In the annual S&P Global Market Intelligence survey on metaverse attitudes, adoption and use cases, this year's respondents were asked about the relationship between generative AI and their metaverse programs. Since metaverse applications differ across sectors, the survey looks at the three main areas of adoption: industrial, enterprise (business-to-business) and consumer (business-to-consumer).
This survey sits alongside another global survey specifically aimed at consumers rather than businesses. A widely held view is that the feverish adoption of GenAI has taken attention away from the metaverse, but those in the know understand that the two are linked. We have described some of this possible future, and our survey also highlighted the underlying adoption of the metaverse. This report focuses on the relationship between GenAI adoption and the metaverse.
We define the metaverse as the next iteration of the internet: a single, shared, immersive, persistent, 3D virtual space where humans and machines interact with one another and with data, enhancing the physical world as much as replacing it. Humans and machines interacting with data refer not only to the visual cues and models typical in a virtual world but also to the layers of engagement technologies, such as GenAI, that assist. A generative AI-based simulation creating an accurate and believable scenario lends itself to more varied and dynamic results compared with a fixed, hand-crafted simulation. Engaging with the digital twin of an operational shop floor through natural language to help diagnose and fix a problem supercharges the skills of the workforce in the physical world. As we can see from this small cut of data from the global metaverse survey, those who have the foresight to engage in the metaverse also understand the implications of GenAI in real use cases, and the crossover and integration between the two.
Metaverse adoption
Looking at responses about industrial metaverse adoption first, we see that 61% of 1,000 respondents are engaged in the use of applications in this space, or plan to be in the next 12 months. This is similar to last year's survey, indicating that a majority are engaged, but adoption is not yet accelerating.
The survey asked those who are engaged in industrial metaverse adoption — ranging from already using to no plans to adopt — and combined that with asking "How do your company's generative AI initiatives integrate with your metaverse development plans?" The categories were as follows:
Simulation and training. We use or plan to use GenAI for creating diverse simulation scenarios to train autonomous systems, like robots or vehicles, within metaverse settings.
Interactive elements. We use or plan to use GenAI to enhance user interactions through support avatars, nonplayer characters or similar elements in the metaverse.
Content creation. We use or plan to use GenAI for generating 3D content within our metaverse environments.
Shift in focus. Our strategic focus has shifted toward GenAI applications, reducing our emphasis on metaverse developments.
No integration. Our GenAI and metaverse strategies are developed independently, or we lack strategies.
Content creation, interactive elements, and simulation and training are GenAI applications used by over 60% of those already engaged in industrial metaverse, or who expect to be within 12 months. There is also a larger strategic shift in focus, in terms of leveraging GenAI to enhance metaverse applications. Industrial metaverse adopters are now in a position to build, and hence focus more, on GenAI applications that use the underlying integrated data of digital twins, and the digital thread that forms in a systemwide metaverse approach.
The most notable data shows that the integration of GenAI into industrial metaverse applications is better understood by those already engaged in the metaverse. As plans to adopt the industrial metaverse move from months out to years, the relative number of respondents not seeing GenAI integration with the industrial metaverse increases, from a minority to the majority of respondents.
The pattern aligns with data from enterprise B2B and consumer B2C respondents, where the adoption rates are also similar. Of the enterprise metaverse respondents, 35% already use metaverse applications, and 28% expect to in the next 12 months. Of B2C respondents, 33% already use the metaverse, and 30% plan to in 12 months. This leads to those whose metaverse adoption plans are further out, and have less of an expectation of integrating GenAI the further those plans extend.
Conclusion
Most technological advances do not occur in a vacuum, although it can be easier to latch on to a particular buzzword. Each new variant of an approach will enhance, or remove the need for, another. GenAI has certainly captured attention, often with an expectation that it can solve any problem and suit any use case. GenAI, however, has been built on cloud-provisioned computers and on advances in datacenter infrastructure, such as graphics processing units, as well as the wide reach of the web and the underlying internet to gather data. The metaverse is the evolution of that underlying internet and web, providing avenues for richer and more human-friendly environments to interact in, and with one another and GenAI.
This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.
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