training

Reddit cashes in on AI gold rush with $203M in LLM training license fees

AI, Data, Google, legal, license, LLMs, reddit, training / Rejus Almole / February 25, 2024

Your posts are the product —

Two- to three-year deals with Google, others, come amid legal uncertainty over “fair use.”

Kyle Orland – Feb 23, 2024 5: 13 pm UTC

Enlarge / “Reddit Gold” takes on a whole new meaning when AI training data is involved.

The last week saw word leak that Google had agreed to license Reddit’s massive corpus of billions of posts and comments to help train its large language models. Now, in a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the popular online forum has revealed that it will bring in $203 million from that and other unspecified AI data licensing contracts over the next three years.

Reddit’s Form S-1—published by the SEC late Thursday ahead of the site’s planned stock IPO—says the company expects $66.4 million of that data-derived value from LLM companies to come during the 2024 calendar year. Bloomberg previously reported the Google deal to be worth an estimated $60 million a year, suggesting that the three-year deal represents the vast majority of its AI licensing revenue so far.

Google and other AI companies that license Reddit’s data will receive “continuous access to [Reddit’s] data API as well as quarterly transfers of Reddit data over the term of the arrangement,” according to the filing. That constant, real-time access is particularly valuable, the site writes in the filing, because “Reddit data constantly grows and regenerates as users come and interact with their communities and each other.”

“Why pay for the cow…?”

While Reddit sees data licensing to AI firms as an important part of its financial future, its filing also notes that free use of its data has already been “a foundational part of how many of the leading large language models have been trained.” The filing seems almost bitter in noting that “some companies have constructed very large commercial language models using Reddit data without entering into a license agreement with us.”

That acknowledgment highlights the still-murky legal landscape over AI companies’ penchant for scraping huge swathes of the public web for training purposes, a practice those companies defend as fair use. And Reddit seems well aware that AI models may continue to hoover up its posts and comments for free, even as it tries to sell that data to others.

“Some companies may decline to license Reddit data and use such data without license given its open nature, even if in violation of the legal terms governing our services,” the company writes. “While we plan to vigorously enforce against such entities, such enforcement activities could take years to resolve, result in substantial expense, and divert management’s attention and other resources, and we may not ultimately be successful.”

Yet the mere existence of AI data licensing agreements like Reddit’s may influence how legal battles over this kind of data scraping play out. As Ars’ Timothy Lee and James Grimmelmann noted in a recent legal analysis, the establishment of a settled licensing market can have a huge impact on whether courts consider a novel use of digitized data to be “fair use” under copyright law.

“The more [AI data licensing] deals like this are signed in the coming months, the easier it will be for the plaintiffs to argue that the ‘effect on the market’ prong of fair use analysis should take this licensing market into account,” Lee and Grimmelmann wrote.

And while Reddit sees LLMs as a new revenue opportunity, the site also sees their popularity as a potential threat. The S-1 filing notes that “some users are also turning to LLMs such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Anthropic” for seeking information, putting them in the same category of Reddit competition as “Google, Amazon, YouTube, Wikipedia, X, and other news sites.”

After filing for its IPO in late 2021, reports suggest Reddit is aiming to hit the stock market next month officially. The company will offer users and moderators with sufficient karma and/or activity on the site the opportunity to participate in that IPO through a directed share program.

Advance Publications, which owns Ars Technica parent Condé Nast, is the largest shareholder of Reddit.

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How Virtual Reality Is Revolutionizing Police Training

Application, Education & Training, featured, law enforcement, police, training, virtual reality / Rejus Almole / August 11, 2023

Law enforcement officers face various complex and challenging situations where they must respond to high-risk incidents involving armed perpetrators. Unfortunately, police officers in the US only receive less than six months of police training—which is where virtual reality comes in.

Using VR helps augment the need for more in-depth training in a safe and immersive training environment. It also helps further hone their skills, allowing them to effectively manage a more comprehensive array of situations, including highly stressful and unpredictable scenarios.

In this article, we’ll explore virtual reality’s role in police training, its benefits, and some real-life applications.

Why VR Is an Effective Training Tool

VR has many police training applications, allowing officers to improve their interactions with their communities and help them develop the necessary reactions in a more controlled environment. It provides law enforcement officers with immersive experiences close to real-life situations, which can help improve their learning and performance compared to more traditional training methods. With virtual reality police training, users can interact with a simulated environment that reacts accordingly, making them feel like they’re really there.

As a police training tool, VR can be used to enhance existing aspects of training, according to a study by Laura Giessing of Heidelberg University. It has the potential to help officers become better equipped to face critical incidents on duty by acquiring skills and tactics that can be readily applied when facing high-stress situations.

Benefits of VR in Police Training

Aside from helping law enforcement officers further develop skills such as communication, de-escalation, or intervention, it can also help them build empathy. Developing empathy allows officers to become more effective on duty by better understanding what a particular subject is going through.

Using VR as a police training tool has several key benefits, including:

Officer Safety

Police officers face complex and potentially dangerous scenarios in their line of work. Using VR for police training allows them to immerse in those scenarios without the risk of physical harm.

Access to Realistic Simulations

Virtual reality can simulate realistic scenarios that elicit the same reactions as their real-world counterparts. These simulations give officers the opportunity to continuously expose themselves to the simulations and gain as much experience as possible before facing similar situations in the field.

Customizable Scenarios

The great thing about using virtual reality in police training is that it’s a scalable and customizable solution. This means that training academies or organizations can create custom scenarios that align with changing needs and industry best practices.

Enhanced Decision-Making Capabilities

By exposing officers to realistic simulations, they can hone their critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills. VR training can also be modified to simulate increasingly high-stress or high-risk situations, helping officers learn how to effectively handle and de-escalate such scenarios at a more manageable pace.

Focus on Evaluation and Debriefing

VR can also help officers learn how to best evaluate a scenario and execute more in-depth debriefing sessions. That’s because users can replay different scenarios, allowing them to analyze each segment in more detail.

Real-World Examples of Police VR Training

Many police departments and organizations in the US and abroad already use VR for police training. These include:

Sacramento Police Department

This department uses immersive video simulators to recreate real-world scenarios, providing its officers with cultural competency and implicit bias training. Officers are also educated about proper decision-making and peer intervention.

Los Alamos Police Department

In 2021, the Los Alamos Police Department started applying VR technology to train its officers in more effective de-escalation tactics.

Mexico City

Mexico City established the first virtual reality training center for officers in Latin America. One of the goals of the training center is to help officers enhance their reflexes in high-risk or stressful emergency scenarios to improve their performance.

Gwent Police

Gwent Police officers benefit from a VR training program that teaches them how to respond to and make better decisions in stressful situations. The program has 10 scenarios based on real-life problems that police officers frequently encounter.

Dutch Police

The Dutch Police developed a VR simulation game that trains officers to complete different scenarios. This VR training also provides bias training for Dutch Police officers, helping them become more knowledgeable and better prevent ethnic profiling.

How Virtual Reality Is Revolutionizing Police Training Read More »

Strivr Enhances Immersive Learning With Generative AI, Equips VR Training Platform With Mental Health and Well-Being Experiences

AI, Education & Training, Enterprise, Enterprise VR, featured, learning, Software, strivr, training, virtual reality, VR platform / Rejus Almole / May 30, 2023

Strivr, a virtual reality training solutions startup, was founded as a VR training platform for professional sports leagues such as the NBA, NHL, and NFL. Today, Strivr has made its way to the job training scene with an innovative approach to employee training, leveraging generative AI (GenAI) to transform learning experiences.

More Companies Lean Toward Immersive Learning

Today’s business landscape is rapidly evolving. As such, Fortune 500 companies and other businesses in the corporate sector are starting to turn to more innovative employee training and development solutions. To serve the changing demands of top companies, Strivr has secured $16 million in funding back in 2018 to expand its VR training platform.

Research shows that learning through VR environments can significantly enhance knowledge retention, making it a groundbreaking development in employee training.

Unlike traditional training methods, a VR training platform immerses employees in lifelike scenarios, providing unparalleled engagement and experiential learning. However, this technology isn’t a new concept at all. Companies have been incorporating VR into their training solutions for several years, but we’ve only recently seen more industries adopting this technology rapidly.

The Impact of Generative AI on VR Training Platforms

Walmart, the largest retailer in the world, partnered with Strivr to bring VR to their training facilities. Employees can now practice in virtual sales floors repeatedly until they perfect their skills. In 2019, nearly 1.4 million Walmart associates have undergone VR training to prepare for the holiday rush, placing them in a simulated, chaotic Black Friday scenario.

As a result, associates reported a 30% increase in employee satisfaction, 70% higher test scores, and 10 to 15% higher knowledge retention rates. Because of the VR training’s success, Walmart expanded the VR training program to all their stores nationwide.

Derek Belch, founder and CEO at Strivr, states that the demand for the faster development of high-quality and scalable VR experiences that generate impactful results is “at an all-time high.”

VR training platofrm Strivr

As Strivr’s customers are among the most prominent companies globally, they are directly experiencing the impact of immersive learning on employee engagement, retention, and performance. “They want more, and we’re listening,” said Belch in a press release shared with ARPost.

So, to enhance its VR training platform, Strivr embraces generative AI to develop storylines, boost animation and asset creation, and optimize visual and content-driven features.

GenAI will also aid HR and L&D leaders in critical decision-making by deriving insights from immersive user data.

Strivr’s VR Training Platform Addresses Employee Mental Health

Strivr has partnered with Reulay and Healium in hosting its first in-headset mental health and well-being applications on the VR training platform. This will allow their customers to incorporate mental health “breaks” into their training curricula and address the rising levels of employee burnout, depression, and anxiety.

Belch has announced that Strivr also partnered with one of the world’s leading financial institutions to make meditation activities available in their workplace.

Meditation is indeed helpful for employees; the Journal of the American Medical Association recently published a study that showed that meditation can help reduce anxiety as effectively as drug therapies. Mindfulness practices, on the other hand, have been demonstrated to increase employee productivity, focus, and collaboration.

How VR Transforms Professional Training

With Strivr’s VR Training platform offering enhanced experiential learning and mental well-being, one might wonder how VR technology will influence employee training moving forward.

Belch describes Strivr’s VR training platform as a “beautifully free space” to practice. Employees can develop or improve their skills in a realistic scenario that simulates actual workplace challenges in a way that typical workshops and classrooms cannot. Moreover, training employees through VR platform cuts travel costs associated with conventional training facilities.

VR training platform Strivr

VR training platforms also contribute to a more inclusive and diverse workplace. Employees belonging to minority groups can rehearse and tailor their behaviors in simulated scenarios where a superior or customer is prejudiced toward them, for instance. When these situations are addressed during training, companies can protect their employees from these challenges and prepare them.

What’s Next for VR Training Platforms?

According to Belch, Strivr’s enhanced VR training platform is only the beginning of how VR will continue to impact the employee experience.

So far, VR training platforms have been improving employee onboarding, knowledge retention, and performance. They allow employees to practice and acquire critical skills in a safe, virtual environment, helping them gain more confidence and efficiency while training. Additionally, diversity and inclusion are promoted, thanks to VR’s ability to simulate scenarios where employees can tailor their behaviors during difficult situations.

And, of course, VR training has rightfully gained recognition for helping teach retail workers essential customer service skills. By interacting with virtual customers in a life-like environment, Walmart’s employees have significantly boosted their skills, and the mega-retailer has implemented an immersive training solution to all of its nearly 4,700 stores all over America.

In 2022, Accenture invested in Strivr and Talespin to revolutionize immersive learning and enterprise VR. This is a good sign of confidence in the industry and its massive potential for growth.

As we keep an eye on the latest scoop about VR technology, we can expect more groundbreaking developments in the industry and for VR platforms to increase their presence in the employee training realm.

Strivr Enhances Immersive Learning With Generative AI, Equips VR Training Platform With Mental Health and Well-Being Experiences Read More »

Expanding the Applications of VR Training for Mental Health Awareness and Wellness at Work

featured, Healthcare/Medicine, Mental Health, training, virtual reality / Rejus Almole / May 13, 2023

The use of VR training for mental health awareness is not a new concept. This technology has become a powerful tool that enhances the professional development and overall well-being of employees in the workplace.

With Mental Health Awareness Month serving as a crucial reminder of the importance of addressing mental health concerns, we once again go through the role immersive technologies play in promoting mental health awareness and providing support.

The Prevalence of Mental Health Issues

In the United States alone, approximately 50 million adults are experiencing a mental illness. But what’s more alarming is that over 55% of them receive no treatment. That’s 28 million individuals struggling with mental health issues on their own.

In the workplace, employees experiencing poor mental health are more likely to face absenteeism, lower job satisfaction, and burnout. The impact of these issues extends beyond individual employees, affecting overall productivity, morale, and employee retention within organizations. Fortunately, business leaders are now realizing the need to address mental health concerns in the workplace.

Harnessing Immersive Technologies for Mental Health Support

XR technologies, including VR training, have emerged as powerful tools for addressing mental health concerns and fostering a supportive workplace environment. Companies like Moth+Flame have been at the forefront, developing immersive training solutions that promote mental health in the workplace.

Moth+Flame Mental Wellness library

This month, they launched a Mental Wellness library to facilitate open conversations on mental health concerns. Through this library, individuals can engage in realistic scenarios, practice meaningful conversations, and acquire the necessary skills to provide appropriate support.

According to Kevin Cornish, founder and CEO of Moth+Flame, developing the library was a big commitment they made in support of mental health awareness. Their goal is to get more people comfortable with talking about mental health at work so that, ultimately, people know how to ask for help and how to offer help. “We believe that the more people who are trained on how to handle these conversations, the more people will ultimately get help,” says Cornish. “If one person gets the support they need by using this conversation and being prepared for a tough conversation, then we have succeeded.”

Collaborative Efforts in VR Training for Mental Health Awareness

Moth+Flame is not alone in recognizing the potential of XR technologies for mental health training. Several companies and organizations are utilizing VR to improve mental health awareness and support in the workplace.

PsyTechVR is also empowering organizations by giving them access to VR apps with guided meditations and art therapies that enhance mental wellness. The company, which launches new therapy content every two weeks, offers both self-guiding VR courses as well as courses with a specialist, where the doctor has access to user’s training in real-time and guides them through all the training.

Penumbra’s REAL Vision VR Wellness offers over 100 immersive experiences designed specifically for improving employee mental wellness. The company’s REAL i-Series is designed to offer VR-enabled tools for cognitive activation, distraction therapy, reminiscence therapy, mindfulness therapy, and relaxation therapy.

Collaborations among tech, health, and business sectors are paving the way for better VR experiences tailored to mental health. The National Institute of Mental Health for one has been funding research on virtual reality exposure therapy and other immersive applications.

The Impact of VR-Based Mental Health Training Programs

Although specific case studies on VR-based mental health training programs are still emerging, the potential impact is significant. Moth+Flame, for instance, partnered with the US Air Force to provide VR training specifically for suicide prevention, demonstrating the efficacy of immersive experiences in sensitive topics.

They have seen firsthand the transformative effect of VR in military suicide prevention training. By expanding access to these training programs and empowering more individuals to handle difficult conversations, the hope is that more people will feel comfortable seeking help and offering support.

Looking Ahead: Empowering a Supportive Work Environment

VR training for mental health awareness has the potential to revolutionize workplace well-being. As more organizations recognize the significance of addressing mental health concerns, the demand for immersive XR experiences will continue to grow.

As Mental Health Awareness Month highlights the importance of open dialogue, companies across various industries are embracing VR training as part of their mental health initiatives. By incorporating XR technologies into their employee development programs, organizations demonstrate a commitment to fostering a supportive work environment that prioritizes mental well-being.

It’s not just Moth+Flame, PsyTechVR, and Penumbra leading the way in utilizing XR technologies for mental health support. Other companies have also recognized the value of immersive experiences in promoting mental health awareness. From mindfulness apps to virtual therapy sessions, the potential applications of XR in mental health care are vast. Collaborative initiatives between industry leaders and mental health professionals further amplify the impact of XR in promoting mental health awareness.

Expanding the Applications of VR Training for Mental Health Awareness and Wellness at Work Read More »

ARuVR Releases No-Code Content Creation Platform for XR Headsets

content creation, Education & Training, extended reality, featured, training, XR platform / Rejus Almole / May 9, 2023

UK-based ARuVR (formerly VRtuoso) enterprise XR training platform has recently announced that it supports no-code content creation, distribution, and management for XR headsets. Thus, companies can now create extended reality training programs for VIVE XR Elite, Meta Quest Pro, and Pico 4 Enterprise without writing a single line of code.

Accessibility of AR/VR Creation Is the Latest Industry Trend

For some time now, creating AR/VR content is no longer conditioned by having coding skills. While developers are still very much in demand for high-end games and applications, there is a movement towards making the creation process accessible for all.

ARuVR puts another important building block to the foundation of this process with its no-code XR platform. Users can rely on the simple drag-and-drop process to create immersive training for employees, which can now also be experienced on extended reality headsets.

Immersive Training Is the New Norm

So far, ARuVR has attracted a roster of top clients, such as PwC, Coca-Cola, BT, and BAE Systems. These companies, and many others, rely on ARuVR’s training platform to create onboarding presentations for employees and ongoing training for staff.

The nature of AR/VR training makes it possible for international companies to create and deploy the same training for teams in various places around the globe. This ensures consistent compliance with the latest policies and best practices. Any other training method is subject to errors, human or otherwise.

With the no-code XR platform, any professional in charge of employee training can create interactive programs, test them and deploy them without a developer’s assistance.

The No-Code XR Platform Is Optimized for Enterprise Headsets

ARuVR is working together with headset producers who supply companies with enterprise-grade devices. Thus, the no-code XR platform is fully compatible with the most popular devices for corporate training, namely: HTC VIVE XR Elite, Meta Quest Pro, and Pico 4 Enterprise.

Speaking about the importance of the new training platform, Nathan Gaydhani, the Enterprise Product Owner EMEA at HTC VIVE said in a press release shared with ARPost:

“XR has the power to change how a business operates, creating and delivering highly realistic experiences to recruit, engage, upskill, or retain its workforce. Combining the great hardware of VIVE XR Elite, and powerful software like ARuVR’s platform means that advanced transformative technology is accessible to any organization.”

The Ultimate Goal: Facilitating Learning

For ARuVR, their new product is one step forward towards the goal of making training and transfer of knowledge faster and more accurate. This will ensure the success of companies, through more consistent training of their employees.

“As the first training platform to add no-code capability to our patented platform for the world’s leading XR headsets, we are ensuring that technical expertise is not a limiting factor to the roll-out of XR training programs,” said the founder and CEO of ARuVR, Frank Furnari. “Now anyone within an organization can easily become a creator of powerful and immersive training and deploy to anyone, anywhere throughout the enterprise.”

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Talespin Releases AI-powered, Web-Accessible No-Code Creator Platform

AI, featured, News, talespin, training, virtual reality, VR Content Creation, VR platform / Rejus Almole / May 8, 2023

To prepare professionals for tomorrow’s workplace, you need to be able to leverage tomorrow’s technology. Talespin was already doing this with their immersive AI-powered VR simulation and training modules.

Now, they’re taking it a step further by turning over a web-based no-code creator tool. To learn more, we reconnected with Talespin CEO Kyle Jackson to talk about the future of his company and the future of work.

The Road So Far

Talespin has existed as an idea for about ten years. That includes a few years before they started turning out experiences in 2015. In 2019, the company started leveraging AI technology for more nuanced storytelling and more believable virtual characters.

CoPilot Designer 3.0 Talespin

CoPilot Designer, the company’s content creation platform, released in 2021. Since then, it’s gone through big and small updates.

That brings us to the release of CoPilot Designer 3.0 – probably the biggest single change that’s come to the platform so far. This third major version of the tool is accessible on the web rather than as a downloaded app. We’ve already seen what the designer can do, as Talespin has been using it internally, including in its recent intricate story world in partnership with Pearson.

“Our North Star was how do you get the ability to create content into the hands of people who have the knowledge,” Jackson told ARPost this March. “The no-code platform was built in service of that but we decided we had to eat our own dogfood.”

In addition to being completely no-code, CoPilot Designer 3.0 has more AI tools than ever. It also features direct publishing to Quest 2, PC VR headsets, and Mac devices via streaming with support for Lenovo ThinkReality headsets and the Quest Pro coming soon.

Understanding AI in the Designer

The AI that powers CoPilot Designer 3.0 comes in two flavors – the tools that help the creator build the experience, and the tools that help the learner become immersed in the experience.

More generative 3D tools (tools that help the creator build environments and characters) is coming soon. The tools really developing in this iteration of CoPilot Designer are large language models (LLMs) and neural voices.

Talespin CoPilot Designer 3.0

Jackson described LLMs as the context of the content and neural voices as the expression of the content. After all, the average Talespin module could exist as a text-only interaction. But, an experience meant to teach soft skills is a lot more impactful when the situations and characters feel real. That means that the content can’t just be good, it has to be delivered in a moving way.

The Future of Work – and Talespin

While AI develops, Jackson said that the thing that he’s waiting for the most isn’t a new capability of AI. It’s trust.

“Right now, I would say that there’s not much trust in enterprise for this stuff, so we’re working very diligently,” Jackson told ARPost. “Learning and marketing have been two areas that are more flexible … I think that’s going to be where we really see this stuff break out first.”

Right now, that diligence includes maintaining the human component and limiting AI involvement where necessary. Where AI might help creators apply learning material, that learning material is still originally authored by human experts. One day AI might help to write the content too, but that isn’t happening so far.

“If our goal is achieved where we’re actually developing learning on the fly,” said Jackson, “we need to be sure that what it’s producing is good.”

Much of the inspiration behind Talespin in the first place was that as more manual jobs get automated, necessary workplace skills will pivot to soft skills. In short, humans won’t be replaced by machines, but the work that humans do will change.

As his own company relies more on AI for content generation, Jackson has already seen this prediction coming true for his team. As they’ve exponentially decreased the time that it takes for them to create content, they’re more able to work with customers and partners as opposed to largely serving as a platform to create and host content that companies made themselves.

Talepsin CoPilot Designer 3.0 - XR Content Creation Time Graph

Solving the Content Problem

To some degree, Talespin being a pioneer in the AI space is a necessary evolution of the company’s having been an XR pioneer. Some aspects of XR’s frontier struggles are already a thing of the past, but others have a lot to gain from leaning on other emerging technologies.

“At least on the enterprise side, there’s really no one doubting the validity of this technology anymore … Now it’s just a question of how we get that content more distributed,” said Jackson. “It feels like there’s a confluence of major events that are driving us along.”

Talespin Releases AI-powered, Web-Accessible No-Code Creator Platform Read More »

Why Your Next Workplace Training Session Might Be in the Belly of a Volcano

Education & Training, featured, Guest Post, training, virtual reality / Rejus Almole / May 4, 2023

Whoever said workplace training had to be boring? Thanks to advances in virtual reality, the world of workplace learning and development might finally be something to get excited about…and not a moment too soon.

In the world of training, education, and development, what’s fun and what’s effective are often one and the same. Educators have understood for quite some time that engagement is critical to the learning process. And there’s no quicker way to lose someone’s interest than boring them or lulling them to sleep.

A disengaged student is a student that isn’t learning, and that’s why we find that fun is very much an essential ingredient to the learning process. However, while educators have known this to be true for quite some time, it seems that, in the corporate world, this lesson has yet to truly sink in.

Can you remember the last time you took part in workplace training? If not, that might be because it wasn’t very memorable. If you’re like most people, your experience with workplace training probably amounts to sitting in a drab, windowless room and struggling to keep your eyes open as a grainy video drones at you from a television set in the corner.

Workplace Learning and Development Don’t Have to Be a Drag

Thanks to the emergence of technologies like virtual reality and augmented reality, however, this drab form of corporate training may soon be a thing of the past. Companies are realizing that they can save a considerable amount of time, money, and other resources on training and development. With these portable, cost-effective technologies, organizations can upskill a distributed workforce in a way that’s interactive, inclusive, and sustainable.

In my time working with Gemba, we’ve worked with the companies like Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola, and Pfizer to deliver immersive, impactful VR training programs, all while eliminating up to $2M in travel costs and over a ton of CO2 per trainee.

For organizations big and small, that’s a real, meaningful step towards sustainability — and, unlike most other sustainability initiatives, this transition doesn’t entail sacrifice. On the contrary, we’ve found that VR-based training is not only cheaper and more sustainable than traditional forms of training, but it’s actually more effective.

Fun and Efficiency Make VR Training an Inevitability

In our experience helping companies train and develop their employees, we’ve found that the use of VR is associated with significant improvements in educational efficacy.

While many might intuitively understand this, independent research has shown that making the learning process fun or enjoyable not only improves students’ willingness to engage in learning, but also improves their ability to retain information — even if the information itself is dull.

And this phenomenon isn’t unique to students. In fact, we’ve seen the same effect being borne out time and time again in our own work with professionals. An assessment of Gemba’s VR-enabled training with automotive technology supplier, Aptiv, found that a more immersive, engaging, and enjoyable learning experience led to faster, more effective training.

An independent case study of the program, published by the World Economic Forum (WEF), found that Aptiv was able to reduce what was originally two days of in-person training to just four hours of VR-enabled training. The study concluded that, overall, the use of Gemba’s VR-enabled training allowed Aptiv to upskill its workforce with 80% greater efficiency, compared to real-world training.

And there’s a very real need for more efficient, effective workplace training. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), over one billion workers globally will need to be upskilled by the year 2030. As technological advancements continue to reconfigure our world, organizations will be hard-pressed to find fast, effective, and scalable means of upskilling such a sizable portion of the workforce.

With VR, The Sky’s No Limit

It’s for these reasons that VR-enabled training’s mainstream adoption is all but an inevitability. Already, leading global enterprises like Unilever, Volvo, L’Oreal, and Nike are making use of VR-enabled training to optimize workforce development. And at the same time, advances in both hardware and software are making virtual and augmented reality platforms more impressive by the minute.

This begs the question — if you can hold a virtual meeting anywhere, why do it in a virtual recreation of some drab, lifeless conference room? Why not in the belly of a volcano? Or a castle floating above the clouds? Or at the bottom of the ocean? Why create a pixel-perfect digital twin of your cramped office space when you can convene anywhere on (or off) Earth?

I know what some of you are thinking — “That sounds rather childish,” or “That seems unprofessional.” To which, I’d respond, is being boring a prerequisite for professionalism?

I’ve had the luxury of working with a wide range of people and professionals throughout my career. I’ve worked in the gaming industry, been a university lecturer, and worked extensively with corporate leadership from around the world. Across all these spaces and demographics I’ve found one thing to be true — people like having fun. As a CTO myself, I can tell you from first-hand experience that you don’t magically become a dullard the moment they put a “C” in front of your title.

And we can expect businesses to be on board as well. Given enjoyment’s proven ability to make learning more effective, you can rest assured that organizations will be eager to inject VR training with all manner of fanciful, gamified fun. And I, for one, can’t wait.

Guest Post

About the Guest Author(s)

Frankie Cavanagh

Frankie is a visionary leader, an innovative technologist, and a game-changer in the world of virtual reality and learning. His background in teaching, combined with his passion for game design and XR technology and his skills as an artist, designer, and coder, gives him a unique ability to create immersive and engaging experiences that revolutionize how businesses train and develop their workforce.

Why Your Next Workplace Training Session Might Be in the Belly of a Volcano Read More »

What Roles Does VR Training Play in the Growing Job Market

Education & Training, featured, training, virtual reality / Rejus Almole / April 26, 2023

Is VR training going to be a necessity for businesses today? With the job boom early this year, it appears to be so.

2023 started off well for the job market. Based on the job market report in January 2023, the total nonfarm payroll employment skyrocketed to 517,000, way above the Dow Jones estimate of 187,000 and December’s 260,000 gain. As of March 2023, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics also reports that the unemployment rate still remains stable at 3.5% with widespread job growth, especially in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, and healthcare.

While one report is not indicative of a trend, job growth, and low unemployment rates are positive indicators of a strong market. To keep up with this growth, businesses must implement solutions that streamline recruitment processes and facilitate faster onboarding.

According to David Chen, CTO and co-founder of a company that makes 3D cameras and depth sensors, Orbbec, VR training is going to be critical to the continued growth of the job market. We talked to him about the role VR training will play in the growing job market and how businesses can leverage this technology to their advantage.

The Role of VR Training in the Growing Job Market

VR training has gained popularity in the business world due to its ability to help new employees acquire skills quickly and efficiently. According to Chen, traditional training methods can be complex with multi-step operations, which are harder to remember and even dangerous in certain industries.

However, VR enables hands-on experiences that are safe and engaging. “VR enables hands-on experiences that risk neither raw materials, equipment nor personnel. Headsets and projectors give trainees real, immersive guidance on what to do, and what not to do,” Chen told us in a written interview. “Unexpected scenarios can be posed at will and because there is no incremental cost for repetition, skills are learned faster.”

In fact, a PwC study found that employee training can be up to four times faster when using VR courses rather than traditional classroom training. What takes two hours in a classroom setting can be learned within 30 minutes using VR.

Chen continues that compared to other emerging training technologies such as augmented reality and gamification, VR training provides a more holistic experience that combines hard and soft skills training. AR training may be more suitable for businesses looking to perform micro-training, focusing on one definable concept, idea, skill, object, or process. On the other hand, VR training puts trainees in a completely digital world, allowing for less repercussion in the physical space while learning a new task.

Honeywell, for instance, has been using VR training for years to train plant operators and field technicians. Its VR training simulator, the Immersive Field Simulator, generated skills retention that is twice as high as previous training methods, leading to a more engaging training program for younger generations of workers. Last year, the simulator was enhanced with new capabilities to meet a broader spectrum of training and development requirements.

Bank of America also launched a VR training program in 2021 to simulate client interactions and practice routine tasks. The pilot program reported that 97% of the employees who went through the simulations felt more comfortable performing their tasks afterward. Now, the VR program is being used by around 50,000 employees in nearly 4,300 financial centers across the country.

These and more examples show that VR training is proving to be a valuable tool in helping businesses train new employees quickly and efficiently while minimizing risk and increasing skills retention.

Challenges Businesses Face in Implementing VR Training

Implementing VR training in businesses is not without its challenges. According to Chen, content creation is one of the primary challenges businesses face when implementing the technology. “Some scenes can be very difficult to recreate in the virtual realm and not everything can be operated with a VR headset controller,” he explained.

Upfront costs can be another obstacle that business leaders have to overcome. One study by PwC shows that VR content initially requires up to 48% greater investment than classroom or e-learning courses.

To address the challenges businesses face when implementing VR training, Chen suggests that businesses consider the long-term benefits of the technology. They should also be aware of the advancements in VR technology, which have made it more affordable than before. By doing so, businesses can improve their training processes, save time and resources, and achieve a higher ROI.

How Businesses Can Implement VR Training

To successfully implement VR training, businesses should consider starting with a pilot program and selecting a platform with features tailored to their specific needs. “Testing VR training in small batches can help determine what jobs can best be improved upon with the use of VR and how these programs may need to be adjusted to fit participants’ specific needs,” Chen said.

As a 3D camera manufacturer, Orbbec offers necessary solutions that support VR training programs.

3D camera technology helps capture the real environment and quickly transfer it into VR content, providing a more realistic training experience without the need for a controller. By using solutions like this, companies can optimize their training processes and provide their employees with a more effective and engaging learning experience.

Indeed, the future of VR training looks promising, with new applications and use cases that are expected to emerge in various industries and continued advancements in processing power, rendering engines, and display technologies.

What Roles Does VR Training Play in the Growing Job Market Read More »

AR and VR Content Creation Platform Fectar Integrates Ultraleap Hand Tracking

augmented reality, content creation, featured, hand tracking, News, Software, training, virtual reality / Rejus Almole / April 4, 2023

For the Fectar AR and VR content creation platform users, creating XR content with hand tracking feature has just become simpler and easier.

Launched in 2020, Fectar is “the multi-sided platform that makes the metaverse accessible for everyone, everywhere.” Focused on creating AR and VR spaces for education, training, onboarding, events, and more, and aimed at non-technical users, the company provides a cross-platform, no-code AR/VR building tool.

Last week, Fectar integrated the Ultraleap hand tracking feature within its AR and VR content creation platform, allowing users to build VR training experiences with hand tracking from the beginning.

AR and VR Content Creation With Integrated Ultraleap Hand Tracking

Ultraleap was founded in 2019 when Leap Motion was acquired by Ultrahaptics, and the two companies were rebranded under the new name. Ultraleap’s hand tracking and mid-air haptic technologies allow XR users to engage with the digital world naturally – with their hands, and without touchscreens, keypads, and controllers.

Thanks to the Ultraleap feature, Fectar’s users will now be able to create and share immersive VR experiences that use hands, rather than VR controllers. According to Ultraleap, this makes the interaction more intuitive, positively impacts the training outcomes, reduces the effort of adoption, and makes the experiences more accessible.

Non-Technical People Can Develop Immersive Experiences

The new addition to the AR and VR content creation platform is a strategic decision for Fectar. The company’s target clients are non-technical content creators. They don’t need to know how to code to create VR apps and tools, including training programs.

This is, in fact, one of the most frequent use cases of the Fectar AR and VR content creation platform. “We want our customers to be able to create world-class VR training experiences,” said Fectar CTO and founder, Rens Lensvelt, in a press release. “By introducing Ultraleap hand tracking to our platform we’re giving them an opportunity to level up their programs by adding an intuitive interaction method.”

VR Programs and Tools – the Future of Collaborative Work and Training

Virtual reality content has expanded beyond the field of games or applications for entertainment. VR is part of education and training, medicine, business, banking, and, actually, any kind of work.

This is why an AR and VR content creation platform for non-technical users, like Fectar, is so successful. Companies worldwide want to create their own training and collaborative VR tools, without hiring developers.

“The combination of Ultraleap and Fectar provides people with the right tools they need to develop the best education or training programs – and makes it easy to do so. We already know that enterprise VR programs improve productivity by 32%,” said Matt Tullis, Ultraleap VP of XR. “By making that experience even more natural with hand tracking, Fectar customers can expect to see their VR training ROI increase even further.”

AR and VR Content Creation Platform Fectar Integrates Ultraleap Hand Tracking Read More »

Talespin and Pearson Usher in the Future of Work With Ambitious Storyworld

Education & Training, Enterprise, Enterprise VR, featured, learning, talespin, training / Rejus Almole / March 14, 2023

Talespin is known for using VR in enterprise education – particularly for developing soft skills. Pearson, “the world’s leading learning company,” identified a need – specifically, helping business leaders understand the emerging future of work. Together, the two companies created an elaborate “storyworld” guiding learners through over 30 interactive education modules.

To learn more about “Where’d Everybody Go? The Business Leader’s Guide to the Decentralized Workforce,” we talked with Talespin CEO Kyle Jackson.

The World is Changing

The decentralized workforce is one of those trends that has, to a degree, always been there. With improving connectivity and ever-more portable hardware combined with an increase in the number of “knowledge workers” it’s been growing for a while now. The pandemic accelerated it as businesses that had remained centralized suddenly saw their workforce distributed.

Many workers like the opportunity to work largely when and where they like. Developments in culture and technology generally are making it more appealing and more practical, for example, with new approaches to financial technologies that encourage and facilitate independence – a sort of technologically driven take on rugged individualism.

Some companies have leaned into this massive shift as it can reduce overhead and even increase productivity as well as morale. However, some business leaders have been less able to really attach themselves to the idea which at the same time is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid.

“What we’ve broadly seen in the XR space is lots of single-module learning journeys,” said Jackson. “People just couldn’t do that with this topic.”

Where’d Everybody Go?

To address these challenges, Pearson – with AI analytics company Faethm, which Pearson acquired in 2021 – put together a list of “future human capabilities” that would be required to navigate this new direction in work. Working with Talespin helped to determine the direction of the project early on.

“We looked at that list and overlaid this concept of just how fast work is changing,” said Jackson. “Everybody is leaving jobs and no one can hire anybody – so where did everybody go?”

The experience currently consists of over 30 modules in four thematic tracks:

Applying Web3 to Business Strategy and Operations
Management and Upskilling
Equity and Values of the Modern Workforce
Practical Thinking.

There is also an introductory track, which helps learners choose the content that they’re going to work through. The whole experience might take a learner around seven hours to complete, but they don’t need to do it all at once. They don’t even need to do all of it.

“In that intro track you get a kind of choose-your-own-adventure overview,” said Jackson. “If you want to have your leadership team take just one of the tracks, that’s perfectly fine.”

Pearson and Talespin

The “choose-your-own-adventure” aspect comes in through the complex “storyworld” through which the content is delivered. Learners are essentially playing an interactive roleplaying game that helps them practice the topics of each track.

“Learners take on the protagonist’s role of a city commissioner,” reads a release shared with ARPost. “The learner must help local startups and enterprises navigate challenges that real-world businesses face today, like leading hybrid workforces, exploring the adoption of new technology, and instilling equitable workplace practices.”

The experience drew from the expertise and insights of both Pearson and Talespin, who worked closely to create the tracks and modules.

“It’s been very collaborative. Both teams have been in the trenches as a single team,” said Jackson. “We’re definitely more than just the platform in this case where in other cases we’re just the platform and the company is on their own.”

Creating the Experience

The level of involvement from Pearson was no doubt partially enabled by Talespin’s use of their own user-friendly creation tools. These also helped to allow the incredible speed with which the momentous project was realized.

“The idea formed in the middle of last year. Because we built a no-code platform, we really accelerated the product pipeline,” said Jackson. “Our North Star was how do you get the ability to create content into the hands of people who have the knowledge. … The no-code platform was built in service of that but we decided that we had to eat our own dog food.”

Jackson said that for the back-end team that were masters of their previous toolset, using the no-code version was initially frustrating. However, the platform played a large role in launching the experience, which has become a model for future long-form content from Talespin.

“This is the first of several of these that we have coming,” said Jackson. “Even though it’s a new concept to do a storyworld for an immersive learning experience, we’ve had a lot of interest.”

Demystifying Decentralization

Thanks to Talespin, virtual reality – one of the technologies playing a role in the decentralization of work – is helping companies navigate the future of work. This is a big moment for work as we know it, but it’s also a big deal for Talespin, who may have once again revolutionized immersive storytelling as an enterprise education tool.

Talespin and Pearson Usher in the Future of Work With Ambitious Storyworld Read More »

Moth+Flame Launches AI-Powered VR Authoring Tool for Custom Enterprise VR Training Content Creation

business, Education & Training, Enterprise, featured, training, virtual reality / Mike M. / February 1, 2023

A new VR authoring tool can potentially accelerate enterprise VR adoption this year. Invesco, a global investment firm, recently launched a virtual reality training experience they custom built using the new Moth+Flame’s VR authoring tool. Taking only 72 hours to develop, this custom VR training gives us a glimpse of the vast potential the new VR tool offers.

Moth+Flame VR Authoring Tool Addresses Challenges in VR Content Creation

In one of the most recent PwC surveys of PwC, 51% of companies have built VR into at least one specific line of business or are in the process of integrating VR into their processes. Many companies also see the benefits of VR as an effective way to develop and train people.

While the adoption of VR in enterprises is steadily increasing, enterprises face several challenges that hamper VR integration. Among these are the long development time and the level of expertise needed to create VR content.

Moth+Flame, a VR technology platform that specializes in enterprise-grade immersive learning solutions, addresses some of these challenges to accelerate the adoption of VR.

Ushering a year of great leaps in tech development, Moth+Flame launched a new VR authoring tool that leverages generative artificial intelligence. The new tool allows users to build custom VR content faster and easier. It empowers metaverse content creators and enterprise users to fast-track the development and adoption of VR across industries.

Empowering Novice Users to Create Immersive VR Content

Built on an advanced AI-driven platform, the VR authoring tool generates immersive training content that feels hyper-realistic and engaging. Voice-activated features prompt users to speak to navigate the training scenario. The interactive and immersive experience enhances training as it reinforces learning objectives and improves knowledge retention.

With its user-friendly interface, the platform can be used for VR content creation even by novice users with little or no technical expertise. Drag-and-drop editors and 3D asset libraries help users create high-quality immersive experiences. Multi-user support allows collaboration within teams and among learning and development departments. All these features enable enterprises to revamp existing training or create new ones that are more engaging and effective.

Invesco Uses Moth+Flame VR Authoring Tool to Build VR Training

The Moth+Flame VR authoring tool is still in its beta phase, but it has already shown how it can revolutionize VR use at the enterprise level. Invesco, the first early-access user to bring this technology to workforce development, has shown the benefits the tool brings to enterprise training.

Last week, Invesco launched their new VR training that was built using the Moth+Flame authoring tool. While the average development time for a VR training program is around eight to ten weeks, Invesco was able to build theirs in just 72 hours. Moreover, they were able to create VR content tailored to their specific requirements.

The new VR training is designed to help the Invesco sales team in handling customer complaints and concerns. Sales representatives use VR headsets to practice conversations with customers in realistic simulated scenarios. By adopting the Moth+Flame authoring tool, Invesco can generate other immersive training experiences across their enterprise.

“The biggest challenge for all education is the scale of content creation. So much enterprise training is limited to low-scoring e-learning products because of scale limitations,” said Kevin Cornish, CEO of Moth+Flame. “So much enterprise training is limited to low-scoring e-learning products because of scale limitations. With this tool, enterprises will be able to scale their content creation across all use cases in virtual reality, the most effective training modality available.”

Paving the Way for Rapid Adoption of VR in Enterprises

Invesco, along with other global brands, is now implementing VR training to maximize efficiency in the workplace. With the new VR authoring tool from Moth+Flame, enterprises gain access to advanced technology that empowers them to create immersive VR training. They can easily create VR content and deploy them to their workforce on iOS or VR headsets. With solutions like this authoring tool, we can expect the rapid adoption of VR at the enterprise level across industries.

Moth+Flame Launches AI-Powered VR Authoring Tool for Custom Enterprise VR Training Content Creation Read More »