Our Next Reality: How the AI–powered Metaverse Will Reshape the World

Over the last 100 years, technology has changed our world. Over the next decade it will transform our reality. 

We are entering a new technological age in which artificial intelligence and immersive media will transform society at all levels, mediating our lives by altering what we see, hear, and experience. Powered by immersive eyewear and driven by interactive AI agents, this new age of computing has the potential to make our world a magical place where the boundaries between the real and the virtual, the human and the artificial, rapidly fade away. If managed well, this could unleash a new age of abundance. If managed poorly, this technological revolution could easily go astray, deeply compromising our privacy, autonomy, agency, and even our humanity.

In Our Next Reality, two industry veterans provide a data-driven debate on whether the new world we're creating will be a technological utopia or an AI-powered dystopia and give guidance on how to aim for the best future we can. With a Foreword by renowned author Neal Stephenson and section contributions from industry thought-leaders such as Peter H. Diamandis, Tom Furness, Phillip Rosedale, Tony Parisi, Avi Bar Zeev and Walter Parkes, this book answers over a dozen of the most pressing questions we face as spatial computing and AI accelerates the digitization of our world. Find out why our actions in the next decade could determine the trajectory of our species for countless millennia.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Our Next Reality breaks new ground by exploring both good and bad possible outcomes of widespread deployment of an AI-powered Metaverse."
-- Neal Stephenson, Best-Selling Author/Entrepreneur

"In Our Next Reality, Alvin and Louis have done a fantastic job of giving a balanced and insightful analysis to some of the most pressing questions our society will face in the near future. The material is data driven, digestible, and very actionable."
-- Ray Kurzweil, Author | Entrepreneur | Futurist

"Finally, AI has the potential to transform VR and AI, making it essential across all human endeavors. This book brings clarity to why this really matters."
-- Peter H. Diamandis, Best-Selling Author/Entrepreneur

"Our Next Reality provides a provocative, thoughtful, and optimistic yet realistic view of our future. It paints a picture of convergent paths with symbiotic AI where human agency can be retained."
-- Dava Newman, Director, MIT Media Lab | Former NASA Deputy Administrator

"A new wave of technology advances powered by AI and XR are going to transform our life, work, and communities. I'm grateful that Alvin and Louis have anticipated this by giving us a deeply thoughtful exploration of their possible impacts. This could help us avoid some of the negative consequences that have snuck up on us with smartphones and social media. For anyone who wants to use AI and XR to help build the future, read this book to help you skillfully navigate a future of unprecedented danger and promise."
-- Jason Hiner, Editor in Chief, ZDNet

"A wide-reaching exploration of the intersections between AI, VR and AR: it's a mind-opener, and a source of reflection on how transformative and still unknown the future of communication, personal technology and even personal privacy might become."
-- Scott Stein, Editor at Large, CNET

About the Author

Alvin Wang Graylin is a respected tech entrepreneur and executive, who has founded four venture backed startups in the area of natural language AI search, mobile social, location-based AR services, and big data AI analytics. He's also a recognized industry leader in the immersive computing space having served as China President and Global VP of Corp Development for HTC, President of the Virtual Reality Venture Capital Alliance, Vice-chair of the Industry of VR Alliance, Distinguished Professor of VR at BeiHang University and is a board member of the Virtual World Society. He is invited to keynote at dozens of major conferences each year speaking on the future impact of exponential technologies. Mr. Graylin holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Washington, a M.S. in computer science from MIT and a M.S. in business from MIT Sloan, where he started his researched in AI, VR and CPU design over three decades ago. He was born in China during the Cultural Revolution, and has spent about half his life in China and half in the U.S.

Louis Rosenberg is an early pioneer of virtual and augmented reality. His work began over thirty years ago in VR labs at Stanford University, NASA, and Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) where he developed the first functional mixed reality system. In 1993 he founded the early VR company Immersion Corporation which he brought public on NASDAQ in 1999. In 2004 he founded Outland Research, an early developer of augmented reality and spatial media technology that was acquired by Google in 2011. He received his PhD from Stanford University, was a tenured professor at California State University, and has been awarded over 300 patents for VR, AR, and AI technologies. He is currently CEO of the artificial intelligence company Unanimous AI, the Chief Scientist of the Responsible Metaverse Alliance, and writes often for major publications about the dangers of emerging technologies.