New World Notes

Compare/Contrast: Sims 4 Speed Build vs. Meta's "Faster" Gen AI Tools

I've asked this before, but here I go again: What's the point of prompt-based world building, when we already have many multiple 3D building tools which are user-friendly, feature-rich, and, well, fun? This point must be repeated, since Meta is currently promising we can build faster and smarter with GenAI Tools in Meta Horizon Worlds:

Today, we’re excited to follow up on that commitment by expanding access to the desktop editor and its GenAI tools into the UK and Canada in addition to the US. These tools dramatically reduce development time from weeks to as little as hours; accelerating the ability of creators to translate their visions into high-fidelity worlds that users love.

Watch the demo above. It makes me wonder if anyone at Meta has ever watched a speedbuild video before. Because here's one from a Sims 4 user who's not only building about as fast and with the same quality output, but enjoyably chatting as she does:

SL Marketplace Survey: Over 85% Want New Regulations of AI-Made Content; Majority Want Mandatory "Contains AI" Tag

Here's the results of last week's Gen AI survey, which I took in the run-up to Second Life's official "AI & the Future of Our Virtual Community" town hall happening this Friday.

The results are pretty unambiguous: A massive majority of over 85% surveyed want some kind of regulation against gen AI-made content in the SL Marketplace, with a majority (54%) choosing this option as the one they agree with most: REQUIRE merchants tag their content as having "No AI" or "Contains AI". (Presumably this would be self-enforcing by the user community)

I reached out to Linden Lab for their commentary on these regulatory options, and they told me they'll include these survey results in their upcoming AI town hall. I'm told the event will probably not include any new announcements, and is more of a user feedback session -- and, well, this survey is that. 

Given the heat and controversy over the topic, I'm actually somewhat surprised that was the most preferred option. By contrast, only 1 in 4 chose the most draconian option: BAN all Marketplace content that contains generative AI, enforced by Linden Lab staff (23.8% chose that). Maybe few chose this for technical reasons: my impression is it would be highly difficult if not an impractical lost cause to scan content for suspicious signs of gen AI, which is probably why few respondents chose this option.

It's also in keeping with the community's values around player choice. As an anonymous reader put it somewhat sardonically:

Survey: How Should Linden Lab Regulate Generative AI in Second Life's Online Marketplace?

As controversy over Generative AI content in Second Life continues, here's a survey on how Linden Lab should deal with the subject in the online Marketplace. Choose the option you support MOST (or disagree with the least).

In one option, creators have a choice of tagging their content as having "no AI" and use that as a selling point. (And since it's a voluntary option, creators could still use gen AI and fib about it -- and risk getting called out on it by the community.)   

In another option, creators must label their content as either having "No AI" or "Contains AI".

In still another option, gen AI is banned outright, and Marketplace users can flag suspect content for investigation by Linden Lab, with various penalties if it's confirmed to have AI.

Is the Second Life Controversy Over Gen AI Mainly About SL Images That No Longer Look Like Second Life -- Not Over AI Per Se? (Comments of the Week)

Since writing about Primfeed's survey on whether AI-enhanced images should be allowed on the social media site, the vote continues to lean heavily on No. 

One challenge, however, is that "AI" is still broadly or loosely defined. As SL creator  Jennifer Fluffington comments:

We need to define more what is considered 'AI' to be allowed in the public forum. I.E., I use Photoshop Generative AI to make minor repairs that would take me 5-6 steps and layers to do in one click.

Am I lazy? I don't think so, I being smart with my time spent on a project that I am making pennies on the hour for.

Yes I enjoy my craft, but let's face it, we all have limited time in a day and many things to do, so if I can shave 15-20 mins off 3 different defects on a project that almost an hour saved in my day.

So, because of those repairs that don't alter the overall aesthetic of the photos, are my photos going to be rejected from the public forum? This is a discussion we need.

Fair question! One possible answer is implied in a comment from Kate Nova -- when an avatar image no longer looks like the avatar themselves does in Second Life:

Second Life's Gen AI Controversy Leads to Drama Over Banning of AI-Altered Images on Primfeed -- And This Primfeed Survey

Primfeed recently became the most popular website focused on Second Life not owned by Linden Lab, and so inevitably, the "Flickr-for-SL" social platform is now a flashpoint for the key controversy among SLers: Whether AI programs like LLM-powered NPCs like those from Convai and Gen AI platforms like Midjourney should exist in the virtual world at all. The drama around the platform's current "no AI images" policy became so heated, owner Luke Rowley posted this survey, asking:  

Do you think Primfeed should allow AI edited Second Life images in the Public Gallery?

Launched earlier this week and running for 11 more days, it's already garnered nearly 2,000 votes -- about 10% of Primfeed's weekly active users. (Which is quite a lot for online surveys, which typically get less than 5% engagement.)

This survey comes after hundreds of angry posts, many on other social networks (of course), complaining to Luke about Primfeed's no-AI policy -- one of them from a top SL content creator. (Who perhaps not coincidentally, used Gen AI in a recent promotional video.) Luke even created new code to make a poll on Primfeed like this possible, he tells me:

 

AI Is Either Something Second Life Can Learn to Live With -- Or Will Destroy the Virtual World Economy as We Know It (Comments of the Week)

The fact that these two reader comments on my post about Philip Rosedale's promised Town Hall on AI are right on top of each other is a good indication of how divisive the topic is.

First up, from Tami, making the case that gen AI is something we can live with in Second Life:

AI won't go away, as much as I'd wish it would, I know that it is here to stay. So, let's try and focus on AI as a complement, a supplement, or a tool that benefits SL. For example, instead of AI-generated clothing, let's have AI as a tool to help clothing designers realize their visions when they run into technical hurdles and issues.

Yes, I know that this idea can be abused, so the issue isn't "how to use AI" but on "how to prevent AI from usurping humans" in SL. In some ways, the past methods of creating content for years, learning over time to become better creators, are in danger. Can we stop AI from short-circuiting that process -- probably not. So, what can we do do to prevent AI from taking over the content creation market?

Perhaps, we can't stop AI, so maybe the answer is to make it easier to use. Instead of everyone buying things on the marketplace, anyone and everyone can create their own magical world filled with things they used AI to create. Instead of SL being driven by the economy, it can be driven by creativity using AI to make the dreams come true. SL doesn't have to be RL and moving away from economic models and wealth isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's change, and SL is well know for its resiliency with regard to change.

I don't want AI, but I will use it to make SL better if that is my only choice.

And now here's Riannah, making an opposite case:

Will Second Life Users Need to Take a Voight-Kampff Test? Philip Rosedale Promises Town Hall on Controversial Uses of A.I. in Second Life

I love when a classic science fiction concept becomes a practical reference point in current technology, and that happened during the most recent Town Hall in Second Life, when a user challenged Linden Lab CTO Philip Rosedale over his excitement around A.I., most recently seen with the company's partnership launch of AI-powered NPCs in SL.

Asking: "Look, I understand that Philip loves his A.I. and thinks it's the future, but I don't understand the insane push and force it in Second Life. Will AI rally around a creator when their pet is sick? Will AI support people when their parent dies? What do you have to say to that?"

Here's Philip's answer in full, replete with that perfect Blade Runner/Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep reference:

Here's Why I Don't Want My Book About the Metaverse Fed Into an LLM

Meta pirated millions of books to train its AI, the Atlantic recently reported, including mine. There's even a helpful look-up tool here to find if your favorite author is in Meta's training set, which is where I got the screenshot above.

I'm not sure how I'll protest, but it does bring up a related topic I've been thinking about lately:

Does it even make sense to feed my latest book into an LLM?

I’ve had friends / colleagues ask me something like that in recent years: “How about we upload your book into an LLM, so everyone can easily ask anything about it?”

For instance, as the head of an AI company put it to me, explaining how this can be done:

"I worked on a project where we hook near a petabyte of data to a LLM that just looped through doing research on authors of Gutenberg books. Then we turned the books into interactive books read by the authors own voice/style.” 

My immediate answer to the idea is on the order of: “Hmm, no that’s OK.” 

My more thoughtful, considerate answer is: “Fuck no I mean holy shit that’s not even how my book works. Jesus.”

In case you’re curious -- and the question keeps coming up, so I guess some people are  -- let me explain with more details and less cursing, specifically around Making a Metaverse That Matters:  

Anti-AI Backlash in Second Life is Out of Control (Comment of the Week)

There's been a good discussion in last week's post about SL creators debating whether they should use gen AI in their content, with a pro-AI position from "SatanicPanic":

1.If someone prefers not to use a ConvAI bot, they are entirely free to make that decision. Forcing others to conform to this preference, however, infringes on individual autonomy. Technology should remain a personal choice, not a mandate.

2. Prohibiting individuals from using AI tools as part of their creative process is not only absurd but also counterproductive. Such restrictions amount to extreme gatekeeping, stifling innovation and creativity. Many creators rely on AI to streamline their workflows, whether it’s generating textures, brainstorming ideas, or automating repetitive tasks. Denying them access to these tools forces them to waste valuable time and resources on manual alternatives, which could otherwise be spent on refining their craft.

3. Preventing platforms like Second Life from utilizing AI in their development processes is an incredibly short-sighted move. AI has the potential to accelerate development cycles by automating complex processes, analyzing data more efficiently, and enabling developers to focus on higher-level tasks. By rejecting these advancements, the development process becomes unnecessarily slower and more cumbersome, ultimately harming both developers and users.

The behavior of certain anti-AI groups has reached an alarming level of hostility and irrationality. These individuals have turned their opposition into a form of crusade, engaging in online witch hunts to expose anyone suspected of using AI tools. This behavior not only disrupts the lives of creators but also fosters a toxic environment that discourages innovation and collaboration. In many ways, this movement resembles a quasi-religious ideology, complete with its own skewed moral framework that vilifies technological progress.

I fully expect the next meeting for ConvAI bots to be filled with a bunch of protestors, unaware of what they are even talking about.

No word on protestors against ConvAI bots yet but I'm still looking!

I do definitely see some level of hostility around AI that's out of control. For one thing "artificial intelligence" is a broad, broad umbrella that includes applications that have been in virtual worlds for years without any objection.

There are also use cases of gen AI that seem generally non-controversial. When I wrote about the image to 3D mesh AI converter (above), for example, I noted that many SL merchants would find it useful for rapid prototyping purposes. (I.E. "Hey fam, before I go through the trouble of creating/rigging/branding it, would you even want a shoe like this in SL?")

Would anyone be against that use case?

Further, the idea that Gen AI will "take people's jobs" is still far from proven. Like I've pointed out before, the US unemployment rate remains low (though that's changed recently for totally unrelated, Elon-flavored reasons), and Gen AI's promise to make creativity much more rapid and cost effective is very much lacking any substantial examples.

In any case, I'm planning to run a short survey on the topic soon, and am open to suggestions on questions to ask. For instance:

Nyric is an Upcoming Virtual World Blending Gen AI & Human Creativity into a New, Ambitious Subgenre -- I Interview the Lead Dev!

Originally published on my Patreon here

Nyric is an upcoming game (on Steam here, watch the trailer above) that blends sandbox/virtual world creativity, survival/crafting gameplay, and generative AI in an ambitiously fresh way -- so much so, it's almost a new subgenre. ("Minecraft meets Midjourney" might be a fair elevator pitch.) Kayla Comalli, CEO/co-founder of Nyric developer Lovelace Studio, also counts Second Life as an inspiration to Nyric. "We aspire to that level of emergent chaos," as she puts it.

Amid the bubbly hype of gen AI lately, you might have noticed any number of "create your own virtual world with a prompt!" projects, but Nyric takes a decidedly different approach.

"[T]he permutation within each world adds interactive depth to gameplay," Kayla explains. "It’s not just a stylistic sandbox. When players ‘dream up’ their realm (similar to prompting an image in Midjourney), they generate an interactive 3D survival-craft realm with multiple biomes."

This process basically lets players modify the procedural generation of their world: