Is ‘murder’ in the Metaverse prosecuted?

The actions of murder and harassment on Metaverse can affect the psychology of real people – Photo: WATCHERS.IE

According to the news site IFLSciencespeaking during a panel discussion at the 2022 World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland) this past week, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister of Artificial Intelligence asked how The government may react to the introduction of the Metaverse.

Minister Omar Sultan Al Olama said that governments around the world need to discuss and agree on a series of policies and standards related to the Metaverse virtual world.

Mr. Al Olama cites an example of “terrorizing people in the Metaverse”. Al Olama argues: the realism of the Metaverse means that extreme actions such as harassment or “murder” can have a significant psychological impact on a person in physical reality.

There is no clear answer at the discussion about how to solve this problem. However, Mr. Al Olama believes that is a question that needs to be addressed in the near future.

“There needs to be a discussion at the level of the United Nations, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) or non-governmental organizations to establish a certain standard. That standard needs to be laid out on the internet right now. at. For example, the dark web is illegal content in many countries,” suggested Mr. Olama.

Although still a work in progress, Metaverse is a realistic role-playing environment. In which people can use digital avatars to interact with other individuals and the artificial world around them. The idea hasn’t fully materialized yet, but tech companies like Meta and Epic Games are pouring billions of dollars into developing the technology.

Mr. Chris Cox, Product Manager at Meta, also spoke on the same panel as Mr. Al Olama. Mr. Cox emphasized that Metaverse will be a place of diverse backgrounds, all operating with their own rules, norms and cultures.

However, Mr. Cox agreed on the need for some standards to be globally agreed. He suggested that different platforms will also need to take some responsibility for setting standards for themselves.