August 18, 2020 – Sensorium Corporation has announced that it is developing ‘Sensorium Galaxy’ — a virtual reality (VR) media platform that will provide users with access to an all-digital alternate universe. According to the company, immersion in the multi-user environment will allow users to craft their own unique virtual personas and enjoy social experiences through social VR technology.
The development of Sensorium Galaxy began in 2018 with the sole support of Russian billionaire, Mikhail Prokhorov, and has since attracted more than USD $100 million in investments, the company states.
Mikhail Prokhorov commented: “The combination of VR and AI creates unique opportunities for developing new platforms where users can seamlessly interact with the virtual environments and amongst themselves. We are confident that the development of a new way of communication in the virtual world, along with the limitless possibilities for self-realization in those digital environments, present an unprecedented business opportunity. Over the next 10 years, we’re expecting explosive market growth around the integration of VR and AI technologies.”
Within the Sensorium Galaxy, users are not limited to pre-set avatars. The platform allows users to generate complex and distinctive virtual representations of themselves, according to the company. Artificial intelligence (AI) and VR technologies make it possible for users to personalize their appearances, set character traits, and incorporate other elements to their profiles. The company added that further down the line, users will be able to evolve in the digital environment, managing their characters and simulating various scenarios of events in virtual worlds.
Brian Kean, Chief Communications Officer at Sensorium Corporation, said: “By adding AI technology to the mix, the immersion of user-generated avatars in social and game mechanics goes further than ever before. Artificial intelligence allows the avatar to exist autonomously in virtual environments, maximizing the interaction with other users. At Sensorium, we call it the ‘digital evolution’ of the user. Naturally, this advancement will lead to ‘digital immortality’ — the next stage of this project.”
In addition to its social mechanics, Sensorium Galaxy will be home to a wide variety of events organized in close collaboration with leaders from the entertainment industry, the company states. A number of producers have apparently already joined the project.
Kean added that the Sensorium Galaxy will also allow for the digital recreation of artists from the past and model their creativity to generate fresh materials. He stated: “In the near future, we will witness and even participate in the performances of artistic legends throughout history whose creativity is molded by artificial intelligence to create new works of art. Beyond this, AI can offer us versions of the creative statements of characters who have never existed before – heroes created by the imagination of writers, painters and sculptors.”
The Sensorium Galaxy was first presented to the public in 2019 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, US. More recently, the Sensorium Galaxy was featured at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2020 in Davos, Switzerland.
Whether the project will actually live up to what it states it will be able to achieve is of course yet to be seen, but it appears that Facebook has a contender for its own ‘Horizon’ virtual reality world. This is where we Insert our “Ready Player Two” pun.
Video credit: Sensorium Corporation / YouTube
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Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he has been covering XR industry news for the past seven years.