VR/MR industry.
Enterprise scenarios where genAI and XR work best and least effectively together
John Dabil: GenAI can be a very powerful tool if used correctly, but it requires training and clear guidelines for employees.
In today’s XR environments, VIVERSE for Business already uses GenAI to quickly and easily enable features like virtual meeting transcription, live translation, and training virtual assistants on company information.
GenAI should be used to make jobs easier and better, but not to completely replace humans. We need to keep in mind that AI is still in its early stages and we will see more sophisticated use cases in the future. In the short term, it is already being used in virtual personal assistants, but in the long term, it will become more sophisticated, such as creating accurate 3D assets or assisting in testing scenarios like the industrial metaverse.
What are the risk factors for GenAI?
John Dabil: Data privacy and risk remain very important. The biggest risks arise when organizations don’t have clear policies around AI use and guidelines on how to input company data into external AI.
We have been committed to ensuring transparency with VIVERSE for Business, especially with regards to how we use AI. All data provided to the platform is kept proprietary.
Leverage GenAI data to optimize enterprise XR services and empower employee decision-making
John Dabil: GenAI has the potential to be truly complementary to XR, not just in terms of adding value, but in terms of unlocking value.
GenAI can help organizations every step of the way, from helping with coding to training to find patterns, especially within large datasets.
It’s easy to imagine use cases where AI could analyze actions from dozens of training scenarios and quickly identify areas where trainees consistently struggle. These data sets could then be presented to real employees to determine the next course of action.
For example, our partner Cognitive3D specializes in analyzing spatial data, enabling XR training programs to get a holistic view of where trainees were looking and what they were doing at any point during the training process, allowing organizations to zero in on and improve individual trainee performance.
Similarly, you can apply a real-world physics engine and use AI to test scenarios to optimize factory operations or test hazardous environments where risk needs to be minimized.
Creating accessible XR solutions with genAI
John Dabil: GenAI can certainly help break down barriers, but it’s not a panacea.
GenAI needs to be applied slowly and steadily, and even something like live translation in XR would be beneficial as it would make the solution more accessible to people with different linguistic backgrounds.
But AI goes beyond XR: it can be used to model and test the ergonomics of various products and buildings in virtual environments with accurate physical models, and more importantly, to enable people with limited motor skills to vocalize and actualize such objects and images.
Taking this concept further, GenAI could also be trained to create virtual environments based on an individual’s requirements, removing the barrier of technical knowledge and allowing anyone to build their own virtual worlds.
Integrating genAI and XR into existing digital infrastructure
John Dabil: GenAI and XR work very naturally together. In enterprise XR, you often have to rely on relatively limited input options to communicate complex ideas, from data visualizations to 3D objects to even your own emotions.
People can now speak commands to AI in everyday language and have the AI interpret those instructions to generate graphs, models, and images.
Expanding AI, XR and Immersive Collaboration Solutions
John Dabil: As we were building VIVERSE for Business, integrating GenAI seemed like a natural fit. The platform already had AI capabilities, and we were applying Arthur C. Clarke’s principle that technology should be unobtrusive and undemanding, but just magically appear and do its thing when you need it.
While it depends on the scale of your ambitions and the scale of the task, there is generally no fundamental reason why you can’t leverage GenAI. Additionally, VIVERSE is built to make it easy for businesses to deploy into their existing infrastructure.
Data transparency and privacy are at the heart of any new technology adoption and will continue to be the biggest challenges. Ensuring that external AI comes with transparency that satisfies an organization’s legal and risk departments is essential.
