Browsing: metaverse

Will India Care About The Metaverse As Much As It Has For AI?

So, in 2021, Mark Zuckerberg changed Facebook's name to Meta. Later on, Elon Musk would change Twitter's name, too, but, at the time, it raised some eyebrows. After all, it seemed emblematic of the idea that Mark was going all in with his poker chips on the Metaverse with a belief that it would be the successor to the Internet and shape all digital experiences with use cases ranging from hanging out with friends to entertainment, gaming, fitness and education. The power of belief.

Meta announced a product called the "Meta Quest Pro" in 2022 for the cheap price of $1500 (about ₹125,000). Some guffawed. In a country, like India, would such a burgeoning technology even have some user stickiness? People may have thought, "It's too futuristic. It won't be for the masses. It'll be on the periphery of technology. The world's not ready for futuristic technology".

Then, OpenAI went public with a ChatGPT model. Suddenly, there were crazy rates of adoption across the world, even in India. According to BCG, as of 2024, India was the largest user of ChatGPT with about 45% of respondents revealing they used the chatbot. It may have even sparked an influx of AI startups with subsequent funding following, almost like the 2021 funding frenzy.

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What Could India’s EdTech Landscape Learn From The Metaverse?

Picture a classroom. A teacher is looking at how to make their classes more engaging and immersive. They've heard about the Metaverse - a collective virtual shared space using different kinds of tech. They've heard it's a realm where the digital and physical worlds could meet and where there could be an immersive and interactive experience. "Why not?", they say, "How can the students use this?" 

So, when the teacher is teaching about the Ajanta and Ellora Caves, they select a virtual classroom space resembling these caves. The students get to create personalized avatars to represent themselves in this virtual classroom. The avatars can interact with each other and the environment. Instead of showing a PPT on a screen that's pulled down, there's a virtual field trip to these caves. They can explore and ask questions. Now, the teacher has their undivided attention.

That could be interesting to see in India. And in the EdTech sector, that seems to be fraught with challenges as of late, that could create use cases. In a sector that might be struggling to build a value proposition beyond a pandemic, could this be a panacea? EdTech's goal has always been about leveraging tech to augment educational outreach and quality. And that seems to be India's goal as well. So, with burgeoning digital infrastructure and a government that seems committed to a Digital India, could this be the next frontier of the EdTech revolution?

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