Metaverse vs ChatGPT: Why Did AI Win the Battle?

observes Amy Peck, drawing from her 11 years of experience in immersive technologies. This brutal transition between two supposed technological revolutions raises a fundamental question: why did generative artificial intelligence so quickly eclipse extended reality in the attention of the general public and businesses?

Amy’s answer is definitive and reveals a fundamental difference in how these technologies are approached. Where the metaverse promised a radical transformation of our digital interactions, ChatGPT and generative AI delivered immediate and measurable utility.

This distinction between promise and delivery largely explains why the metaverse failed against artificial intelligence in the race for mass adoption. The commercial metaverse required a major behavioral change from users, while conversational AI naturally slipped into our existing habits.

explains Amy Peck. This observation strikes at the heart of what differentiates successful technology adoption from a simple fad.

The universal accessibility of AI is striking in its simplicity. As Amy highlights:

This immediate democratization of artificial intelligence contrasts radically with the metaverse experience, which required:

• Acquiring specialized equipment (VR headsets)

• Learning new interfaces

• Adapting to immersive virtual environments

• Creating avatars and digital identities

Where the metaverse required personal and financial investments, ChatGPT and AI tools were satisfied with a simple question typed into a web browser. This zero friction largely explains the phenomenal adoption speed of generative AI.

Amy Peck frankly admits when talking about daily utility. This honesty from an expert who has dedicated her career to immersive technologies reveals the persistent challenges of extended reality.

XR adoption barriers remain numerous and complex:

Still inadequate devices

Amy points to a revealing paradox:

Current VR headsets, despite their progress, remain bulky and require a dedicated space of at least six square meters for safe use.

Frustrating user experience

Even mobile augmented reality, accessible on our smartphones, suffers from significant limitations.

observes Amy, but this gesture doesn’t provide an optimal user experience over time.

Integration complexity

Unlike AI that integrates into our existing workflows, XR technologies often require a complete process overhaul. Companies must train their teams, adapt their spaces, invest in new equipment, and maintain complex technical environments.

Amy Peck’s analysis reveals two radically different innovation philosophies. Generative artificial intelligence followed the smartphone adoption model: an incremental improvement of existing uses with an almost zero learning curve.

The metaverse and XR technologies attempted to reproduce the total disruption model, comparable to the arrival of the Internet in the 90s. But users in 2023 have immediacy expectations forged by two decades of digital innovations.

Contrasting adoption patterns

Generative AI benefited from what Amy describes as “daily utility.” Each interaction brings measurable value: a better-written email, more precise search, optimized code. The accumulation of these micro-benefits creates positive dependency and natural adoption.

XR technologies, on the other hand, promise macro transformations that are slow to materialize in daily use. They excel in specialized contexts – professional training, data visualization, remote collaboration – but struggle to find their place in the average user’s routine.

Despite this assessment, Amy Peck doesn’t consider AI a competitor to immersive technologies. On the contrary, she sees it as a potential catalyst:

This technological convergence could solve several persistent XR challenges:

Simplified content creation

Generative AI democratizes the creation of virtual environments and 3D assets, traditionally reserved for specialized studios. This democratization of creation tools could accelerate the emergence of richer and more diverse XR content.

Natural interfaces

AI can also transform XR interfaces by making them more intuitive. Natural voice interactions, automatically recognized gestures, environments that adapt to user intentions – all improvements that could reduce adoption friction.

Contextual personalization

AI excels at context analysis and personalization. Applied to XR, it could offer tailored experiences that increase the relevance and utility of each immersive interaction.

The main lesson from this metaverse vs ChatGPT confrontation doesn’t lie in one “winning” over the other, but in understanding modern technology adoption mechanisms.

Amy Peck reminds us that “we’re still in the second inning” of this technological revolution. Generative AI conquered attention through its immediate utility, but immersive technologies retain enormous potential to transform how we work, learn, and collaborate.

The real question isn’t which technology will dominate between metaverse and AI, but how they’ll converge to create experiences that are both useful and transformative. The future of immersive technologies probably belongs to those who can combine the accessibility of conversational AI with the immersive potential of extended reality XR.

Amy Peck is founder of EndeavorXR, advisor to Fortune 500 companies, and ranks among the top 100 women of the future. Her expertise in extended reality enables her to guide organizations in the strategic adoption of immersive technologies.

David Smadja guides leaders through digital and marketing transformation. Former digital manager at Nestlé, he helps companies navigate technological disruptions and adapt their strategies to new consumer behaviors.

Article from podcast #3:
Rethinking Reality : How XR is quietly reshaping Business with Amy Peck