The embodied internet, the metaverse, the Tron system; however you want to describe this idea of "cyberspace" – first conceptualized by author William Gibson in the 1980s – these virtual worlds haven never truly materialized. When the COVID-19 pandemic locked us up indoors, Mark Zuckerberg thought it was the moment to go all-in on the idea.

Virtually joining the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas, the Facebook founder outlined the dramatic pivot his company had made in October the previous year.

Describing the "metaverse", as he coined it, as the next chapter of the internet seemed intriguing if for a moment, with Zuckerberg adding the company's renewed goal was to "help buil the fundamental tech to bring the metaverse to life".

At the time, this centered around clunky VR headsets, Miiverse-style legless avatars and a Second Life-esque virtual world that we'd all plug into, whether that's during our work lives or social lives.

Despite the bold bet, there were plenty of warning signs that the longevity of the metaverse as a concept would be short-lived, at most, given the pandemic renewed the desire of many millions of people to reconnect with the physical world.

The fate of the metaverse is, by now, well established. It's dead – sort of anyway – with support for Horizon Worlds hanging by a thread.

After investing tens of billions of dollars into its metaverse division from 2020, funding has been withdrawn to the tune of up to 30% in 2026.

The company is now planning to invest more than $100 billion dollars on the AI buildout – with the company raising its capital expenditure forecast to a range of between $125-145 billion. As to whether there is a future for the metaverse, that all depends on how the next phase of the AI buildout shapes up, according to company executives.

Keumars Afifi-Sabet is a freelance contributor for Tech Radar and the Technology Editor for Live Science. He has written for a variety of publications including ITPro, The Week Digital and ComputerActive. He has worked as a technology journalist for more than five years, having previously held the role of features editor with ITPro. In his previous role, he oversaw the commissioning and publishing of long form in areas including AI, cyber security, cloud computing and digital transformation.