Meta

Building the Metaverse Responsibly

By Andrew Bosworth, VP, Facebook Reality Labs and Nick Clegg, VP, Global Affairs

Takeaways

  • The metaverse won’t be built overnight by a single company. We’ll collaborate with policymakers, experts and industry partners to bring this to life.
  • We’re announcing a $50 million investment in global research and program partners to ensure these products are developed responsibly.

Update on December 7, 2022 at 5:30AM PT:

We’re investing $2.5 million to support independent academic research across Europe that studies issues and opportunities in the metaverse. We will partner with the VR researcher Mel Slater, who will facilitate idea-sharing between the following European academics and institutions in order to foster interdisciplinary dialogue on the metaverse in Europe:

Update on September 13, 2022 at 9:00AM PT:

Today, we’re sharing an update on our progress and announcing new partnerships supported by the XR Programs and Research Fund. 

A few of the highlights from our current partners include:

We’re also announcing 10 new partners today:

Update on May 25, 2022 at 9:00AM PT:

Today, at its Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum announced “Defining and Building the Metaverse”, a new initiative that brings together key stakeholders to build an economically viable, interoperable, safe and inclusive metaverse. Nick Clegg, President of Public Affairs, will join the initiative on behalf of Meta. 

“By working together from this early stage across industry, the public sector, academia and civil society, I hope that we can begin to answer these questions as these new technologies are built, and ensure that the enthusiasm for the potential of these technologies is accompanied by a rigorous focus on developing them collaboratively and responsibly,” Clegg said recently.

At this early stage, the metaverse can develop in many ways, depending on research, innovation, investment, and policy. This new initiative convenes more than 60 leading technology and other sector companies, alongside experts, academics and civil society.

The initiative will focus on two key areas: governance of the metaverse and value creation. Governance of the metaverse will address how the technologies and environments for the metaverse can be developed in safe, secure, interoperable and inclusive ways. Value creation will identify the incentives and risks that businesses, individuals and society will encounter as the metaverse comes to life. The initiative will also outline how value chains may be disrupted, industries may be transformed, new assets could be created and rights protected.

“The Defining and Building the Metaverse initiative provides the industry with an essential toolkit for ethically and responsibly building the metaverse. This will help ensure that we can fully harness this vital medium for social and economic interconnectivity in an inclusive, ethical and transformative manner.” – Jeremy Jurgens, Managing Director, World Economic Forum.

Update on May 18, 2022 at 6:00AM PT:

As we continue to build products and experiences for the metaverse, today we’re sharing more about our research and program partners around the world: 

Update on November 15, 2021 at 6:00AM PT:

Today we’re announcing wellness and safety partners we’ll work with to develop youth digital literacy programs for the metaverse:

Update on November 2, 2021 at 5:00AM PT:

Today, we’re announcing additional partners to collaborate with in building the metaverse responsibly. In Europe and the Middle East, we’ll work with the following nonprofit, government and cultural partners:

We’ll continue to update this post with additional partners.

Originally published on September 27, 2021 at 9:00AM PT:

We develop technology rooted in human connection that brings people together. As we focus on helping to build the next computing platform, our work across augmented and virtual reality and consumer hardware will deepen that human connection regardless of physical distance and without being tied to devices. 

What Is the Metaverse?

The “metaverse” is a set of virtual spaces where you can create and explore with other people who aren’t in the same physical space as you. You’ll be able to hang out with friends, work, play, learn, shop, create and more. It’s not necessarily about spending more time online — it’s about making the time you do spend online more meaningful. 

The metaverse isn’t a single product one company can build alone. Just like the internet, the metaverse exists whether Facebook is there or not. And it won’t be built overnight. Many of these products will only be fully realized in the next 10-15 years. While that’s frustrating for those of us eager to dive right in, it gives us time to ask the difficult questions about how they should be built. 

How We’re Building Responsibly

We’ll work with experts in government, industry and academia to think through issues and opportunities in the metaverse. For instance, its success depends on building robust interoperability across services, so different companies’ experiences can work together. We also need to involve the human rights and civil rights communities from the start to ensure these technologies are built in a way that’s inclusive and empowering.

Here are a few key areas where we’ll work with others to anticipate the risks and get it right:

Introducing the XR Programs and Research Fund

There’s a long road ahead. But as a starting point, we’re announcing the XR Programs and Research Fund, a two-year $50 million investment in programs and external research to help us in this effort. Through this fund, we’ll collaborate with industry partners, civil rights groups, governments, nonprofits and academic institutions to determine how to build these technologies responsibly. 

Here are a few of our initial partners: 

As a part of this effort, we are also facilitating independent external research with institutions across the globe:

We will be sharing more partners and updates on our progress as the work continues.