When Socrates said, “Nothing vast enters the lives of mortals without a curse,” he might as well have been referring to AI’s environmental footprint. The impact has already been reported but now, using data from the University of California and The Washington Post, Business Energy UK estimates that a single ChatGPT response requires just over two cups of water and 0.14 kWh of electricity. Based on ChatGPT’s 28 million daily users, researchers calculated its total resource consumption on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly scale. In a year, ChatGPT alone would use more electricity than 112 countries.
Meta has introduced a $50 million Creator Fund to boost content development in Horizon Worlds, its social gaming platform. The initiative will reward creators whose worlds enhance user engagement and retention, with monthly bonuses based on metrics like time spent and in-world purchases. Developers make more money from Roblox, so to retain them and encourage them to make more content, Meta has to pay them more.
HTC has unveiled VIVERSE Worlds, a browser-based 3D content platform designed to be embedded on any website and accessible across all devices. Positioned as the “YouTube of 3D content,” VIVERSE Worlds enables creators to build, share, and explore immersive experiences without the need for app downloads. The platform leverages HTC’s Polygon Streaming technology, allowing complex, high-polygon models to be streamed efficiently, delivering high-quality visuals directly through web browsers. This innovation caters to both enterprises seeking immersive solutions—such as virtual showrooms and 3D manuals—and consumers interested in exploring diverse XR environments. Viveverse integrated services like Sketchfab and offers no-code web builder tools.
Niantic’s ‘Into the Scaniverse’ Launches on Meta Quest. The new experience is now available as a free app on Meta Quest 3, allowing users to explore over 50,000 3D-scanned locations worldwide. Imagine walking around in captures made from Gausian splats created by a global community using the Scaniverse mobile app. New scans appear daily, and users can contribute their own. The app follows the launch of its WebXR version, expanding access to this crowdsourced virtual map.
Wevr Unveils Shared Experience Engine for Large-Scale XR Events. Wevr has launched the Shared Experience Engine, allowing up to 100 people to interact in the same virtual space. The technology, tested with Warner Bros. and the Harry Potter franchise, enables large-scale immersive experiences for entertainment venues, museums, and retail spaces. Alongside the launch, Wevr has opened the LA XR Lab in partnership with HTC Vive to showcase the engine’s capabilities. Wevr, known for projects like TheBlu and Gnomes & Goblins, aims to bring group-based XR experiences to public venues, creating a new category of location-based entertainment. Demonstrations are available by appointment.
Virtuix Studios announced the launch of TREKS, an immersive tourism experience that enables players walk through the world’s most breathtaking destinations using the Omni One full-body VR system. Releasing March 6, 2025, exclusively on Omni One, TREKS lets you experience each location as it was meant to be seen—step by step.
This column is also a podcast hosted by its author, Charlie Fink, Ted Schilowitz, former studio executive and co-founder of Red Camera, and Rony Abovitz, founder of Magic Leap. This week our guest is Ceclia Chen, CEO of Cybever. We can be found on Spotify, iTunes, and YouTube.
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CNet’s Top VR Games (Scott Stein/Cnet)
