Facebook has unveiled a two-year USD 50m investment in global research and program partners to ensure a “responsible development” of the metaverse.
The development is part of the social media giant’s strategy to become “a metaverse company,” functioning in an “embodied internet” that blends real and virtual worlds to an unprecedented extent.
Earlier this year, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg went public with his metaverse-related ambitions, claiming that “a good vision for the metaverse is not one that a specific company builds,” but rather one that has a “sense of interoperability and portability.”
The development could potentially have a major impact on the firm’s Diem stablecoin plans.
“Just like the internet, the metaverse exists whether Facebook is there or not,” the company said.
It added that many of these products will not be fully realized for another 10-15 years, “While that’s frustrating for those of us eager to dive right in, it gives us time to ask the difficult questions about how they should be built,” they said.
Facebook stated that its investment will allow the firm to collaborate with experts across the board to analyze the underlying issues and opportunities within the metaverse, such as building the necessary interoperability across services, and various challenges related to human rights, civil rights communities, and inclusiveness.
“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,” according to the company.
Some of the key areas where the social media giant aims to work with partners include:
- economic opportunities,
- privacy,
- safety and integration,
- equity and inclusion.
In the US, the program’s initial partners include the Organization of American States, while Facebook’s African partners comprise Africa No Filter, Electric South, and Imisi3D.
In Europe, the company wants to collaborate with Women In Immersive Tech, while Asian partners include the Seoul National University, the University of Hong Kong, and the National University of Singapore’s Centre for Technology, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence & the Law at the Faculty of Law.
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Learn more:
– Investing in the Metaverse: 4 Ways to Invest in Virtual Future
– What Is the Metaverse? A High-Tech Plan to Facebookify the World
– Facebook’s ‘Metaverse’ Plans Meet Optimism and Scorn from Crypto Fans
– Facebook’s New Stablecoin Aims a ‘Big Comedown’ from Grand Libra Plans
– Facebook to Ramp up Payments Ahead of Diem Launch
– Facebook Eyes NFT Market, Warns of Chinese E-Pay Dominance
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