United Arab Emirates artificial intelligence minister Omar Sultan Al Olama told an audience at the World Economic forum in Davos that he believes people who commit serious crimes in the metaverse should be punished with real-world criminal consequences.
According to an article by CNBC’s Sam Shead, the minister sees this as a necessary measure to protect people’s mental health: “If I send you a text on WhatsApp, it’s just a text, right? It may scare you, but it does not create memories that you will have some degree of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder – PTSD). But if I enter the metaverse and what we’re talking about in the future is a realistic world and I actually kill you (there) and you see this… it actually takes you to a certain extreme where you have to push aggressively around the world because everyone agrees that some things are just unacceptable ”
While this explanation seems very plausible at first, there are several different problems. First, there is no medically established limit for experiencing PTSD. While some people may experience PTSD just by hearing the news, others, as the minister said, may experience PTSD by seeing someone die.
However, perhaps more importantly, it should not be forgotten that the metaverse, however advanced, is computer software. So, even if a VR environment is created where you can really get lost and feel like you’re really there, someone has to code it into software for a murder to happen. If the murder or attack actions are not coded into the software, your avatars will not be able to perform such an action.
Of course, creating a real super artificial intelligence and a real virtual universe and establishing a system that will allow people to do everything may be possible in the distant future, but at least in the metaverse, it will be limited to the capabilities allowed by the developer companies…
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