Alibaba’s metaverse launchpad

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✨ Top Picks

The Future, today. In just 3 minutes.

1/ Alibaba Cloud builds metaverse launchpad on Avalanche

Naming it Cloudverse, Chinese tech behemoth Alibaba’s cloud division and blockchain Avalanche partner on a launchpad providing an end-to-end platform for companies to customize and maintain their metaverse spaces.

Cloudverse is touted to give businesses “an easy, white-glove, and cost-effective way to expand their brands to the web3 virtual world.”

Further details on the partnership:

• Avalanche will provide the tech for building the metaverse spaces while Alibaba Cloud will take care of the computing and storage.

• 3rd partner Metaverse Universal Assets (MUA DAO) will provide the middleware, which will offer a service layer integrating and customizing the metaverses to be built.

• Alibaba first tied up with Avalanche in December 2022, deploying infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) on the platform to enable Asia-based users to launch node validators for heightened blockchain adoption in the region.

2/ Biden, Harris meet with CEOs about AI risks

US VP Kamala Harris hosts a meeting with CEOs from Google, Microsoft, and other tech giants that are already in the AI space, discussing new technology’s benefits while protecting people’s rights and safety.

The surge in popularity of AI chatbot ChatGPT has led to increased commercial investment in AI tools capable of generating human-like text, images, music, and code. However, concerns around job displacement, deception, and the spread of disinformation continue to grow.

As discussed:

• The Democratic administration announced a $140 million investment to create 7 AI research institutes.

• The White House Office of Management and Budget will provide guidance on AI use by federal agencies, to encourage responsible AI development.

• Executives are urged to ensure their AI products’ safety and security.

Meanwhile, the EU is finalizing its AI regulations, which could set the tone for global standards. Italy temporarily banned ChatGPT due to privacy concerns (it has since stepped back and lifted the ban), while the UK's competition watchdog has initiated a review of the AI market.

3/ Microsoft ends waitlist and brings GPT-4 enabled search engines to the masses

Microsoft moves its AI-powered Bing and Edge offerings into an Open Preview stage, making the GPT-4 powered tools available to all. Moving from Limited Preview to Open Preview means users can sign into Bing with their Microsoft account and try the new Bing and Edge without any waitlist.

With this update, Bing aims to provide a more current, cited, and conversational interface in its bid to revolutionize the search engine experience.

Some highlights of the latest Bing updates:

• Combining powerful language models with Microsoft's massive search index to provide users with better search results, answers to their questions, and the ability to create and compose.

• Ability to chat in natural language, making it fundamentally changing the way people find information.

• Bing Image Creator is now available in all languages in Bing, meaning users can create images in their native language.

4/ AI offers new tools for making games, but developers worry about their jobs

AI is touted to help video game developers and AI firms streamline game development, making it faster and more efficient by tackling video game crunch and automating the most tedious aspects of development.

Yet AI also incites fears in the development segment, with an unprecedented rate of advancement that could make it even harder to penetrate the notoriously underpaid and challenging industry.

In game writing, for instance, the job threat could come from Ubisoft - which announced the AI tool Ghostwriter on March 23 - or from other developers who use similar tools.

“This is already a very devalued segment of games writing, and it’s so easy to imagine that devaluation snowballing as AI tools tip the scales even more in favor of volume,” notes freelance games writer Janine Hawkins.

5/ Coach’s AR try-on window will stop shoppers in the street

At their store on SoHo’s Prince Street in New York, Coach offers the first storefront AR try-on to chic shoppers walking by, showcasing its popular Tabby bag in a range of colors and imagery.

Past the AR window, users can continue experiencing the AR mirror kiosk for further browsing or sharing on social media.

Interesting facts around the Coach and AR platform Zero10 partnership:

• Zero10 considers it their 1st AR window, where the sidewalk-facing mirror draws people into the store, particularly those who typically don’t interact with AR in other spaces.

• The AR mirrors’ success will be gauged in terms of foot traffic and conversions, as well as help increase accessibility of AR tech.

• Future iterations may include an AI stylist (ChatGPT) responding in real time to a customer outfit and suggesting accessories to add.

🏃‍♂️ Quick Hits

🎮 Gaming

• Inside Intella X and Neowiz’s $10M gaming accelerator grant program. (Link)

• Immutable brings the gaming masses into web3 with its new, simplified wallet. (Link)

• Art meets AI in these experimental interactive games from Google. (Link)

• Gaming startup GGX offers end-to-end web3 solutions for game developers through simple SDK integration, an attempt at true asset ownership. (Link)

• How web3 payments redefine gaming. (Link)

• Fortnite is bound to become an official Olympic esport as part of the inaugural Olympic Esports Week in SG. (Link)

🕶 Fashion

• Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian on the future of digital fashion: “Fashion is about identity, and identity matters more than ever online as it does offline.” (Link)

• How AI, VR and AR lead the shift to a demand-driven supply chain in fashion. (Link)

• UK digital fashion artist Stephy Fung sells out her latest NFT drop, Quiet Quarry Runway, on Opensea. (Link)

• Gucci Garden, Nikeland: Are these power brands’ metaverse stories worth visiting? (Link)

🏀 Sports

• A look inside the National Hockey League (NHL)’s NHL Blast on Roblox. (Link)

• Kevin Durant will be available as an Operator skin - a playable character - in Call of Duty. (Link)

• Through AI.io scouting tech, this new program has the ambition to reach “every kid playing soccer in North America.” (Link)

• SPORTTOTAL enters the Asian streaming market for AI sports cameras with South Korea’s SK Telecom. (Link)

• Škoda’s web3 Škodaverse will provide games, avatars, NFTs, and more to the Ice Hockey World Championship in their extended partnership. (Link)

🎥 Media & Entertainment

• Hollywood studios mull over replacing TV writers on a strike with GPT-4. (Link)

• Longed-for duets between pop music favorites? Let AI take care of it. (Link)

• Mandopop star Jay Chou boosts his metaverse presence via a newly augmented digital space. (Link)

• Snapmuse.io merges Patreon, NFTs, and blockchain to enable creators generate revenue and cultivate a fanbase. (Link)

• English footballer Jack Grealish debuts in the metaverse as DJ Grealo. (Link)

• The Metaverse Entertainment World Summit rocked Monaco and reimagined future worlds from May 3-5. (Link)

🖼 Art

• Nate Alex’s $600,000 CryptoKitty NFT is now worth only $3,752. (Link)

• LACMA ventures deeper into NFT art with the experimental Deafbeef collection. (Link)

• Palm NFT studio rolls out generative art tools for creators. (Link)

• Cryptoys launches limited-ed Star Wars “Digital Toy” NFTs on Flow, with 15 cartoon versions of beloved characters. (Link)

• FTX gets court approval for LedgerX sale at massive loss. (Link)

🤖 AI

• The White House proposes an AI Bill of Rights. (Link)

• Britain launches probe into ChatGPT-style AI as regulators get more concerned with risks. (Link)

• For Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Tesla's Autopilot is "a study of AI gone wrong.” (Link)

• AI is here to stay and it has carved out a space in the cosmetic world. (Link)

• SkinGPT: AI trends and influences in the cosmetics industry. (Link)

💸 Funding & Partnerships

• The Suzhou Software Industry Association forms the Metaverse Committee. (Link)

• Blockchain gaming newcomer Mysten Labs raises $300M to launch games on its Sui Layer 1 blockchain. (Link)

• Avalanche and Alibaba Cloud partner to build metaverses on blockchain. (Link)

• Moonsense secures $4.2M in seed funding for the release of its user behavioral and network intelligence solution. (Link)

• ammune.ai and Traxion Tech partner to provide AI security solutions to the Philippines. (Link)

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All content on this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not aim to serve as or replace expert investment advice.

📈 If you are a startup building in the metaverse / web3 ecosystem and are raising capital, please reach out to Sfermion. Sfermion is an investment firm focused on accelerating the emergence of the metaverse 📈

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