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Ethical Challenges for the Metaverse Development
Author: Josef Baker-Brunnbauer
E-Mail: josef.baker-brunnbauer@socialtechlab.eu
ORCID: 0000-0001-6805-8290
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Metaverse; Ethics; Social Impact; Trustworthy AI.
Date: October 18th, 2022
By the end of 2021, both public opinion and subject matter experts were voicing complex
concerns about artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR) developments in extended
reality designs: Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook's name change to Meta and plans to
develop metaverse - the virtual reality universe, which is intended to unite the physical, digital,
and imaginary into a new world. Already in its initial phase, the first drafts for the metaverse
showed several relevant points at which the Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence Implementation
(TAII) Framework [1] will influence its development, use, and the social impact. Technological
innovations proceed independently of the harmony with social innovations. This raises the
question of what effects a metaverse will have on future societal and social developments.
Media articles [2, 3, 5] highlight various challenges and potential threats for people using an
unregulated metaverse in the future. If we look at the consumption of digital content from
current media devices such as mobile phones or tablets, the flow of information is mainly in
one direction and the users experience the content from the outside. The consideration of digital
technologies in combination with virtual or mixed reality could change this approach towards
internal consumption. This could create a more realistic user experience, but also provides a
gap for new ethical challenges. Headsets with modern hardware sensors can constantly monitor
the user's facial expressions, voice pitch and vital parameters such as heart rate, respiratory
rate, or blood pressure [2]. Some vital signs are already monitored by smartwatches or other
digital health wearables, but not linked to real-time emotion tracking throughout the time of
experiencing a virtual tour. The creation and analysis of personal emotion tracking datasets can
be a dangerous input for predictions made by artificial intelligence systems.
What scenarios could pose a threat to humans? Going back in history and thinking of the 90's
movie The Truman Show [4], the move to a fully personalized virtual world within metaverse
seems close. As personalization seems to be a positive for some companies, it could also create
its own metaverse that knows more than its users. Targeted information also changes how the
metaverse is built for each user. Artificial intelligence (AI) systems could not only decide
which advertisements to see on billboards, they could also decide what the artificial
environment looks like, what kind of access to knowledge or systems a user has, or even how
"valuable" the user is for the metaverse. Biased data and algorithms or an (un)intentional
misuse of the metaverse leads to an increase in bias, discrimination, and inequality. The use of
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the metaverse, which often represents a user through an avatar, raises the challenge of how to
distinguish a real person from computer-generated faces that have become even more familiar
compared to existing humans [6]. The border between reality and virtual fiction seems to be
disappearing.
So, should people stay away from the metaverse? Probably this is a less realistic scenario since
our daily life is heavily influenced by the internet these days. If people want to stay outside, it
can result in the state no longer being part of a society, with social, economic, and intellectual
disadvantages. A first step is integrating virtual offices [7] as the Covid-19 pandemic pushed
companies to move forward digitalization. A virtual lock-in for employer and employee work-
relationships will re-adjust the dependencies for both as well the legal framework is not defined
yet [5]. Another aspect is the availability and ownership of virtual products and services. The
European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) already classifies virtual goods as Class
9 as they are treated as digital content [8]. Companies are already looking into new business
models to secure an early-adopter position within the metaverse, which can reorder the power
of current companies and evolve completely new players on the market. A study [9, 10]
mentions the concern of being physically accurately located during the virtual journey and that
the system could easily predict the user’s height, length of arms, age, gender, and the physical
fitness level. As there is no “incognito mode” for the users, ethical alignment for the evolution
of the metaverse is more important than ever, and standards should focus on transparency and
explainability for a broad audience. This raises the question of who is in charge to control and
regulate the metaverse, a virtual place without any geographical classification? The TAII
Framework is a possible starting point for companies developing AI systems to take the first
steps with a holistic approach including the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and Human
Rights. Otherwise, it could be the situation that the highest bidder or the strongest technology
company will win the race.
The TAII Framework has been developed for the evaluation and implementation of trustworthy
AI systems. It supports the development of metaverse and to strengthen the priorities for the
development of fair and ethically implemented AI systems. It is important to question
developments for new digital products such as AI systems in a socially critical manner and to
correct possible negative effects in good time. The effects on social implications and
environmental influences are evaluated based on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Virtual worlds can be designed very realistically using various computer techniques. It is
important to understand that the user is only virtually in this area and must continue to adapt to
the living conditions in the real world. An escape into new artificial habitats and the creation
of new cultures enables people to have unique ways of living and working. At the same time,
this also offers immense dangers and challenges in the event of uncontrolled development.
Without the support of ethical and critical thinking issues affecting society, well-known
problems of already existing computer systems and social media such as injustice,
discrimination, indirect disadvantage, mental illness etc. will be significantly amplified [11,
12]. This requires responsible planning and implementation of AI systems. Creating standards
and implementing them is an essential step in the development of virtual worlds like the
metaverse.
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SocialTechLab.eu [14] aims to raise awareness of ethical and social challenges for artificial
intelligence systems and to analyze the managerial perspective and understanding of ethics for
AI products and AI services. Analysis of existing ethical standards and principles for AI
systems will generate better understanding and improvement of ethical principles and moral
values for the AI era. AI ethics workshops and assessments will make a useful contribution to
the generation and implementation of upcoming ethical AI policies and procedures. Work on
ethical and moral understanding related to AI systems and implementation is still at an early
stage. It is not just a question of defining what is right and what is wrong, but also of developing
possible new forms of society and the economy. Companies can take a first step and analyze
their own point of view at an AI ethics workshop or TAII Framework assessment and prepare
in good time for upcoming AI regulations (Artificial Intelligence Act) of the European
Commission [13].
References
[1] Baker-Brunnbauer, J. (2021). TAII Framework for Trustworthy AI Systems. ROBONOMICS:
The Journal of the Automated Economy, 2, 17, Available at
SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3914105
[2] Fowler, G. A. (2022). Inside Zuckerberg’s $1,500 headset, the metaverse is still out of reach.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/11/meta-quest-pro-metaverse.
Accessed Oct 16th, 2022.
[3] Rosenberg, L. (2022). Going incognito: How we can protect our privacy in the metaverse.
https://venturebeat.com/virtual/going-incognito-how-we-can-protect-our-privacy-in-the-
metaverse. Accessed Oct 17th, 2022.
[4] Wikipedia (n.d.). The Truman Show. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truman_Show.
Accessed Oct 16th, 2022.
[5] Beioley, K. (2022). Metaverse vs employment law: the reality of the virtual workplace.
https://www.ft.com/content/9463ed05-c847-425d-9051-482bd3a1e4b1. Accessed Oct 16th,
2022.
[6] Nightingale, S. J. & Farid, H. (2022). AI-synthesized faces are indistinguishable from real
faces and more trustworthy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119(8):
e2120481119. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2120481119.
[7] Warren, T. (2022). Microsoft partners with Meta to bring Teams, Office, Windows, and Xbox
to VR. https://www.theverge.com/2022/10/11/23397251/meta-microsoft-partnership-quest-
teams-office-windows-features-vr. Accessed Oct 16th, 2022.
[8] Marques (2022). EUIPO: On virtual goods, non-fungible tokens and the metaverse.
https://www.marques.org/blogs/class46/?XID=BHA5099. Accessed Oct 16th, 2022.
[9] Nair, V., Garrido, G. M., & Song, D. (2022). Exploring the Unprecedented Privacy Risks of
the Metaverse. ArXiv, abs/2207.13176.
[10] Nair, V., Garrido, G. M., & Song, D. (2022). Going Incognito in the Metaverse. ArXiv,
abs/2208.05604.
[11] Wachter, Sandra, How Fair AI Can Make Us Richer (2021). Wachter, S. How Fair AI Can
Make Us Richer. European Data Protection Law Review. Volume 7, Issue 3 (2021). pp. 367 -
372. doi: 10.21552/edpl/2021/3/5. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4099106
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[12] Schønning V, Hjetland GJ, Aarø LE and Skogen JC (2020). Social Media Use and Mental
Health and Well-Being Among Adolescents – A Scoping Review. Front. Psychol. 11:1949.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01949
[13] European Commission (n.d.). A European approach to artificial intelligence. https://digital-
strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/european-approach-artificial-intelligence Accessed July 5th,
2022
[14] SocialTechLab.eu (n.d.). https://www.socialtechlab.eu. Accessed Oct 14th, 2022.
