Meta on Wednesday unveiled updates to the company’s virtual reality headset and Ray Ban smart glasses, along with advances in artificial intelligence as it looks to demonstrate its prowess with AI and the next generation of cyber platforms beyond phones and computers.
The company’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, also showed off Orion, a prototype he called “the most advanced glasses the world has ever seen.”
“The technical challenges in building these are insane,” he told a crowd of developers and journalists at Meta’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California. For example, those holographic augmented reality glasses had to be glasses, not a bulky headset.
They have no wires and must weigh less than 100 grams (3.53 ounces), among other things. And beyond interacting with the user’s voice, writing or hand movements, Orion has a “neural interface” that allows a signal to be sent from the brain to the device. There is no release date yet for Orion, which Zuckerberg called “a glimpse into the future.”
Seemingly delighted as he spoke to a cheering and applauding crowd, Zuckerberg said Meta is working to “bring the future to everyone” with its headset, glasses and artificial intelligence system. As part of its Llama model, people will now be able to interact with Meta AI through speech, with the voices of celebrities such as John Cena, Judi Dench and Awkwafina.
Meta AI currently has 500 million users, the company said. Jeremy Goldman of research firm Emarketer called the number “astonishing.”
“Meta has transformed itself from being just a social media company to becoming an AI powerhouse. Zuckerberg’s use of celebrity voices isn’t just for fun; it’s a direct challenge to OpenAI, with an emphasis on real-world utility,” Goldman said.
Meta, which introduced the Quest 3 headset last year, also showed off a cheaper version of that VR headset — the 3S — that will cost $299. The Quest 3 costs $499. The S3 will begin shipping on Oct. 15.
“Meta is aggressively underpricing Apple’s Vision Pro to dominate the mid-tier VR/AR market,” Goldman said. Those VR headsets, which went on sale this year to much anticipation, cost $3,500.
