Microsoft, earlier this week, despatched an inner message to choose staff members notifying them that it was flattening the shutters on its Airsim venture. This industrial metaverse venture was making ready to use AI-based drone simulation software program to be a part of its industrial metaverse imaginative and prescient. As per Microsoft’s weblog revealed in February 2023, the idea of commercial metaverse is to change the way in which that individuals and machines collaborate with one another. The know-how, as soon as matured, would have the opportunity to assist industrial gamers resolve issues proactively and effectively with a twist of Web3.
This venture from the software program large was to convey collectively metaverse and AI. After Microsoft determined to shut the initiative, it knowledgeable the staff working on the venture that they have been being laid off, stated a report by Business Insider. It, nevertheless, stays unclear how many individuals have been fired in complete.
“We are proud of the impact this incubation created for our customers and we will continue to invest in both Azure as the computing platform that powers the industrial metaverse, and a wide range of AI projects within the company,” the report quoted a Microsoft spokesperson as commenting on the development.
In addition to Airsim, Microsoft has recently pulled support from the Bonsai project, that was aimed at building autonomous systems for industrial use using AI. Both Airsim and Bonsai together, were part of Microsoft’s industrial metaverse initiative. While Airsim was initiated in 2017, Bonsai was an independent platform that was acquired by Microsoft in 2018.
Microsoft originally saw these projects as means to help industrial app developers push Microsoft’s Azure cloud services to compete with the Amazon Web Services. The programmers were under the oversight of Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Kevin Scott, who also is responsible for Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI.
After Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI started to elevate, Scott reportedly decided to shift his focus from industrial metaverse to AI for now. This, however, is not the first time that Microsoft has shut down initiatives related to the development of industrial metaverse.
Back in February, Microsoft pulled down the curtains on another such programme and laid off a team of 100 people at the time. The company had said that time that it was looking to favour short-term projects that could generate more revenue quicker.
