Web 3.0

Extended from original post on LinkedIn.

In the past years we heard a lot about Web3, what happened to it?
My opinion is that we dumped it and jumped straight into Web4, while building towards Web5.\

Web3 was the promise of the decentralized web, which became mixed up with the Metaverse.
There were clashing movements; ones who saw a whole new web, fully based on blockchain tech; others who saw decentralization and immersion as something that could progressively sprout out of the existing Web2.5.

But hold on there, Web2.5?
If you haven’t followed the terms, we’ve been through Web1.0, Web2.0 and Web2.5.
Though there’s some debate and disagreements about it, I see it as:

• Web 1.0: the Static Web, where content was mostly static (html), and users mostly acted as content readers.
• Web 2.0: the Dynamic Web, where content is dynamically created by users, and heavily marked by Social Networks.
• Web 2.5: the Ubiquitous Web, not technically different from the Dynamic Web - but heavily influenced by Mobile platforms that allowed content to be streamed and generated from anywhere.

Despite the interesting features of the blockchain tech, there were unfortunately many bad actors that poisoned the Web3 vision before we even got there.
Web3 became infamously related to crypto, scams and money laundering. That’s why many people and companies jumped off (recall the FTX collapse).

Luckily, we moved on when AI boomed with ChatGPT in 2022.
Needless to tell the whole story - we are now on what I call Web 4.0, or The AI Web, which extends Web 2.5 with AI-generated content.
As with social media - there’s good things and bad things about it. That’s also a story for some other post.

People are still figuring out how to use AI for personal use, and how to develop and monetize AI products - just like they did when social networks boomed. What is clear is that there’s a lot of value in it and it’s here to stay.

What about Web 5.0?
Remember the Metaverse?
That’s what I call the Immersive Web.
We’re still building it. May be Web 5, 6, 7, who knows. It may turn into something else.
We thought we were there, back in 2022, but then learned that properly monetizing AI-driven characters in a virtual environment (beyond games) was a bit more challenging than just putting a face into “ChatGPTs".

Throughout my career, I’ve been creating AI characters, both virtual and robotic. The challenge of delivering AI-driven virtual characters vs. chat agents reminds me of delivering social robots vs. a phone/device that can run social apps using a mic, a camera and an app store.
How does the embodiment add value?
User Experience is key to successful AI products.
And reality is that not every AI or robot product really needs a face or a social embodiment.

If you’re working on Web4 or Web5 or any other Embodied User Experience products and would like my advice, please reach out!