Spatial AI Takes Center Stage at AI4: The Next Frontier in 3D Intelligence
By MedRise News Staff
At the AI4 conference, Ryan Wang—Founding Partner at Outpost Capital and GP at Solaris Venture Partners—unveiled a deep dive into Spatial AI, calling it “the new frontier where AI meets 3D.” His session, “Spatial AI: A New Frontier – The Industry Landscape & Investment Thesis,” mapped out a rapidly emerging sector poised to transform robotics, gaming, and immersive computing.
What is Spatial AI?
Spatial AI sits at the intersection of artificial intelligence and 3D spatial computing. Unlike traditional AI systems that process 2D data, Spatial AI is designed to natively understand and interact with three-dimensional environments.
According to Wang, Spatial AI takes 3D data as its default input, produces 3D output without translation into 2D or text, and applies spatial reasoning to interpret real-world space and relationships—similar to how humans process their surroundings.
The First Industry Map for Spatial AI
In a landmark reveal, Wang presented what he called the world’s first industry map for Spatial AI, categorizing companies into sectors such as:
Interactions & Manipulation – Robotic perception, control, and brain-computer interfaces.
Media & Entertainment – Animation, virtual beings, co-presence, and immersive games.
Developer Tools – AI assistants, game engines, and AR/VR spatial interfaces.
Foundational 3D Models – Generative 3D, world simulations, and foundational AI labs.
Data & Simulation – Synthetic data and digital twins fueling AI training.
Notable players span from NVIDIA, Apple, Google, and Meta to startups working on brain-computer interfaces, generative 3D asset creation, and real-time spatial sensing.
Ecosystem Enablers
Wang outlined three critical enablers driving this sector’s growth:
Infrastructure – High-performance compute for large-scale spatial simulations, with NVIDIA’s Omniverse platform leading the charge.
Big Tech – Meta and xAI investing heavily into spatial computing foundations.
Enterprise Data – A surge in synthetic spatial data enabling richer AI training environments.
These elements feed into the “Spatial AI Engine,” an interconnected ecosystem that depends on advancements across hardware, software, and simulation.
Why It Matters
Spatial AI has implications far beyond gaming or robotics—it could redefine how machines perceive, navigate, and collaborate in the physical world. From autonomous drones to industrial digital twins, the ability for AI to natively understand and operate in 3D space unlocks possibilities in manufacturing, logistics, telepresence, and healthcare simulation.
The investment landscape is heating up, and those who position themselves early in Spatial AI’s infrastructure and tooling could shape the foundations of a trillion-dollar industry.
