Meta has announced the release of a new artificial intelligence (AI) model, “Meta Motivo,” which promises to enhance the metaverse experience.
According to a blog post from the Meta Newsroom, the model is designed to control the movements of human-like digital agents, offering a more realistic experience compared to current digital avatars.
“Meta Motivo” uses an unlabeled dataset of motions to train its system through “unsupervised reinforcement learning.”
This approach enables the model to mimic human-like behaviors while maintaining zero-shot inference capabilities, meaning it can generalize to new tasks without additional training.
The model supports several advanced capabilities, including motion tracking, goal pose reaching, and reward optimization. These features could lead to more lifelike non-playable characters (NPCs), easier character animation, and the creation of new immersive experiences.
This release reflects Meta’s ongoing commitment to developing the metaverse, even as the company continues to face challenges in realizing the full potential of its investments. Despite significant spending, Meta has yet to achieve the expected outcomes from its metaverse ventures.
In December 2023, the company reported a sharp decline in VR headset sales, with a nearly 40% drop compared to the previous year. While Reality Labs, Meta’s division focused on virtual and augmented reality, reported over $1 billion in sales for Q4, it also disclosed an operating loss of $4.65 billion.
As part of the company’s efforts to cut costs and fully focus on metaverse and AI-related projects, Meta will shut down its Spark AR platform on January 14, 2025, ending support for third-party augmented reality (AR) effects.
In September, during the Meta Connect conference, the company unveiled several new products, including the AR glasses “Orion,” updates to Ray-Ban Meta glasses, and the budget-friendly Meta Quest 3S mixed reality headset.
