Farewell to "Paper Digital Humans", "Metaverse Leader" Roblox is going to do 4D AI

In the wave of AI, more and more technologies and companies are turning to the field of artificial intelligence. The concept of the metaverse, which was once extremely popular, now seems to have fallen into an "outdated" awkward situation.

On the 17th, as the former "metaverse leader," Roblox announced that they are embracing generative AI.

The announcement stated that Roblox is currently developing new AI tools to help creators produce 3D content more quickly.

However, static objects are no longer enough to satisfy Roblox's ambitions. In the latest statement, they proposed an even higher goal - 4D AI.

What is 4D AI?

Roblox states that 4D AI not only makes 3D objects look realistic, but more importantly, it enables interaction between elements. This interaction is complex, many-to-many, and spontaneous encounters, rather than predetermined procedures. Interactive 4D elements can be added to a larger environment, with generative AI responsible for coordinating the style of each element and supporting interactions between objects and the environment.

Roblox hopes to transition 3D models to interactive 4D worlds with just a few simple commands.

During the peak of the metaverse concept, Roblox was popular among young people who love virtual worlds with its unique "digital paper doll" concept. However, with the explosion of AI technology, people's enthusiasm has cooled down, and Roblox seems to have become a "neglected child" of capital, with its stock price dropping from a peak of $134.72 per share to $35.9 per share now.

Not willing to sit back and wait for death, Roblox has decided to focus on AI. In the announcement, developers praised Roblox's early AI tools and put forward the vision of building 4D AI.

Three Challenges Ahead

Achieving this goal is not easy. Not only because, technically, the generative system connecting 4D elements has not been fully built, and multimodal AI is still in the training stage; but also because 4D AI, as a new concept, is still in an unknown field.

Based on this, Roblox has put forward three challenges they currently face:

1. Functionality: Objects created by future generative AI tools need to be functional. For example, a car should not only be a solid shape, but also have rotating tires and doors that can be opened and closed.

AI needs to find the correct position for the wheels, then add axles so that the wheels can operate like in the physical world. It also needs to find the position of the door, cut an opening, add hinges, and make the door open and close

1. Interactivity: Items created using future generative AI not only need to be able to operate independently, but also need to interact with other objects in the environment. Objects should have realistic physical effects - for example, a speeding car crashing into a boulder will explode.

This requires the created objects to understand the physical characteristics of the environment they interact with. Roblox has an advantage in this regard, as the platform itself is a physics engine. When AI creates a 4D object, it will add its physical properties such as material, mass, and strength, to prepare for interaction with other objects in the physical world.

1. Controllability: Generative AI sometimes creates unexpected works. For example, when someone requests a picture of a rabbit, they may receive various results: a real rabbit, a chocolate Easter bunny, a cartoon rabbit, a rabbit painting, or an illustration of a rabbit wearing a coat. Therefore, we will provide detailed prompts, requesting realistic images or "stylized" images to align with our expectations.

To realize the creator's ideas, we need a faster and simpler way to communicate with AI, making our relationship more like partners rather than a random "treasure hunt."

Addressing these challenges requires multimodal understanding between appearance, shape, physics, and scripts. If Roblox can successfully achieve 4D AI, creating immersive experiences will become faster and more accessible. With Roblox's massive user base of over 77 million daily active users, 4D AI can bring a wealth of new and diverse content to the platform.