Introduction: The Convergence of AI Wearables and the Metaverse

Abstract

The ongoing advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and wearable sensors coupled with the metaverse touch every field of study, as they intertwine the physical, digital, and cognitive realms in an unprecedented way. In this work, we establish an initial AI, wearables, and metaverse interconnection point in the field. We focus on the possible collaborations, socio-ethical considerations, and challenges in the field of research. We present the arguments that AI-powered inference, which can run on wearable devices, is capable of real-time, situational awareness, and adaptive real-time granularity. Concurrently, metaverse applications deliver real-time profiles for social collaboration and teleportation, significantly extending the physical. We assist with adaptive health surveillance, augmented human work, and new modes of work and education that span the monolithic physical and virtual realms. We discuss the health and social applications of real-time, edge, and federated learning, and the privacy framework for digital systems. Finally, we determine the most critical social and technological needs in the field: real-time privacy systems, human-centred interoperability, and social/secondary real-time systems. This chapter also analyses the social threats of surveillance, the erosion of bias, and the loss of consent, and proposes future investigations aimed at addressing this surveillance and bias erosion through auditing models with transparency, preserving architectures with privacy, and guiding governance models with regulation. Identifying the potential of technology and proposing balanced innovations, this chapter aims to assist responsible researchers and professionals in the construction of integrated systems that provide high technical quality, ethical values, and social quality.