【TIMELINE】2023/07#1
◉Financing in the Metaverse sector
The Guangzhou Tianhe District Metaverse Innovation Ecological Conference was held at the Guangzhou (International) Science and Technology Achievement Transformation Tianhe Base. During the conference, the Tianhe District Metaverse Joint Investment Fund was officially launched, with a total scale of over 20 billion RMB. The first batch of ten Metaverse pilot parks in Tianhe District was officially certified, releasing over 100,000 square meters of industrial space.
Artificial intelligence startup company Inflection AI announced raising $1.3 billion in a new funding round, with leading investors including Microsoft, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, Bill Gates, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and new investor NVIDIA. The new funds will support the company's first product Pi, an AI chatbot launched in May, designed to be a friendly and supportive companion providing text and voice conversations.
◉NFT & Blockchain
Grammy winner Taylor Swift reportedly signed and agreed to a sponsorship deal with cryptocurrency exchange FTX before its bankruptcy, but FTX later backed out of the agreement. If the deal had gone through, the pop icon might have joined the ranks of celebrities supporting cryptocurrency products in recent years. However, FTX is currently facing legal disputes, including wage arrears, due to its high-profile debacle last fall.
Dior is preparing to re-enter the world of cryptocurrency by launching a new collection of men's shoes that includes NFTs. The "B33 Sneakers" are part of Dior's upcoming autumn-winter collection, with digital copies of the shoes released as Ethereum NFTs on July 6th.
Credit Suisse and the Swiss Football Association have collaborated to launch an Ethereum-based NFT series to support Swiss women's football. The NFT collection includes 756 digital art portraits of Swiss women's national team players and will be exclusively sold through Credit Suisse's CSX application from July 11th to August 31st.
Former First Lady Melania Trump announced the launch of "The 1776 Collection," an NFT series celebrating the upcoming Independence Day in the United States. The NFTs in this collection are priced at $50 each.
◉VR & XR
VR Training, a company specializing in developing XR vehicle training simulators, recently announced that it has secured the US Marine Corps MR Vehicle Simulator Training Platform contract. Under this agreement, VR Training will create two MR training configurations for the US Marine Corps and build the solution. The final product will include an MR headset, training modules led by expert instructors, and motion chairs manufactured by Talon Simulations, whose VR simulators have been used in military training and entertainment venues.
Google announced a location-based AR game called "Space Invaders: World Defense," developed in collaboration with Taito. The game is set to launch on iOS and Android this summer. Utilizing ARCore and Geospatial Creator, the game will turn players' communities into the battlefield, with a series of aliens accurately invading static city images, creating a realistic invasion experience. Players will see targeting lines on their phone screens to fire shots at the invaders.
Warner Bros. Pictures collaborated with Snapchat to release "Barbie" AR filters to promote the upcoming movie "Barbie." The paid activity on Snapchat started on June 30th, three weeks before the movie's release on July 21st. Users can access the virtual Barbie wardrobe by either using the Lens Carousel or scanning the Snapcode with the Snapchat camera.
◉Top
According to a leaked document from the European Commission, the Metaverse requires a new form of global governance to remain open and lawful. The document also proposes easing regulations to foster innovation and expresses the desire to study legal barriers related to new forms of digital collaboration, such as Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs). The document states that "the Commission will support the establishment of a technical multi-stakeholder governance process to address the fundamental issues of the Metaverse and Web4." It also mentions plans to promote a "regulatory sandbox" in early next year to test short-term projects under more lenient rules.
Japan and the European Union (EU) held a ministerial-level meeting in Tokyo on July 3rd to finalize a joint declaration on cooperation in the development of international rules for Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). To formulate these rules, both parties will advance the "Hiroshima AI Process" proposed at the G7 summit in May.
Mercedes-Benz announced on its official website that the company is testing ChatGPT in vehicle production to accelerate the use of this intelligent tool in the MO360 digital production ecosystem, first introduced in 2020. ChatGPT will serve as a versatile, voice-based interface supporting production employees in quality management, process optimization, and other activities. Mercedes-Benz is integrating ChatGPT through Azure OpenAI services, leveraging Microsoft's cloud and enterprise-level features in artificial intelligence platforms.
Mercedes-Benz announced on its official website that the company is testing ChatGPT in vehicle production to accelerate the use of this intelligent tool in the MO360 digital production ecosystem, first introduced in 2020. ChatGPT will serve as a versatile, voice-based interface supporting production employees in quality management, process optimization, and other activities. Mercedes-Benz is integrating ChatGPT through Azure OpenAI services, leveraging Microsoft's cloud and enterprise-level features in artificial intelligence platforms.