Inside ambitious plan to build the Matrix by 'cloning the world' in a video game

dailystar.co.uk:

Pokémon, is being used to create 'digital twins' (virtual replicas) of everything from rollercoasters to entire cities.This is so tech companies can create realistic simulations to test new products and even teach artificial intelligence to handle real-world scenarios more effectively.But now, according to exec David Rhodes, Unity wants to go one step further and build a "digital twin of the world".WIRED reports that Unity is using its engine to create realistic virtual humans, known as NPCs (non-player characters).

These NPCs can be used to test everything from the safety of rollercoasters to real-world traffic scenarios for a self-driving car—without anybody getting hurt.Danny Lange, Unity's senior vice president of AI, said: "In a synthetic world, you can basically recreate a world that is better than the real world for training systems.

And I can create many more scenarios with that data in unity."This could, for example, help make fully self-driving cars a reality someday.

Currently, companies like Tesla and Lyft are training their vehicle AIs by driving around real roads, but this has led to a number of accidents as the AI is still learning how to behave.