TECH & AI
“ So it ’ s the balance of experience versus the commercial commitment required to bring things in , as well as the upskilling commitment , and the change in behaviour that has to happen . If you want to go there , you have to put all of them together to actually make a decision regarding whether that works for your organisation ,” Ranjish explains .
Equally , according to Brittan Heller , a metaverse expert specialising in the fields of law , technology , and human rights , introducing the metaverse into a business context comes with significant risks to manage .
“ Businesses wanting to enter virtual arenas should think about the technical , practical , and ethical hurdles of XR to be prepared for the wide spectrum of risks .”
Firstly , businesses will need to ensure that their choice of form factors are accessible for all users , so that poor DE & I standards are not imported into these new venues .
“ Currently , accessibility-based challenges are the largest area of legal risk for XR , as a court found that the Americans With Disabilities Act may apply to virtual worlds ,” advises Heller . Then , there ’ s the matter of data security . “ Data in the metaverse needs protection to ensure privacy protections and user safety . Companies seeking B2B partnerships – or to integrate third-party applications into their digital worlds – will need to set high standards , lest there be a Cambridge Analytica-style violation of public trust .”
Data security requirements are taken to a new level within the metaverse , due to the deeply personal nature of the data that it gathers .
“ XR hardware necessarily involves multiple sensors , measuring biometric data ,
“ BUSINESSES WANTING TO ENTER VIRTUAL ARENAS SHOULD THINK ABOUT THE TECHNICAL , PRACTICAL , AND ETHICAL HURDLES OF XR TO BE PREPARED FOR THE WIDE SPECTRUM OF RISKS ”
BRITTAN HELLER METAVERSE EXPERT
and location-based scanning to position users in space ,” explains Heller .
“ Companies need to understand that biometric privacy regimes were written to protect user identity , but not necessarily to protect the type of intimate data and behavioural inferences we can take from bodily sensors , eyetracking , and pupillometry .”
“ The smartest companies will go beyond legal requirements , so they aren ’ t caught unaware when the law catches up to innovation and moves to protect what I ’ ve promoted as concepts of ‘ mental privacy ’.”
So , as it stands , the metaverse ’ s logistical risks need to be ironed out before it can be introduced at a mainstream scale . However , that being said , metaverse offices certainly aren ’ t being completely ruled out .
After all , as Ranjish says , “ never say never , and we ' ll see how the technology progresses ”.
118 November 2022