Who Owns Your World? XR Women Learning Circle Recap

On September 30, 2026, the XR Women community gathered for a Learning Circle focused on a question becoming increasingly important for creators working across AI, XR, and spatial environments:

When you build inside someone else’s platform, what do you actually control, and what can you take with you?

Hosted with guest speakers, the conversation explored creator agency, AI governance, platform durability, privacy, consent, and accountability.

The discussion examined recent examples of XR platforms that have either closed, transitioned, or changed direction, including Multiverse, Spatial, Horizon Worlds, AltspaceVR, WaveXR, and Google Poly. While creators may sometimes be able to export their 3D assets, the conversation highlighted that much more can be lost when a platform changes: community history, event archives, audience relationships, and AI-driven behaviors or logic can remain tied to the platform.

This becomes even more significant as creators increasingly incorporate AI into their work. During the session, 42.9% of participants reported using AI built into their XR platform, while 28.6% use third-party tools such as ChatGPT or Claude. Another 14.3% use both approaches.

Participants were also asked what they would lose if their primary XR platform closed with only six weeks’ notice. 40% identified their audience and community, 40% identified their world and assets, and 20% identified events, conversations, and history.

The Learning Circle offered practical steps creators can take now: save copies of platform terms, test exports before they are needed, maintain external backups of prompts and AI outputs, keep community communication channels outside the platform, and understand what data platforms collect.

The conversation also revealed immediate action. Following the session, 50% of participants planned to back up their prompts and AI outputs, while others planned to test exports, create external community channels, or review platform terms and data practices.

The discussion will continue beyond this Learning Circle. XR Women plans to use what surfaced in the room to develop a “Before You Build” creator resource, bringing together experiences, practices, tools, policies, and open questions to support greater agency across AI and XR.

The question remains: Who owns your world, and are you prepared to take it with you?