GeniVerse Starts Work on Inclusive and Adaptive Virtual Worlds

ATB has joined the new Horizon Europe project GeniVerse – Generative AI for Inclusive and Immersive Virtual Worlds. The project will develop a new generation of virtual environments that can adapt to users’ abilities, preferences and current situations.

Virtual worlds are becoming increasingly relevant for education, industrial training, distributed collaboration and social participation. Yet many existing environments remain difficult to use for people facing physical or cognitive barriers. Limited multilingual and sign-language support, sensory overload and concerns about privacy or safety can further restrict participation.

GeniVerse addresses these challenges by combining generative artificial intelligence, extended reality and resource-efficient AI running on edge devices. The project has an overall budget of approximately €5 million and is funded by the European Union under Horizon Europe through Grant Agreement No. 101296631.

From static environments to responsive virtual worlds

GeniVerse aims to transform virtual worlds from largely predefined environments into dynamic, co-creative spaces. Generative AI will support the real-time creation and adaptation of 3D content, narratives and user interactions. Intelligent avatars will provide personalised assistance and support functions such as multilingual communication, sentiment recognition and sign-language interpretation.

An important part of the approach is the use of lightweight AI models on edge devices. Processing suitable functions locally can reduce latency and reliance on cloud services while strengthening privacy and data sovereignty. The project will also address compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation and the EU AI Act.

The resulting environments are intended to adapt their interfaces, content and level of assistance according to individual accessibility needs, emotional states and changing usage situations. GeniVerse therefore focuses not only on immersion, but also on inclusion, trustworthiness and practical usability.

ATB contributes context-aware adaptation

ATB contributes its expertise in context-aware and interoperable software systems. Its work will support the collection, modelling and interpretation of contextual information within the GeniVerse platform.

Depending on the application, context can include information about the user, the current activity, previous interactions, the available device and the surrounding virtual or physical environment. Interpreting this information enables the system to determine whether an adaptation is needed and which response is appropriate.

For example, a virtual environment could simplify its interface, adjust the presentation of content, offer assistance at a suitable moment or modify an interaction according to accessibility requirements. ATB will help integrate these context-awareness capabilities with the other AI, XR and platform components developed by the consortium.

The objective is to enable continuous and transparent adaptation rather than one-time personalisation. The resulting mechanisms must remain technically interoperable, understandable to users and compatible with European requirements for trustworthy AI and data protection.

Validation in four pilot areas

The GeniVerse technologies will be evaluated in four complementary pilot settings:

• Education, with adaptive learning environments for neurodiverse, multilingual and remote learners.
• Industry, focusing on workforce onboarding, training, task guidance and cooperation between distributed teams.
• Active ageing, using supportive environments and companion avatars to foster digital participation and social well-being.
• Cross-sectoral co-creation, connecting students, industrial workers and older adults in shared spaces for learning, mentoring and the creation of reusable XR content.

These pilots will allow the consortium to assess the technologies with different user groups and under realistic conditions. The findings will help determine how context-aware generative AI can make virtual worlds more inclusive, useful and responsive.

By participating in GeniVerse, ATB continues its research on human-centred AI, context-sensitive systems and extended-reality applications. The project provides an opportunity to transfer this expertise into a European virtual-world platform designed around the diversity of its users.

Further information: GeniVerse project website and CORDIS project record.