Is the Metaverse at Work DOA?
Read to the End to See What ChatGPT Has to Say about This
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Business Insider recently announced the death of the Metaverse. While the Metaverse does appear on the decline, some still believe the technology holds promise for HR professionals trying to find creative ways to connect remote workers with in-person colleagues and workplace culture. What does the Metaverse's demise mean for those seeking solutions?
To understand what's happening, take a few steps backward. First, the Metaverse, with a capital M, refers to the business that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, owns. The metaverse, with a lower-case m, refers to the general technology. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg seems to be dismantling the Metaverse, which has been the company leading the evolution of this tech.
"The Metaverse, the once-buzzy technology that promised to allow users to hang out awkwardly in a disorientating video-game-like world, has died after being abandoned by the business world," according to the obituary written by Ed Zitron for Insider. "It was three years old."
Zitron argues that the Metaverse's death is a result of a lack of vision, cohesion, and ultimately the fact that the hype never met reality. Of course, now that generative artificial intelligence (AI) has arrived in the form of ChatGPT, Bard, and others, the business world has turned its attention elsewhere.
The Brief History of Virtual Worlds
Older people will recognize history repeating itself. In 2003, everyone thought Second Life, the first coming of the metaverse, would transform personal and professional lives. There was even news of a person - err, an avatar - earning a million dollars in world. The media reported about the new "phenomenon" regularly - until they didn't. Why did it end? Businesses could not take it seriously. It was fun as a game, but no one wanted to see their CEO dressed like a cat walking around a mediocre digital castle built by one of the guys from the supply chain department.
Retail held the most promise to improve customer experience. But, at the time, those Second Life shops sold things for avatars. None of it was translated into tangible material goods in real life. Still, it had some impact. People saw how advancing technology could be used to create better entertainment and customer experiences.
Next came games like Roblox, which officially launched in September 2006 and remains a favorite game of mainly elementary and middle school kids. There are many similar games with the ability to build worlds and win skins for your avatar. Eventually, the world pondered and tried to formulate a way for these virtual worlds to become closer to reality and engage employees at work.
Many incarnations of the metaverse made big promises but none as big as those of Zuckerberg's Meta. In this new version of Second Life, employers would have to invest in virtual reality headsets to get the full experience. Many who tested the product described wonky behavior and glitches.
In addition, VR equipment is costly. One headset can cost upward of $400. This does not take into consideration other costs like virtual real estate and office space, subscriptions, etc. As a result of prohibitive costs, frivolous usage of the technology, and an inability to understand what was in it for businesses, many employers rejected investment.
In fact, at HR Exchange Network's Future of Work event, Dirk Lueth, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Uplandme, Inc., who wrote a bestselling book about the metaverse, confirmed the skepticism of HR professionals. When he polled the audience about whether they would spend $50 per employee to test a metaverse product like the one he offers, 62% said no.
WATCH: Dirk Lueth Explain the Metaverse at the Future of Work Online Event
After all, the economy was already slowing down and COVID-era restrictions began lifting, which left people ready to mingle in real life. Many pushed (and are still pushing) for return to office policies that rendered the virtual reality realm useless. The avatars and fantasy worlds no longer held the same appeal once people could open their doors and walk outside. Frankly, the avators and virtual worlds seemed silly.
The Future of Virtual Workplaces
Some HR leaders still believe, however, that virtual worlds like the Metaverse will eventually replace Zoom-type video conferencing. Certainly, one also could imagine using VR for onboarding and training. The technology will continue to advance. If it becomes more affordable, companies might buy into it, especially if the labor shortage continues and employers give people the flexibility of remote work.
For remote work, it could be an employee engagement and retention tool. It could solve the problem of building culture even among disparate workers. Employers could have virtual offices, and their avatars can meet for collaboration, socializing, and face time when they cannot meet in the real world. While the up-front costs could be expensive, the metaverse could prove cheaper than having employees from different parts of the world travel to meet in one place.
What Does ChatGPT Have to Say about All This?
However, generative AI is the technology that imminently will reshape the way people work. Zuckerberg and others have swiftly realized the fallacy in their previous thinking. Once ChatGPT's capabilities came into view, they had to accept defeat. The metaverse will be a tool in the future of work. AI will be the tool in the future of work. Just ask ChatGPT. It humbly will tell you that both technologies have potential and that their impact will depend on how people "develop, implement, and adopt" them.
Still, ChatGPT gets the edge when users read between the lines:
"The metaverse has the potential to transform the way we collaborate and communicate by providing a platform for virtual interaction that transcends physical boundaries. It could potentially enable more remote work and reduce the need for physical office space, leading to more flexible working arrangements and increased productivity. However, the development of the metaverse is still in its early stages, and it remains to be seen how it will be adopted and used in different industries and sectors.
Generative AI, on the other hand, has already shown significant impact and potential for the future of work. It can automate many repetitive and time-consuming tasks, allowing humans to focus on more complex and creative tasks. It can also generate new ideas and insights that humans may not have thought of, leading to new product development and innovation. However, the use of generative AI also raises ethical concerns around job displacement and the need for upskilling and reskilling the workforce to adapt to new technologies."
What do you think? Is the metaverse, with a lower-case m, dead, too? Is ChatGPT changing the world? Let's continue this conversation in the comments or on LinkedIn.
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