Facebook Invests $50M To Build ‘Metaverse’ Where People Can Interact Responsibly
Image via Chinnapong / Shutterstock.com
Developing its plans to build the “metaverse,” Facebook has just announced its decision to invest US$50 million into organization partnerships in order to do so “responsibly.”
Its vision for the metaverse is a digital world that users can use their own network of devices to move around and communicate in. “It’s not necessarily about spending more time online,” the company explains. “It’s about making the time you do spend online more meaningful.”
Like the internet, the metaverse won’t be a singular product, and will not be developed fully in the next few years. Facebook predicts that another decade is needed at the very least.
That “gives us time,” it says, to think about how it should be built in the first place.
In its press release, Facebook states that it will work with experts across different sectors, like government and academia, to “think through issues and opportunities” the metaverse will present.
The main areas it’s collaborating on are economic opportunity, privacy, safety and integrity, and equity and inclusion. This will come in the form of the XR Programs and Research Fund, which is where the US$50 million is heading.
“Through this fund, we’ll collaborate with industry partners, civil rights groups, governments, nonprofits, and academic institutions to determine how to build these technologies responsibly,” the social media giant explains.
A few organizations include the Organization of American States, Africa No Filter, and Women In Immersive Tech.
Institutional partnerships with universities like Howard University and Seoul National University will be researching other areas such as safety, privacy, and ethics.
The company has been notably putting its money in building alternate realities with tech like its smart glasses. However, privacy concerns alongside the recent reports on its effects on teens, particularly Instagram users, don’t exactly give the company the best reputation to be the one in charge of building our “new world.”
[via Reuters, image via Chinnapong / Shutterstock.com]
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