Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt Is Skeptical About the Metaverse Concept

Eric Schmidt, who was CEO of Google, has declared that there is confusion about the concept of the metaverse and what it means for people. Schmidt stated that, even with a company like the former Facebook pivoting its operations to occupy the metaverse market, there is still not a clear definition of the concept and how it will affect people’s lives.

While there has been a considerable number of companies and firms that are already putting funds into and betting on the growth of the concept of the metaverse, not everyone is so convinced about the subject. Eric Schmidt, an entrepreneur that was formerly CEO of tech giant Google from 2001 to 2011, is in this latter group. Schmidt has expressed a degree of skepticism when it comes to the importance and adoption that this new tech may take on in the future.

This week, at an event in Colorado, Schmidt expressed his thoughts about the metaverse. He declared:

There’s not an agreement on what the metaverse is, even though one company has changed its name in anticipation of defining it.

Schmidt was ostensibly referencing the step that Meta, formerly known as Facebook, took while pivoting to include metaverse tech as one of the pillars of its operation. Last year, the entrepreneur also took another dig at Facebook, stating that he didn’t think Meta would be the company to shape the metaverse, even if the form it will take is yet undetermined.

However, companies and even countries are already very invested in the metaverse, a technology that is currently associated with VR and AR (augmented reality) technologies, and apps that use them. One of the first countries that has considered the metaverse as a key tech for the future is South Korea, which announced in May it would allocate $177 million directly to metaverse platforms, with the idea of kickstarting national companies with an interest in the technology.

Real estate in the metaverse has also been considered a controversial subject by Schmidt. On the issue, he stated:

I’m not worried about buying large swaths of private real estate in the metaverse myself. It’s not a concern I have every day.

However, according to Metametric Solutions, a metaverse analytics company, sales of real estate properties in the metaverse are expected to reach $1 billion this year.

What do you think of the opinion of Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt on the metaverse? Tell us in the comments section below.