As the Metaverse continues to grow, the need for efficient communication and intelligent content generation becomes increasingly important. Semantic communication focuses on conveying meaning and understanding from user inputs, while AI-Generated Content utilizes artificial intelligence to create digital content and experiences. Integrated Semantic Communication and AI-Generated Content (ISGC) has attracted a lot of attentions recently, which transfers semantic information from user inputs, generates digital content, and renders graphics for Metaverse. In this paper, we introduce a unified framework that captures ISGC two primary benefits, including integration gain for optimized resource allocation and coordination gain for goal-oriented high-quality content generation to improve immersion from both communication and content perspectives. We also classify existing ISGC solutions, analyze the major components of ISGC, and present several use cases. We then construct a case study based on the diffusion model to identify an optimal resource allocation strategy for performing semantic extraction, content generation, and graphic rendering in the Metaverse. Finally, we discuss several open research issues, encouraging further exploring the potential of ISGC and its related applications in the Metaverse.

翻译：随着元宇宙的持续发展，高效通信与智能内容生成的需求日益凸显。语义通信专注于从用户输入中传递语义信息与理解，而AI生成内容则利用人工智能创建数字内容与交互体验。集成语义通信与AI生成内容（ISGC）近期备受关注，其通过从用户输入中提取语义信息、生成数字内容并在元宇宙中渲染图形。本文提出一个统一框架，揭示了ISGC的两大核心优势：面向优化资源分配的集成增益，以及面向目标导向高质量内容生成的协调增益——分别从通信与内容层面提升沉浸感。我们系统分类了现有ISGC解决方案，深入解析其核心组件，并展示多个应用场景。进一步地，我们基于扩散模型构建案例研究，以确定元宇宙中语义提取、内容生成与图形渲染的最优资源分配策略。最后，我们探讨若干开放研究问题，旨在推动ISGC及其在元宇宙中相关应用的深度探索。