Building a Responsible Metaverse The metaverse should welcome everyone, Travelers might be able to wander a digital twin but that does not mean it will be for everyone. of Pompeii and get a sense of the culture before Previous iterations of virtual worlds were more Vesuvius covered the city in ash. As individuals, or less an escape from reality. If we build it we can even live the experience of those right, the metaverse will not be seen as a way to around us, to more deeply understand people withdraw from life, but an additional layer that from different backgrounds, communities and enriches it. circumstances, and expand our real-world sense of empathy. The metaverse is already a place for consumers to try on clothes virtually before buying them If all these possibilities and others like them are and where colleagues can convene meetings to come to fruition, companies need to partner and collaborate on projects. And it can and will and invest, now, not only in preventing the bad, be so much more. but in building incentives to create a trusted, safe, healthy and welcoming metaverse. The metaverse can be a place where surgeons hone their craft, or infectious disease specialists Of course, even with a responsible metaverse diagnose and treat patients in remote places. framework, building safe spaces will be an A university student studying history could iterative, agile development process, requiring engage in conversations with everyone from a broad range of voices and philosophies. Yet Marie Curie to Julius Caesar. A middle-school everyone can agree that we stand, collectively, student could meet with his or her math tutor at a virtual doorway unlike any other in recent across the country as if they are in the same history. We have a rare opportunity to ensure room and, after cracking quadratic equations, that a new, life-changing and enriching explore the surface of the moon. On a tour of technology does not outpace society’s best If we build it right, the metaverse the Louvre in Paris, visitors could not only look intentions, and instead helps us realize them. will not be seen as a way to at the Mona Lisa, but ask Leonardo, as he is withdraw from life, but an additional painting, in which direction she is truly looking. layer that enriches it. 24