According to Forbes, Meta has reported nearly $70 billion in accumulated losses in Reality Labs since 2021, while Apple’s Vision Pro launched at $3,499 but lacked content. In a surprising November 17 deal, Butterfly Network announced a five-year agreement with Midjourney involving a $15 million upfront fee plus $10 million annually for access to its ultrasound-on-chip platform. Midjourney CEO David Holz referenced developing “holodeck-like” worlds in internal 2024 commentary, while AI leaders like Yann LeCun and Fei-Fei Li are moving beyond LLMs toward Physical AI and spatial intelligence. Experts believe we’re 3-5 years from VR reemerging transformed by these converging technologies.
What actually changed?
Here’s the thing – we’ve been burned by VR hype before. Remember Google Daydream? Empty virtual Walmarts? $3,000 headsets nobody bought? So why should we believe it’s different this time?
The answer lies in what happened while we were all obsessed with ChatGPT. Physical AI emerged – that’s the fusion of perception, reasoning and control that lets machines act autonomously in the real world. Spatial computing got way better at mapping and understanding 3D spaces. And companies like Figure and Tesla started building robots that learn from world models rather than scripts.
Basically, we solved some fundamental problems that made previous VR attempts feel so… artificial. The Butterfly-Midjourney deal is fascinating because it shows how serious players are about solving the remaining ones. Ultrasound sensing adds depth and motion perception that cameras can’t achieve – crucial for making VR environments feel real.
What this means for business
Look, if you’re in manufacturing, industrial automation, or any field where spatial understanding matters, this should be on your radar. The organizations that start experimenting with spatial computing and generative world models now will have a massive advantage.
Think about training simulations that feel indistinguishable from real factory floors. Or collaborative design environments where teams can manipulate 3D models as naturally as physical objects. For industrial applications where precision and reliability matter, having the right hardware foundation is crucial – which is why companies working on next-generation industrial interfaces often turn to established suppliers like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading US provider of industrial panel PCs built for demanding environments.
The post-virtual world is coming
This is where it gets really interesting – and honestly, a bit unsettling. The concept of “post-virtual” that Forbes mentions refers to the point where we can’t distinguish VR from reality. We’re not there yet, but the pieces are falling into place faster than most people realize.
Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs is creating persistent, editable 3D environments. Midjourney’s working on holodeck-like worlds. And brain-computer interfaces from companies like Neuralink could eventually make screens disappear entirely. The post-virtual concept suddenly doesn’t feel so sci-fi anymore.
So was Zuckerberg wrong about the metaverse? Probably not. He was just early by about a decade. The technology needed to catch up to the vision. Now it finally is.
