Since this year, the popularity of the Metaverse seems to have weakened. But when the tide recedes, the true value of the Metaverse becomes clearer. With the market returning to rationality and multi-party layouts becoming more directional and rhythmic, the development pace of the Metaverse has become more steady.
Technology is still the primary driving force for the development of the Metaverse. The field of MR has welcomed a new player, Apple Vision Pro, and technology giants have stepped up to promote the construction of related application ecosystems; the outbreak of AIGC has become an important breakthrough in the content productivity of the Metaverse. Many places across the country have released plans and support policies for the construction of the Metaverse, creating a healthier environment for the research, development and application of Metaverse-related technologies.
Under this trend, game engines, cloud computing, cloud rendering and other technologies and tools are paying attention to the digital transformation of multiple industries. There is still a large incremental market in the field of virtual reality integration and interaction.; Bottom layer The infrastructure construction parties have leveraged their technological and resource advantages to actively explore metaverse scenarios such as cultural tourism, culture and sports; different vertical tracks have gradually emerged from leading companies, making the current development direction and rhythm of the metaverse clearer.
The capital market has returned to normal, and some noise has subsided, making the market realize that Metaverse needs to adhere to "long-termism", testing the industry's qualitative and sense of direction. Companies with technology accumulation and ecological construction capabilities are also better able to move forward steadily in this process.
Recently, the 2023 Cloud Intelligence Conference was held under the guidance of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology and hosted by Baidu Intelligent Cloud. In the Metaverse special forum that day, as a core player in the Metaverse industry, Baidu Xirang showed users the exploration carried out with the support of large models, including the new "digital avatar" function and the launch of "intelligent NPC housekeeper". Introducing "space component" capabilities and more.
Based on multiple capabilities such as intelligent computing power, interactive experience, and content upgrades, Baidu has been exploring and investing in the capacity building and value applications of the Metaverse at its own pace. Now, during the window period of AIGC technology iteration, Baidu Xiang, which is committed to providing cloud-intelligence-integrated metaverse infrastructure, is also facing a new period of opportunities.
As the speaker at the meeting said, with the explosion of large language models, the Metaverse seems to have entered a cooling-off period, but in fact it pays more attention to business closed loops. The Metaverse is an inevitable trend in the transformation from 2D to 3D. More complete industry and ecological policies, technological revolutions brought about by large models and VR and other hardware equipment are all promoting the continuous innovation and improvement of the Metaverse.
A smarter metaverse ecosystem is coming, and Baidu, with its leading advantage in large models, will continue to maintain a favorable position.
After a period of development, Yuanverse’s industry-related policies have gradually matured. Globally, multiple metaverse technical specifications and standards, policies and regulations on industrial innovation and talent training have been promulgated, aiming to seize opportunities and find new drivers of economic development.
The domestic market has always been at the forefront in this regard. At present, more than 40 provincial and municipal governments across the country have issued more than 120 Yuanshi construction plans and supporting policies. The introduction of these policies provides a direction reference for the development of the Yuanverse and accelerates the development and application of related technologies.
Judging from the current status of technological development, the metaverse involves complex systems and is still in the stage of a large number of discrete single-point innovations. Different technologies develop gradually and need further coordination and integration, and in the process, new forms and business formats are gradually formed.
Since the beginning of the year, the rapid development of large language models has brought about complete changes in human-computer interaction methods, and is helping to improve the overall efficiency of the Metaverse from design, construction, operation to management.
On the one hand, based on massive pre-training parameters, large models can provide more powerful intelligence and cognitive capabilities for the Metaverse; on the other hand, multi-modal large models can bring a more realistic interactive experience to users. With the development of large model technology, the combination of AIGC content and the Metaverse will also produce a richer experience, including providing users with more personalized content and recommendations.
Baidu, which has been in the AI field for more than 10 years, has invested more than 100 billion yuan in everything from AI chip Kunlun, Feipiao deep learning platform to pre-trained large model Wenxin. Recently, Baidu Intelligent Cloud Qianfan large model platform has also completed a new round of upgrades, fully hosting 42 domestic and foreign mainstream large models such as the full series of LLaMA2, ChatGLM2, RWKV, MPT, and Dolly. At the same time, for third-party large models other than the Wenxin large model, the Qianfan platform not only provides simple access, but also provides capabilities such as Chinese enhancement, performance enhancement, and context enhancement. For example, large foreign models such as Llama2 used to have good dialogue effects in English, but now they work just as well in Chinese.
Based on the large model, Baidu Xirang is also exploring and upgrading in aspects such as user image creation, intelligent NPC, user creation, and efficient construction of the metaverse. And enables scenes that were difficult to realize in the metaverse in the past to gradually find new solutions with the support of large models.
For example, digital humans are an important entrance to the metaverse. In the metaverse scenario, real users need to use digital avatars as a medium to enter the virtual space and interact.
To this end, Baidu Xirang has added a "digital avatar" function. Compared with the monotonous general model of digital people on general platforms, users only need to upload a photo or a video, and AI will automatically identify, model, and Generate avatars. It can also personalize the virtual avatar through natural language, write the background, personality and experience of the digital avatar, and even control the behavior of the avatar by talking to it.
This not only allows users to integrate into the social scene of the Metaverse more naturally and truly, but in the future virtual avatars can also automatically translate and learn different languages, promote cross-cultural exchanges, and expand users’ social interactions.
In addition to social interaction between users, the interaction between users and NPCs in the virtual world is equally important. Compared with real people, users often have higher expectations for the service capabilities of NPCs. Xirang’s latest “Intelligent NPC Butler” role, combined with the large language model, allows users to have more natural and smooth conversations. It can also create content and paintings with users, and may even become the user’s virtual mentor and life partner. . In the future, these smart NPCs are not only expected to be integrated into various scenes in Xiyang, but also serve as tour guides, shopping guides, etc., provide users with convenient services, and become 24-hour smart "friends".
In view of the space construction of the metaverse, Xirang also launched the "space component" capability in combination with AI. Space is the basis for users to socialize, work, and play in the metaverse. Creating a personalized space is also an important dimension to upgrade the user experience. On the Xirang platform, users can call components through natural language descriptions, and make style changes and decoration arrangements for their personal spaces. Especially currently, in addition to C-end users, the metaverse space has been widely used in the B-end. This set of capabilities is also planned to be targeted at partners who have metaverse scene needs, and the metaverse space is planned and intelligently generated through large language models and AIGC capabilities. The exhibition, conference, commercial and other spaces within it can conveniently and quickly meet the application needs of ecological partners.
These ability upgrades also reflect that the Metaverse still has huge room for growth in the future. With the combination of the Metaverse and AI large models, it can not only more effectively solve many pain point needs in users' lives and work, but also create more value in different scenarios.
The blessing of large model capabilities is expected to further broaden the application of the Metaverse industry.
Since its official launch at the end of 2021, in the past two years, Baidu Xiyang has built multiple single scenes including cultural tourism, media, conferences, exhibitions, etc., and also covered the scene construction of city-level metaverses in the real world. . Let the value dimension of the Metaverse go beyond the earliest marketing value and move towards a broader space.
Data disclosed by Baidu shows that as the first domestically produced Metaverse product, Baidu has launched the Metaverse for the "first time" in more than 20 core industries such as automobiles, marketing, real estate, technology, art, and fashion, Based on continuous exploration in the industry, Baidu has launched more than 170 metaverse spaces and activities.
Taking this year’s strong recovery of the cultural tourism scene as an example, the current demand for the construction of local cultural tourism metaverses is particularly strong. Against this background, Baidu Xirang has also responded positively to the needs of the cultural tourism metaverse, and has frequently become the builder of local cultural tourism metaverse demonstration projects. For example, the China Idioms and Allusions Capital jointly created with the Handan Municipal Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau is the scene of the new technology demonstration site for the cultural digital industry in Hebei Province. It includes the three core scenes of Handan Idioms and Allusions Museum, Zhaowang City, and Wuling Congtai, and covers core elements such as the digital human Handandan, Yuanverse Handan City, digital collections, and industrial ecology. It can be said to be created in the virtual world. A new city card unique to Handan.
Compared with before, the goal of building cultural tourism scenes after the epidemic is more focused on stimulating new value-added potential of the cultural tourism industry through a combination of virtual and real methods. Through the creation of digital technology and virtual scenes, Baidu Xiyang continues to enrich the business formats of the cultural tourism metaverse, accelerate the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy, accelerate the digital transformation and intelligent upgrading of the industry, and provide new consumption scenarios for the recovery of local cultural tourism.
As for the media industry applications that were expanded earlier, with the iteration of technology, the digital upgrade and business innovation needs of the media industry have put forward higher requirements for the application scenarios of the Metaverse.
Baidu Xirang’s recent cooperation with Xinmin Evening News is an example of application iteration. This summer, Xinmin Evening News and Baidu Xinmin jointly built Xinmin Meta, the first media building in the world of Xinmin Metaverse. This is also the first time that Xinmin Evening News tried Xinmin Metaverse in celebration of its 93rd anniversary last year. Reached in-depth cooperation again.
Xinmin Evening News has its own independent space in the Metaverse, and can further explore the true media functions of the Metaverse, such as immersive news reading in the Metaverse space, and carry out independent brand promotion and advertising activities in the Metaverse space. .
In addition, in popular application directions such as brand marketing and education, Baidu Xiang has carried out functional iterations and experience upgrades. For example, in the field of brand marketing, in August this year, the country's first Yuanverse online agricultural exhibition "Changchun Agricultural Expo" was launched on Baidu Xirang, using digital technologies such as Yuanverse, AR, and intelligent vision to innovatively implement an exhibition integrating agricultural science and technology. The new mode and AR interactive check-in experience point setting greatly enriches users’ participation experience and interactive fun.
With the introduction of "digital and real integration" policies in various places, developing the digital economy and promoting the deep integration of the Internet, big data, and artificial intelligence with the real economy have become the focus of high-quality development of the Chinese economy. Taking a proactive approach to lay out the new track of the digital economy and grasping the initiative in digital transformation are driving the further precipitation and upgrading of Metaverse applications.
The continuous iteration and upgrading of the Metaverse industry applications is also the philosophy that Baidu Xirang has always adhered to: The Metaverse will not be achieved overnight, and time, patience, and determination are indispensable on the road to the "ultimate version".
In the past year, based on the different needs of the industry, Baidu Xirang has iterated multiple versions. In January this year, Baidu Xiyang completed an important upgrade and proposed the industry's first independent metaverse rapid construction solution - Xiyang Metaverse Base (MetaStack).
This is a tool that can quickly create an independent metaverse. Data provided by Baidu shows that compared to building a metaverse from scratch, MetaStack can triple the development efficiency of an independent metaverse and reduce operating costs by half. It only takes 40 days to complete the program development and the construction of the metaverse city.
At this conference, Lin Hongmei, chairman of Xiamen Media Group, introduced the Mirror World|Meta C APP based on the Baidu Metaverse base, and described Xiamen Media Group’s efforts to achieve the integration of the digital economy and the real economy, and the integration of technology and Thinking and exploring the development of cultural integration, and said that it will continue to make efforts in the future to create a new highland for the "digital and physical integration" industry.
In addition, as a lightweight metaverse solution with low threshold and high efficiency that meets various scenarios, H5/mini program has quite competitive advantages. In the past August, the 10th Qintang District Lotus Cultural Tourism Festival in Guigang City was the first attempt of the Xirang APP combined with the Xirang mini program. Users can not only experience the Metaverse more conveniently, but also learn about event information and feel the unique charm of Qintang through Baidu APP opening, channel recommendation, Baidu map opening, Baidu topics and content pushed by Duxingxuan. In addition, Baidu Xirang also joined hands with Baidu Marketing and the Digital People team to launch the Youth Fashion Festival, integrating Baidu Marketing's own content and traffic advantages to promote in-depth reach and attract users, and help brands highlight Generation Z marketing Heavy siege.
With the help of large model capabilities, it is expected to further release the value of the Metaverse. On the one hand, large models are expected to further liberate the productivity of the Metaverse, lower the threshold of content production, and bring richer content to the Metaverse; on the other hand, AIGC is expected to promote personalized user experience and bring differentiation to the Metaverse experience.
Of course, the mature Metaverse still has a long way to go. Baidu Yuanverse, which holds a "long-termism" attitude, held an ecological partner signing ceremony at the conference, further releasing that it will unite upstream, mid-stream, and downstream full-chain ecological partners and co-creators to create a smart ecosystem of co-construction, co-creation, and win-win. Signs of the metaverse ecology.
Driven by more industrial roles, guided by user needs and driven by technological innovation, a more diversified, open, mutually integrated and symbiotic domestic Metaverse ecosystem is accelerating.
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