The metaverse is over, AI will take all our jobs, Apple’s VR headset is all hype; 2023 continues to see a deluge of news surrounding the latest tech trends, some swaying far more towards fiction than fact. Alexander Feiglstorfer, CTO and Co-Founder of enterprise CMS Storyblok sets the record straight on some of 2023’s biggest tech myths:

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1. The Metaverse is Dead

From the moment of its delivery, Zukerberg’s grand vision for the next iteration of the web; a single, shared, immersive, 3D space where physical and virtual realities collide, dominated tech. Three years on and the narrative has certainly died a death. Amid ongoing Meta layoffs and VC pull-back too, it might be easy to assume that the metaverse is now off the cards.

But this is not so. Firstly, it’s important to remember that the metaverse is much more than just Meta’s widely touted vision of it. It is much better defined as the ultimate goal of a whole suite of virtual and augmented reality propositions that will change how we interact online. In fact, by 2024 its predicted to grow into a $783.3 billion market.^(source: Forbes)

Nike now sells virtual trainers, H&M has a virtual showroom, Burberry’s launched a metaverse game and Coca-Cola has landed in Decentraland. At the same time a vibrant ecosystem of VR infrastructure startups has been created that are drastically reducing the cost and complexity of VR experience creation.

With this, we’ll likely see more brands and marketers taking advantage of metaverse-ready experimental and immersive technology, such as AR and VR, as a way to interact with consumers in more meaningful ways.

2. Apple’s Headset will Take VR Mainstream

Talking of VR and It’s easy to see why Apple’s new VR headset was shrouded in doubt. Over a decade in the making, the Vision Pro – what Apple has described as a “revolutionary spatial computer that seamlessly blends digital content with the physical world” – was considered to be the game changer of XR, the hardware that finally takes VR into the mainstream. It was meant to be the ‘iPhone moment’ for VR but after a lot initial excitement at its launch reality has started to creep in. Foremost, there’s the hefty $3,000 price tag Apple slapped on to it which is likely to put it out of reach for potential VR converts. Moreso, the consensus is that other VR contenders, such as Quest 3, offer much of the same key functionalities at a more accessible price.

But that’s not to say we can disregard Apple’s soon-to-launch headset altogether. As seen with Apple’s other 1.0 launches, most major innovation leaps are the result of continuous iteration and developments. Also, it’s likely that as demand increases, costs will come down and more affordable adaptations become available. In the meantime, the good news is the Apple headset will continue to serve as an impetus for the wider market, driving other entrants to think bigger and bolder to compete in the race for the VR space.

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3. Gen AI will immediately revolutionise marketing

Ever since its arrival last November, Open AI’s breakthrough ChatGPT has been the talk of the town with its ability to generate deceptively human-like (though not faultless) answers to questions. It can also draft emails, blogs and proposals, write poetry, summarise lengthy documents and, to the alarm of teachers everywhere, draft essays. The result is a huge opportunity for businesses to automate key processes, streamline and enhance overall operations, especially in the current climate. This is especially true for the marketing industry. Earlier in the year several companies announced they planned to lay off staff in the face of gen AI automation – a position that looks increasingly premature.

The reality is that ChatGPT and other gen AI applications are far from the finished article. Ultimately, any type of gen AI tech is still only as accurate as the information it is provided. Yet the world is constantly changing and information evolving, leaving wide scope for inaccuracies, hallucinations and manipulation. Further concerns surround the potential for inherent bias, security breaches and questionable legal standing. Thus, while certainly a powerful tool with a lot of potential, gen AI is far from match ready and will take a lot longer to become fully integrated into businesses.

4. Composable Entails a Lot of Change

Another common misconception is that transitioning from a monolithic tech stack to a composable one – essentially, an architecture which combines API-first microservices on the cloud – is overly complex, resulting in costly disruption and downtime. However, the reality is that the longest part of any migration is usually the initial planning stages – reviewing assets, choosing the most suitable provider, preparing employees and end-users.

So long as it is well planned, it’s possible to conduct a ‘lift and shift’ model where the migration takes place in just a few weeks while maintaining operations. Also, it means you’ll no longer be confined to a big, all-in-one software solution, and can pick and choose the pieces of tech that best serve your needs. This approach not only vastly reduces costs, speeds up development and is incredibly flexible but will become ever more important for helping businesses keep up to speed with the fast-evolving modern marketing mix.

5. The Future is Now

Lastly, I often come across the notion that it’s vital to stay future-focused, at all costs. That is not my experience. Of course, that’s not to say a business can afford to lose sight of what’s coming around the corner. Every successful company will need to have some future vision to work towards. But it’s important to prioritise focusing on the present before making plans for the future. After all, it’s impossible to start preparing for tomorrow without first catching up with current technological advancements – be it VR, AR, AI or any other new tech on the horizon. Planning too far in advance leaves companies at the risk of wasting resources preparing for emerging trends that may never come to fruition and failing to adapt to current and proven technology. And in some cases, getting the best out of current and modern technology may also prove useful for adapting to future technology. In this way, creating a successful future often hinges on taking care of the present.

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