Metavers: how Mark Zuckerberg plans to make billions of dollars

Facebook’s parent company, now known as Meta, is investing heavily in the metaverse and related technologies. Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to spend $10 billion a year. the Financial Times reviewed hundreds of patent applications filed by Meta in the United States over the past year, many of which have been granted, to better understand the firm’s vision for the future.

Some of the patents are unsurprising, given that this kind of technology is already in development at the competition. This includes face tracking in order to duplicate the user’s expressions on his virtual avatar, or the tracking of eyes, in order to animate the virtual eyes correctly. The latter also makes it possible to create a more precise rendering at the place looked at by the user of a virtual reality headset or increased, limiting the power needed to generate the rest of the image.

The patents also describe a system of sensors magnetic devices to wear on the chest to detect posture, or even a system for creating avatars from photos. The ultimate goal would be to create 3D copies of people and objects so realistic that they are indistinguishable from the original. The system has been described as ” a program of cloning human ».

Data collection for targeted advertising

If such technologies could make the metavars much more immersive, other patents show how Meta intends to exploit all the data collected in order to generate revenue. Mark Zuckerberg had already stressed that he intended to keep a low price for his headphones. virtual reality, and earnsilver through the sale of digital services and goods, and also through advertising.

One of the patents shows how Meta account customize ads in augmented reality, based on age, gender, interests, and their interactions with social networks, including “likes” and comments. With a helmet or goggles that incorporate a eye tracking, the firm could exploit a new source rich in information on how the user perceives the content, and what elements on the page attract his attention…

Ads all over the metaverse?

Still according to the patents, the firm intends to offer the duplication of real objects in virtual universes. That concorde with another patent which describes a system to allow third parties to “sponsor the display of an object” in a virtual place through a process similar to the current sale of advertisements. This will therefore open up a whole new medium for targeted advertising. Sponsors will no longer have to rely on caps and T-shirts with their logo, as in the real world, or inserts in web pages. Any object, in any virtual universe, can be used as an advertising medium.

Interviewed by the Financial Times, Brittan Heller, attorney in technology at Foley Hoag, said ” my nightmare would be for targeted advertising based on our involuntary biological reactions to appear in the metaverse “. It is easy to imagine an addition to the helmet that measures heart rate and speed of breathing while viewing advertising content…

In response, Meta simply stated, ” our patents do not necessarily cover the technologies used in our products and services ». The metavars as such won’t exist for years to come, but it underscores the importance of not leaving it in the hands of just one company…