Deepfakes are increasingly dominating discussions since the explosion of TikTok and the metaverse. In light of this, Korea IT Times sat down with Tom Graham, Founder and CEO of Metaphysic, a company that develops artificial intelligence for hyperreal virtual experiences in the metaverse.
Metaphysic, the company behind the viral Tom Cruise deepfake, recently announced a $7.5 million raise from leading tech investors and creators, including Winklevoss Capital, Logan Paul, Section 32, 8VC, and TO Ventures. The company has also worked with Gillette (P&G) to recreate the excitement of Deion Sanders’ iconic 1989 draft day outfit.
The following is an interview with Tom Graham, the developers of EveryAnyone, a Web3 platform and community dedicated to creating a hyperreal metaverse owned and controlled by users.
As discussions around the metaverse heat up, why is hyperreal content the next necessary step in bringing the metaverse into the mainstream?
We believe hyperreal content is the necessary next step in bringing metaverse content mainstream for several reasons. One is how hyperreal content unlocks a new age of authentic, immersive virtual experiences where you participate as an avatar that looks exactly like you do in the physical world. Many regular people don’t want to interact in the metaverse via stylised avatars or cartoonified versions of themselves. We believe to bring billions of people into the metaverse, hyperreality will be essential to help them feel comfortable and connected across different services and experiences.
Hyperreality also enables metaverse users to replicate themselves without having to endlessly tinker and model an approximate, but hardly ever convincing, version of themselves like we see in many role playing video games. By securely using your personal data, AI models can render us in virtual spaces seamlessly, while also allowing users to modify their hyperreal avatars creatively or in different metaverse contexts.
How is Metaphysic leading the way in using synthetic media to connect influencers, the entertainment industry and brands with their audiences in novel ways through AI?
Metaphysic is the leading company working on AI and hyperreal synthetic content, and our technology is the foundation of Every Anyone, a web3 platform that lets anyone create their own hyperreal avatar using AI and their own data. We work with a wide variety of organisations, including leading brands and advertising agencies, artists, and entertainment studios to help them harness synthetic media to delight audiences and create innovative content. As more of society has started to realise the technology’s immense potential when used ethically and responsibly, we have been pioneers at showing how this potential can be realised and as a result we are contacted daily by organisations and businesses from all sectors and global backgrounds.
Can you tell me about Metaphysic’s journey to date, and what’s in store over the next few months?
Chris Ume, Co-founder of Metaphysic and the leading hyperreal synthetic artist in the world, created the viral DeepTomCruise character on TikTok that gave the world a first glimpse of what hyperreal synthetic media can do. Synthetic media had been on my radar for a while as an incredibly powerful technology that could push the metaverse forward. So when I saw Chris’ work it immediately made sense to build Metaphysic and realise the future of hyperreal content together.
We’ve been inundated with requests for our work at Metaphysic since we started and raised a seed funding round late in 2021, led by incredible investors such as Bill Maris of Section 32, Winklevoss Capital and many others. With the launch of Every Anyone, we’re also leading the way for an ethical hyperreal metaverse that scales to billions of people that will be able to generate their own hyperrealistic avatars and secure their biometric data. We’ll have lots more to share around Every Anyone and our signature NFT drop in the coming weeks- watch this space.
