Wagner James Au / New World Notes

The fact that these two reader comments on my post about Philip Rosedale's promised Town Hall on AI are right on top of each other is a good indication of how divisive the topic is.

First up, from Tami, making the case that gen AI is something we can live with in Second Life:

AI won't go away, as much as I'd wish it would, I know that it is here to stay. So, let's try and focus on AI as a complement, a supplement, or a tool that benefits SL. For example, instead of AI-generated clothing, let's have AI as a tool to help clothing designers realize their visions when they run into technical hurdles and issues.

Yes, I know that this idea can be abused, so the issue isn't "how to use AI" but on "how to prevent AI from usurping humans" in SL. In some ways, the past methods of creating content for years, learning over time to become better creators, are in danger. Can we stop AI from short-circuiting that process — probably not. So, what can we do do to prevent AI from taking over the content creation market?

Perhaps, we can't stop AI, so maybe the answer is to make it easier to use. Instead of everyone buying things on the marketplace, anyone and everyone can create their own magical world filled with things they used AI to create. Instead of SL being driven by the economy, it can be driven by creativity using AI to make the dreams come true. SL doesn't have to be RL and moving away from economic models and wealth isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's change, and SL is well know for its resiliency with regard to change.

I don't want AI, but I will use it to make SL better if that is my only choice.

And now here's Riannah, making an opposite case:

AI will likely kill the SL economy as we know it. When everyone can just go to a website and have an AI spit out what they want, why would they purchase anything? And there will be so many people trying to sell AI-generated content that it will drive the prices down so low, that it's just not worth actually creating a thing.

Why does this matter? People often create to resell in order to pay for things in SL, including land. All of the things that cost money in SL is also what Linden Lab makes money on. If people don't buy land, LL loses that money. If people don't buy content, LL loses the commission on Marketplace.

I just really wonder how LL thinks it all will work.

To add some context to the above, Linden Lab is rapidly moving away from land as it main revenue source, in favor of Premium subscriptions — so the company likely sees the AI writing on the wall. Also, we're still a few years (I think?) when AI workflows like this can make it possible to easily generate any 3D content ready for use in Second Life by request. I actually think the fact that SL's economic ecosystem is relatively small and so quirky will help keep it insulated. 

More on all this soon!