Why Apple Vision Pro avoids the metaverse?
Khari Johnson at WIRED wrote a great piece with and equally brilliant title “Apple Ghosts the Generative AI Revolution”. I was happy to share some initial thoughts for this article on the #VisionPro launch, and the carefully tailored references (and absences) to #generativeAI.
“Apple appears focused on delivering high-end hardware instead of entering the highly convoluted and specialized generative AI arms race, says Micaela Mantegna, who last year lent her experience in games and AI ethics to red-teaming OpenAI’s text-to-image model DALL-E 2. She said in an email that she thinks that’s why Apple refers to its Vision Pro headset as a spatial computing device, and why CEO Tim Cook says Apple avoids the word metaverse, a term being tainted by Meta’s underperformance.
She believes generative models in immersed environments like the metaverse make it possible for a company to learn what you like and what you love. So when you see that an interaction with a digital twin elicits a positive reaction in that environment, someday generative AI can alter what you see next and personalize the experience for the sake of monetization. Last month, Meta started testing generative AI for advertising.”
=>Here are some expanded ideas:
🤖Although it’s VR, the device is focused to provide an experience that feels more like an AR/MR experience. Particularly, with the replication of the eyes feature aims to eliminate a problem of trust, mitigating what Philip Rosedale calls the “blindfolded in a room full of people” problem.
🤖 The Vision Pro is the perfect representation of my idea of the “reality gradient”. a spectrum that goes from the tangible reality that might be perceived through our senses (smell, taste, touch, sight, and hearing) to progressive stages that involve blending these different layers.
🤖The use of “era of spatial computing” as a terminology seems like a more strategic commercial approach to separate themselves from the metaverse narrative. It is coherent with Apple’s commercial history of coming up with unique names for their products in terms of branding, and also Tim Cook’s refusal to use the word metaverse, as a term that ended up being tainted by Meta’s underperformance.
🤖In the press release, it says “Introducing Apple Vision Pro: Apple’s first spatial computer” which aligns with this idea that they are delivering hardware first that enables experience, contrary to Meta’s focus on marketing the software environment rather than the hardware.
🤖Apple is making clear that their focus is on delivering high end hardware instead of entering the already convoluted and highly specialized GAI arms race.
🤖GAI is in this point a potential legal minefild in terms of content creation, so its a coherent that they havent presented anything on that front. There are open questions and litigation around copyright infringement, so unless the model is fully trained with licensed, proprietary data, potential risks might be too high. Moreover, with concerns around AI regurgitation and prompt injection attacks in terms of cybersecurity, it also aligns with their stated ethos on user’s privacy.
🤖Although, the reference to “advance machine learning to represent you realistically” implies some use of generative ML for generating your digital twin for FaceTime. Some other features announced are hinting at the use of GAI in subtle ways, like extending the background.
🤖Alhtough their reputation, as a scholar can not avoid mentioning the risks of a device like this, that can track and collect immense biometric information. Particularly the extensive use of eye tracking, gestures for the interface and face mapping. Mapping your environment might present similar challenges to the Roomba’s problem, in terms of privacy and also the mentions of “mapping people”, which raises the “bystander” problem similarly to the Ray Ban Stories
🤖We are on our way to implementations of #neurotechnology that requiere policy and ethical safeguards for our #mental privacy, #agency and selfdetermination, to avoid the metaverse to become a capitalism of cognitive surveillance.
“VR headsets and controler’s sensors have a very strategic placement in our bodies, being able to monitor a lot of data that we might consent to but not control, like our pulse, heartbeats, the movement and attention of our eyes (saccades), etc. Paired with artificial intelligence, that data can create a treasure trove of information about yourself, and then generate things that will appeal to you. Imagine a virtual world where the system can know what you are looking, how that makes you feel, what you find attractive, and then use that information to create an avatar looking like someone you like, to sell you that virtual t-shirt that just got your attention.”
More on that here: “How to stop the metaverse from becoming the internet’s bad sequel” in our session of 2022 RigthsCon “Every breath you take, every move you make: neurotechnology, XR, and the metaverse of surveillance” and in 2023 Game Developers Conference.
PS: doesnt this shape remind us of an Apple?
