The market analysis company Ipsos continues its research in collaboration with Vincenzo Cosenza, founder of the Metaverse Observatory, to investigate the opinions, experiences, knowledge and perspectives of Italians regarding Metaverse, Immersive Reality and Artificial Intelligence. The analysis involved a sample of over 1,400 people aged between 15 and 65: Italians are good connoisseurs of the concept of Metaverse, in fact 92% of those interviewed declare that they know what a metaverse is, 77% are able to describe it spontaneously and more than half of the sample provides a description that is very close to that given by experts, defining it as a virtual world in which the dynamics of interrelationship allow the performance of various activities. In the sample involved, at a generational level, it is surprising how more than the very young Millenials declare that they are attracted to and have explored the issues related to metaverses, immersive realities such as avatars, extended reality (AR, VR) and AI, but also cryptocurrencies and NFTs.
In general, attitudes towards the Metaverse are more open than sceptical. 58% believe that in the future thanks to immersive virtual experiences they will be able to learn to do new things and 52% believe that the experiences that can be had are exciting. Like any new technological innovation, it is accompanied by some anxiety about the lack of privacy (38%) and there is fear of a certain negative confusion between physical and virtual reality (40%). Despite this, research shows the Metaverse and immersive realities are not perceived as an alternative to physical reality, but as a way to enhance the online experience. However, some barriers remain mainly in terms of accessibility: 37% believe the Metaverse is still too expensive (the highest percentage 44%, among GenZ members). In fact, ownership of immersive reality headsets is 10% and high cost is once again cited as the main barrier to purchase.
Until now, the experience of the activities done in the Metaverse by users has been quite diverse. 32% did more than one activity, including: playing games or spending time with friends (33%); buy real items like clothes and shoes or explore another city (30%). Among the virtual worlds visited in the lead we see Fortnite and Minecraft, although most of the sample has little memorability with respect to specific platforms. The activities that are most popular concern in particular gaming (48%), entertainment including films and concerts (45%) education and learning (41%) and shopping (40%). In the Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT front, the Ipsos research for the Metaverse Observatory found that the majority of people in Italy (65%), mainly men, know the applications related to artificial intelligence that automate, for example, the creation of texts, blog articles and social media posts. Of these, 37% state that they have good knowledge of them and this is more evident among the younger age group, 28% have only heard of them, 25% are aware of them but have never used them and the 10% know them and have also used them. On the contrary, 35% say they are not fully aware of it.
Among the various applications related to artificial intelligence, ChatGPT is very popular, known to 40% of people in Italy, and which clearly stands out from other tools such as Dall-E (known by 18%), BARD Google (16%), Stable Diffusion and Midjourney (12%). 25%, on the contrary, declares that they do not know any of the tools mentioned, to a greater extent among older people. Finally, the survey records a positive attitude regarding the use of applications related to artificial intelligence: for 44% of people they will simplify processes and for 41% they will be a valid support for their professional life, a prevailing idea among the younger population. But not all people agree with this positive view. In fact, for 26% they will take away jobs, for 24% they represent a threat to our human creativity and, finally, for 16% they will further amplify the technological gap.
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