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AI allows people to 'express themselves in unique and interesting ways' far more than VR does. Text and image generation allow people to create worlds completel

AI allows people to 'express themselves in unique and interesting ways' far more than VR does. Text and image generation allow people to create worlds completely tailored to themselves, this time unlimited by the need for other people to play along. So AI competes with VR both for users (The type willing to pay for cutting edge consumer tech experiences) and investment (AI is the big thing, VR is so 2022), and labour (How many researchers want to work in VR over AI?)

dotnet00 2y ago
The social aspect of vrchat is what makes it popular. None of what you described has any relevance to that. Fittingly, the equivalent projects started by the companies currently trying to stuff generative AI into everything fell completely flat. People don't care about having AI generate exactly the world they want. People want the "wild"-ness and spontaneity that VRChat offers (finding a cool world someone made, running into real, interesting, people and hanging out with them). The issue being that as VRC grows/grew, they had to start taming that wildness (because it also allows for a lot of things not really compatible with monetization), but that slowly brings them closer to the over-sanitization problem that killed all the competitors.
- lmm 2y ago
  > The social aspect of vrchat is what makes it popular. None of what you described has any relevance to that. I bet chatting with Replika or Character AI is satisfying the same needs as VRChat for many of the people that either appeals to. I think that's what they were getting at.
  - dotnet00 2y ago
    I guess they could be saying that. I don't really see the appeal of Replika/Character AI, while I do of VRC, so I'm obviously not in the target audience for the point they're making.
icehawk 2y ago
Other people playing along is the feature here. AI doesn't have the sort of cutting edge consumer tech experience of even a basic FPS it's a non-stater here.
corimaith 2y ago
I'd argue there are far more low hanging fruits in VR than AI right now. But you'd need more of a creative mind to see them than a technical one.
egypturnash 2y ago
To make these “unique and interesting ways” somewhat more explicit: AI isn’t going to let you hang out with your friend who is presenting as a nine foot tall naked dragon lady made of gummy candy, and experience getting pulled into one of her orifices and digested. It’s not going to let you pretend to be turned into her horny parts, either. With or without the experience being enhanced by various Bluetooth-connected toys. And AI’s not going to hang out with you in the flesh at a convention later on based on the good times you had in VR and make a lifelong connection, either.

dotnet00 2y ago

The social aspect of vrchat is what makes it popular. None of what you described has any relevance to that. Fittingly, the equivalent projects started by the companies currently trying to stuff generative AI into everything fell completely flat. People don't care about having AI generate exactly the world they want. People want the "wild"-ness and spontaneity that VRChat offers (finding a cool world someone made, running into real, interesting, people and hanging out with them). The issue being that as VRC grows/grew, they had to start taming that wildness (because it also allows for a lot of things not really compatible with monetization), but that slowly brings them closer to the over-sanitization problem that killed all the competitors.

lmm 2y ago
> The social aspect of vrchat is what makes it popular. None of what you described has any relevance to that. I bet chatting with Replika or Character AI is satisfying the same needs as VRChat for many of the people that either appeals to. I think that's what they were getting at.
- dotnet00 2y ago
  I guess they could be saying that. I don't really see the appeal of Replika/Character AI, while I do of VRC, so I'm obviously not in the target audience for the point they're making.

icehawk 2y ago

Other people playing along is the feature here. AI doesn't have the sort of cutting edge consumer tech experience of even a basic FPS it's a non-stater here.

corimaith 2y ago

I'd argue there are far more low hanging fruits in VR than AI right now. But you'd need more of a creative mind to see them than a technical one.

egypturnash 2y ago

To make these “unique and interesting ways” somewhat more explicit: AI isn’t going to let you hang out with your friend who is presenting as a nine foot tall naked dragon lady made of gummy candy, and experience getting pulled into one of her orifices and digested. It’s not going to let you pretend to be turned into her horny parts, either. With or without the experience being enhanced by various Bluetooth-connected toys. And AI’s not going to hang out with you in the flesh at a convention later on based on the good times you had in VR and make a lifelong connection, either.