New World Notes

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:

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:

Metaverse Platforms Need to Appeal Beyond Their Core Player Community, or Face Slow Death (Comment of the Week)

Above: Radio Remembered How a Father's Lost Art From Second Life was Reborn in Fortnite

Good points by "EmptyEyes", reflecting on how algorithms tend to homogenize metaverse platforms:

Metaverses are weird beasts, outside of Fortnite, it feels like they refuse to compete with one another. They're like MMOs in that sense.

They cater very strongly to their existing communities and don't really try and change things too much for fear of upsetting those communities.

Trying to appeal to their "average" player only leads them to a slow death. They should be trying to capture as many diverse player groups as possible.

As you eluded to, social media sites understand this. The average is not truly mass market appeal. Mass market appeal is giving everyone exactly what they're looking for when they're looking for it.

In some mediums you just have to settle for the average, in others, like this space, you don't. If VRChat, Roblox, Rec Room, Second Life all appeal to different niches then that means there's lots of room to grow. Take something from them all. They are clear targets that you can say, "Hey I want to convert some of VRChat's players, lets add x, y, and z to make that happen."

Fortnite does this. I don't play myself (it lacks deep home decorating, character customization, adult content, and roleplay that's competitive with SL), but you can do so many things in Fortnite. You can build if you want, you can race, you can fight, you can play Rock Band, and so much more. There are so many niche audiences that it serves.

Also I'm not saying alienate your core audience. I'm saying that if you have the resources, you should grow your audience. Ensure your appeal doesn't drop to core users, appeal to new audiences as well, and then support them both.

Bonus points if you choose to grow into audiences that are at the intersection of large and easy to appeal to.

This connects nicely with the recent conversation around advertising Second Life. It's a mistake to create a marketing strategy based on what only seems to be the most popular activity in SL -- social fashion roleplay -- when that ignores the many multiple niches of other communities creating content that has a proven existing market. For instance:

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:

SL Creators Debate Using Gen AI in the Face of Community Controversy (Comment of the Week)

Above: From my 2024 State of the Virtual World Economy report

Last week's guest post by Maxwell Graf on why we need to decide now how to regulate content that uses AI being sold in the SL Marketplace (and beyond) generated some pretty passionate conversation. It came with this additional comment by Max that's also worth highlighting. In it, he talks about the ethical debate his fellow content creators are having among themselves, on whether to use gen AI in their commercial offerings:

My main worry is that people react to my comments as being "Pro AI in SL marketplace" because I'm not. A lot of people f***ing hate AI and I've spoken out on a lot of platforms the reasons I don't intend to sell with it.

A lot of designers I've spoken with over the last few years are going to continue on doing what they do without AI, which is awesome and shows character and principle. As someone once said, "You can't eat principles," which is right; if you own a business you have to compete and SL is very competitive and its going to get harder as people adopt AI as a way to speed up the revenue stream.

Somebody else said, "You can't eat principles, but you can live by them," which better highlights the choice in front of us. If you are in this to compete and make a living or your brand is caught up in the event grind, principles may not continue to supply what you need to survive, but if, like me, you are really only making a few items here and there to satisfy your artistic cravings going forward, then maybe you can live without AI and without sales being a primary goal of what you do.

Other creators however, do have sales as a primary goal, and many have already turned to gen AI to help them expedite their production.

Indeed, in my June 2024 report on the State of the Virtual World Economy On Its 21st Anniversary, I surveyed SL creators, and 1 in 4 reported that they do use generative AI platforms -- with 15% saying that they use it in the direct creation of their SL content, or in both the creation and promotion of it.

And I took that survey almost 12 months ago. If I were to ask the same question now, what do you suppose the breakdown will be?

Speaking of f***ing hating AI, there's now a SL community petition, "A reversal of standing company policy and doctrine on generative Artificial Intelligence", demanding:

The Coming of "AI Fast Fashion" in Second Life -- and the Danger of Not Addressing It Now (Comment of the Week)

Max at his mainstore/sim, Rustica [direct teleport here]

Last week's post on how AI-based image-to-3D mesh conversion will impact virtual world economies dependent on mesh content has inspired quite a lot of conversation across Second Life social media. Indie creator Tim Hannan demonstrated how it's now relatively easy to generate an SL-based shoe from a real world photo; while the results are rudimentary, the quality will quickly improve.

Maxwell Graf, a longtime 3D creator/merchant in Second Life and many other platforms, argues that we must decide now how to co-exist and regulate AI-based content in the virtual world. Read his argument (originally posted here) below. 

[Gen AI programs] will chip away at the market until there is no viable reason or alternative for creators to continue doing completely original work and being able to make any amount of profit from it to justify the effort, unless profit is not the desired result or customers are willing to pay a premium for items they trust are being created without it. At some point, AI will dominate the economy of available goods in the marketplace, simply because it makes it easier to make money.

The SL creator economy is already a predominant aspect of why SL continues to exist at the size and concurrency it does. Roleplay environments, entertainment, hobbies, live/DJ music venues and even just hanging out with friends has diminished considerably over the years and the creators making stuff is the main pillar supporting it now.

However, even that has changed over time, in types of content, point of purchase/marketing methods, pricing and product usage; the market is dominated by avatar bodies, fashion and accessories, mostly presented at events, purchased mostly from Marketplace and considered largely disposable (wear it once and put it away, etc.) Not always, but I am considering the primary market. Even furniture, home and garden items are rarely used for the amount of time they used to be before being changed to something else.

Add to all of these factors the expansion of the number of creators/brands available, vastly increased from even a decade ago. ALL of these factors contribute to dividing up the limited economic pie of sales into smaller and smaller slices, at a time when the plethora of events and competition drives the pricing of items down and down, limiting return unless volume is increased.

THAT nexus brings us to AI and how it is arriving at exactly the moment when that volume economy is dominating the marketplace:

Meta's CTO Memo Was an Early Signal of Company Shifting Away from VR/Quest Toward AR & AI (Comment of the Week)

With news breaking that Meta is now laying off thousands of employees to focus on its AI products, this comment from reader Martin K last Thursday sure seem sadly prophetic:

Since Quest headsets and Horizon Worlds cannot succeed on the scale of Meta's ambitions (and certainly not in 2025), I'm reading [Meta CTO's internal memo] as a preparation for a major shift of focus away from mixed reality and Horizon Worlds towards augmented reality +AI glasses (at the end of this year or in 2026). (And I'm sure that Meta will find a way to describe this new focus as an evolution of their vision of the Metaverse. Maybe the new/true/real Metaverse or whatever. They'll come up with something.)

If this shift of focus towards AR glasses and AI is already planned, why not just announce it? I assume the purpose of this whole exercise (and its predictable outcome) is to rationalize the scaling down of the MR and Horizon Worlds teams, prevent or shut down internal discussions about this change, and give some employees a chance to leave or switch teams before they are fired.

But I'm biased because Meta's VR strategy never made much sense to me. Thus, I guess, I'll just wait, watch, and limit my engagement with the Quest platform.

"Despite the reductions," MSN reports, "Meta still has around 1,000 job openings in California, with hiring efforts focused on AI and other business-critical roles." So, yes, I agree with Martin that limiting engagement with the Quest is probably a good idea. 

As for my original rant about Bosworth's memo, there's a pretty good conversation on it on LinkedIn, where it went mini-viral.

Dear Linden Lab: Advertise Second Life's Huge Geography Compared to Most (All?) Online Games -- Comment of the Week

The new test ad for Second Life attracted quite a bit of opinions from longtime SL users, including some on-brand snark -- and this smart suggest from longtime virtual world explorer Kaylee West:

As a regular user of both SL (17 years) and VRChat (6 years), one of the big things that keeps me in SL and frustrates me with VRC is how much easier it is the change up my avis look and wardrobe in SL than VRC.

I also feel, strangely, that the continents are a big selling point. Many AAA games boast about how big their maps are, how you can endlessly explore every corner of their maps. [Emphasis mine! -WJA]

VRC has some biggish worlds, but nothing like SL's continents and Blake Sea. Only in SL can you buy a luxury yacht and sail for hours on end, stopping at different port and explore the surrounds, or jump in a car of your choice and drive around an extensive road network.

From another perspective, there appears to be a growing number of people looking for AI companions. I have made one for myself so that I have "intelligent" company when I travel around SL (not all of us are good at the socialising thing). Maybe making the creation of AI companions (actual avatars not animesh which can't be rezzed) easier and highlighting this as a feature of SL (as against Replika or Kindred) might draw these users in? 

I believe something like those AI companions are coming soon, so set that aside. The map size point is a very good one, especially since SL is a single-shard virtual world with truly massive areas that are contiguous by land, air, or sea. (Yes, region crossings usually involve hiccups, but still.) It's a key differentiating feature of Second Life!

Consider: Currently Second Life's size is roughly that of Los Angeles (as Philip Rosedale recently noted in an interview), i.e. 1300 square kilometers.

Contrast that with some leading AAA online game worlds:

Readers Predict Meta, Primfeed, Roblox, Valve, Vision Pro News in 2025

Loving these 2025 metaverse-related predictions from readers, starting with:

The Lab will purchase Primfeed within the next 24 months. You read it here first. -- Peter Stindberg

That sounds quite possible!

Here's several more from Martin K:

Why Linden Lab Struggles to Communicate to the Second Life Community at Large (Comment of the Week)

Above: The default viewer's log-in announcement message... if you can click it in time

While last Tuesday's main post was mostly about Linden Lab's upcoming features to the SL mobile app, it also noted why Linden Lab is now making such announcements through group video calls:

I was on the Zoom call with dozens (hundreds?) of fellow bloggers, YouTubers, and assorted SL influencers calling in from around the globe. Which led to one of them asking a question that came up after the last Zoom call: Why not just announce everything on the website, rather than do group calls like this?

Oberwager (who has a gravelly voice eerily resembling California governor Gavin Newsom) acknowledged that the company hasn't been great at communicating with the community in the past -- and also noted that official announcements posted on the site aren't seen by many SLers overall.

So rather than just post on the site, the Linden Lab team decided it's better that they also reach out to as many community media figures as possible. 

Prompting author Hari Sutherland to observe:

Balkanization and fragmentation of communication channels (as well as communities within SL) is a core problem, and getting worse...many residents (likely a majority) never visit the SL forum, if they even know it exists; maybe they use the SL site occasionally to check account data, but how many pull down the Community submenu?

 

Discord has replaced IM for many, and now we have Primfeed as well; oh, and Reddit.

 

I can't imagine that you can get news to even 20% of residents with a single platform. So how do you get announcements and important info out? I'm guessing push announcements on the mobile app may be one way.  

 

Welcome to yet another challenge to growing the Second Life user base beyond marketing: