Metaversity 👩‍🔬🏫

👀 TLDR

In this week’s What’s Appening: the Metaverse is back, baby! Not really, but we do cover Meta’s big partnership with a host of colleges to bring VR learning to the classroom. It’s a natural fit for VR in our view, and this deal will work for Meta and the learning institutions. We also have news on Apple rushing out iOS 18.2, the first AI-assisted Grammy, Bitcoin’s all-time high, Google AI solving complex cybersecurity issues, and a whole lot more!

Our Top Take 🎬

🏫👩‍🔬 Meta – Deal with Major Colleges Keeps Metaverse Dream Alive

It’s three years since Facebook became Meta (time flies, right?) and said it would become a metaverse-first company. It didn’t, of course. Meta is a social media, AI, and advertising company – in that order – but it hasn’t given up Mark Zuckerberg’s dream of having all of us working, resting, and playing in virtual worlds. This week, we got a timely reminder of the fact the metaverse is still a ‘thing’ after Meta signed a deal with numerous American and European colleges. The deal will see the colleges get early access to prototype VR hardware, start “immersive classes”, and some will engage in a college twinning program with other institutions. Meta has used the term “metaversities” to describe the program (we respect the pun🫡). Yet, there is a fundamental truth here: VR feels like a natural fit for education, especially in areas like medicine, surgery, biology, chemistry, anatomy, physiotherapy, drama, and so on. Zuck may have misjudged human nature by thinking we’d all flock to socialize in virtual spaces, but the word coming out of these colleges is that he is on to something here. Keep an eye on this one. #Metaversities Read more here.

📲 App of the Week: Brick

Meet Brick, the app that’s as low-key as it gets. With one tap, it strips your phone down to its core essentials, with no endless pings or shiny distractions. Designed for students, professionals, and anyone looking to actually focus, Brick is here to make digital minimalism effortless. A few taps and you’re set for a distraction-free dive into your day - because sometimes, less really is more.

🧐 Stat of the Week: 250K Deepfakes

📈📉 Election 24 – OpenAI Releases Some Post-Election Query Statistics

Last week, we touched upon AI’s role in the elections, but now the dust has settled we have some stats to chew on. Most interestingly, there was OpenAI’s “go elsewhere approach”, with the company saying ChatGPT had two million queries where it recommended the user seek information from trusted sources rather than take an AI’s word for it. The company also denied requests to create around 250,000 images of the candidates. Oh, and Perplexity’s AI hub was a success – with over four million views. #AIElections Read more here.

🗞️ Other Stories

📍 Meanwhile at 3Advance

Last week, our Product Manager, Ayush, and Growth Strategist, Furqaan, attended AcceleratorCON in NYC! While Furqaan, based in the city, was already familiar with the event, Ayush was visiting from the DMV and got to join the fun. AcceleratorCON brings together innovators, investors, and startups to network and discuss emerging trends. The two had a blast connecting with industry leaders and bringing fresh insights to fuel our work at 3Advance.

📣 Promos

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