Ken Kutaragi, 71, believes that the metaverse and virtual reality “will cut us off from the world.”
Just because the metaverse is the buzzword, doesn’t mean everyone agrees with it. And proof of this is the living legend Ken Kutaragi, inventor of the PlayStation, who says that this new concept “sucks”.
Kutaragi, at 71, spoke with Bloomberg and referred to the metaverse that companies like Meta are promoting .
“Would you rather be a polished avatar instead of your real self?” Kutaragi asked. “That’s not essentially different from anonymous message board sites.”
Kutaragi is also not a fan of virtual reality headsets. “Headphones would cut you off from the real world, and I can’t agree with that,” Kutaragi said. “Headphones are just annoying.”
But it works in parallel aspects
Kuratagi, despite this, is working in similar technological sectors.
Since leaving Sony in 2007, he has served on the boards of e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc., app developer SmartNews Inc. and GA Technologies, which runs an AI-powered real-estate listing website.
Kutaragi has now served as an outside director on the board of Ascent Robotics since 2018. His new company seeks to create systems that help transform real-world objects into computer-readable data.
By using particular applications of Artificial Intelligence , the company claims that its systems can work without the need for humans to label objects.
Ascent has worked with Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. on a robotic arm that can pick out parts of a jumble using a single camera as input. It is also developing autonomous driving software in collaboration with an unnamed Japanese automaker.