The metaverse, formerly the domain of consumer hype, is becoming a pragmatic reality — especially in enterprise training and upskilling. Businesses are taking advantage of these immersive 3D worlds for more specialized solutions tailored to their industries. User safety, data privacy, content moderation, and liability issues should all be carefully considered in these new virtual environments, experts stress. As the enterprise metaverse continues to evolve, it creates opportunities and challenges for businesses that are looking for innovative training solutions.

He has been a steadfast advocate for prioritizing data privacy and security above all else. Lee points out that these platforms are processing a lot of highly sensitive data—from their performance metrics all the way to potential biometric data.

"The platforms are going to be handling sensitive data, anything from performance metrics to biometric data," - Lee

Content moderation becomes even more important in professional spaces. Lee observes that though global AI regulation isn’t specifically targeted at the metaverse, it certainly relates in terms of privacy and bias concerns.

Liability concerns need to be addressed if it is found that given training was inadequate or misleading, Lee explains. He advises picking one or two hard-nosed readers to go line by line through the terms and conditions of any enterprise metaverse vendor.

"Companies and users are going to have to be dialed in on the liability issues if the training were to be deemed insufficient or misleading," - Lee

Neil Sahota, CEO of ACSI Labs, creates virtual worlds for companies. For one core government client, ACSI Labs provided the field experience of three years in 18 in-game hours. Other innovative applications of the metaverse include upskilling and scenario planning.

First responders, such as police officers, may need to be trained on managing mental health crises or fentanyl-related overdoses, which could be done using metaverse technology. Surgical training in VR led to performance up to three times greater than industry norm. Osso VR is one other firm creating VR modules for health technological know-how.

AI tools unleash creativity by removing friction in the asset creation process within these metaverse platforms. A federal, or even state-level, moratorium on AI regulation seems likely in the U.S.

Sahota explains the benefits of the metaverse for training, where users can experiment and learn from mistakes in a safe environment.

"They start realizing that I can try more risky things, and see what happens," - Sahota

In addition to the interactivity, he discussed the difference between learning on a screen in a classroom and immersing in the experience through a virtual world.

"While you might hear about it or read about it in the classroom setting, it's very different when it's happening in real life," - Sahota

As Lee warns, often the skills learned with simulations need to be critically reflected upon when put into real-world practice.

"While these are simulations that are powerful for learning, direct transfer of the learned skills to real world situations requires critical reflection," - Lee

As Ilan Guttman at Pivotal pointed out, poor training has real-world consequences when training is wrong.

"You're going to have potential for a real-world error if the training itself was inaccurate," - Lee

Sahota posed critical questions around whether metaverse simulations would be reliable in extreme conditions.

"How would this perform on a Boeing 777 at 80,000 feet? What happens if the engine is in an electrical storm?" - Sahota