SenseTime Unveils its Vision of the Metaverse’s Future Businesses at BEYOND Expo, Advances the Interconnection of Physical and Digital Worlds with AI

September 26, 2022, Hong Kong – SenseTime participated the 2022 BEYOND Expo that took place in the “Metaverse’s” virtual world from 21^st to 27^th September. Together with global industry leaders and academic scholars, SenseTime discussed its vision on how AI technology can boost economic growth and build an innovative and sustainable ecosystem in the emerging Metaverse era. Furthermore, SenseTime empowered the 2022 BEYOND Expo by creating a digital human named J&G with its cutting-edge AR technologies, which provided an immersive and interactive exhibition experience to global audience.

SenseTime empowered the 2022 BEYOND Expo by creating a digital human named J&G

Dr. Xu Li, Executive Chairman of the Board and CEO of SenseTime, was invited to attend the ConsumerTech Summit on September 21. In his keynote speech titled Digital Natives Shaping the Next Generation of the Internet, Dr. Xu Li illustrated his forward-looking views on how the Metaverse provides the ideal conditions for enterprising business models of the future.

Digital Technology Expands the Future’s Business Landscape in the Metaverse

During his speech, Dr. Xu Li expressed that Digital Natives, those who grow up in the internet/mobile internet era, will determine the future business models of the Metaverse. In the traditional Internet era, the virtual and physical worlds are a binary opposition. However, as the internet evolves, the boundary between the two worlds is becoming more and more blurred.  This is seen in SMS becoming a desired platform for marketing and physical concerts increasingly transitioning online. The up-and-coming generation of digital natives have an evolved perspective of the world, discerning little difference between physical and virtual experiences.

Dr. Xu Li specified that it requires three core elements to enter this new exhilarating digital space – an Avatar, an AIBot and a Digital world. First, a strong interaction needs to be formed between humans and their digital human avatars. With the help of avatar technology, we can easily find the entrance to the Metaverse. Second, an AIBot will be engaged as an intelligent agent with decision-making capabilities. Third, objects from the real world will be experienced as digitally reconstructed in three dimensions. The stronger the digital capabilities, the more interactive involvement people will experience in the Metaverse.

The three core elements to enter the new generation of digital space –an Avatar, an AIBot and a Digital world

Once the digital world becomes fully accessible, the integration of reality and virtuality can lead to two new phenomena – explosions of “new productivity” and “new consumption”. First, UGC (User-Generated Content) can be quickly transformed into UGA (User-Generated Asset), while AIGC (AI-Generated Content) will bring new production tools that leverage AI to produce virtual goods. Second, changing consumption concepts in the Metaverse will lead to a “new consumption” phenomenon. In the Metaverse, digital natives will not only consume the “things” they see, but more importantly, seek their self-identity by consuming “virtual labels”. The demand for outward expression of personal character and attributes will drive new consumption in the Metaverse.

Dr. Xu emphasized, “The key to seizing the Metaverse’s huge business opportunities lies in whether the Metaverse can truly bring about an evolution in productivity and a profound interactive experience. Such evolution will disrupt current core business models established in the Internet, mobile Internet and traditional businesses. As productivity tools and experience tools improve, these platforms will become open worlds to be redefined in the Metaverse.”

Mixed Reality Technology Accelerates Urban Digital Transformation

On September 26, SenseTime co-organized the Web3 Summit with BEYOND Expo 2022, during which Dr. Wang Zibin, General Manager of XR Metaverse Business Unit, Digital World Group of SenseTime, delivered a keynote speech and shared his insights on how mixed reality technology advances the physical and digital worlds’ interconnection to shape the Metaverse into the “new engine” for urban digitalization.

Dr. Wang Zibin, General Manager of XR Metaverse Business Unit, Digital World Group of SenseTime, delivered a keynote speech at the Web3 Summit

Dr. Wang pointed out that the urban construction of the Metaverse follows two paths – “virtuality to reality” and “reality to virtuality”, and undergoes three development stages – “physical and digital worlds interconnection”, “digital twins” and “digital natives“. AI+MR technologies is a critical element of urban metaverse construction. While MR fosters new growth drivers for industries, AI spatial computing connects virtuality with reality, and AIGC drives the creation of digital factors of production. MR and AI technologies realize the self-creation of the virtual world, actualizes users’ digital experience, and digitalizes the virtual parallel world as well as the real-world experience. Underpinned by our proprietary AI infrastructure, SenseCore, and MR technologies powered by SenseMARS, SenseTime offers a comprehensive mix of “Engine Infrastructure”, “Algorithm Infrastructure” and “Computing Infrastructure.” Together they accelerate the construction of the urban metaverse and strengthen the connection between physical and digital worlds to provide a highly immersive, open and real-time interactive experiences for users.

Dr. Wang also added that the creation of a “digital world” in the Metaverse lies in “four areas” of urban planning, namely urban landscapes, blocks, scenic, and commercial areas. Leveraging SenseTime’s AI+XR technology, a city’s physical structure can be reconstructed and built into a virtual replica. The future urban “digital world” will integrate AI perception, digital twin and AR technologies to create a fully immersive and interactive Metaverse experience.

Currently, SenseTime is advancing the application of the urban Metaverse in a variety of scenarios. It designed an AR tour service in Shanghai that offers tourists an enjoyable journey to experience hand-drawn landmarks with vivid AR stories of the famous landmarks while SenseAuto Robobus enables a high-precision smart AR-guided tour of Shanghai’s physical urban streets. SenseTime also created an immersive AR tour of the famous West Lake in Hangzhou, it designed a precise AR navigation and AR tour in Chengdu IFS and launched the ARgo application.

Metaverse Exhibition Elevates An Immersive Experience

The BEYOND Expo this year featured an innovative Metaverse exhibition in virtual space. SenseTime showcased its four major business segments - Smart Business, Smart City, Smart Life and Smart Auto in its BEYOND Expo Metaverse which provided an engaging and immersive experience for global guests and visitors.

SenseTime set up its innovative Metaverse exhibition in virtual space

At the Metaverse exhibition, SenseTime demonstrated its proprietary SenseCore AI infrastructure, which is designed to provide highly efficient, low-cost, and scalable AI innovation for industries. SenseTime also displayed the SenseMARS AR platform’s numerous applications. The SenseMARS Reconstruction enables the reconstruction of high-precision 3D models with mobile devices. In addition, the SenseAuto intelligent automotive application platform attracted extensive attention.  The platform integrates Smart Cabin, ADAS pilot driving, RoboX autonomous driving vehicles and V2X vehicle-road synergy.

SenseTime is committed to creating a better AI-empowered future through innovation.With the Metaverse’s continuous development, SenseTime will fully unleash the potential of its proprietary AI+MR technology to construct an intensive and diversified holographic digital world and open infinite future business opportunities.