META’S METAVERSE

Meta has lost so much money on the metaverse, its own investors have questioned it. And Zuckerberg has been mercilessly mocked for trying to hype seemingly minor metaverse features like low-res graphics or avatars with legs.

AI, on the other hand, is much more exciting. The rise of large language models has fueled a huge amount of interest from investors and consumers alike. Services like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Snap’s MyAI and Midjourney have made the technology accessible and understandable to millions.

The company introduced Meta AI, a generative AI assistant, which can answer questions and take on the personality of dozens of characters; AI-powered image editing for Instagram; and tools that will enable developers, creators and businesses to make their own AI-powered bots.

AI will even play a prominent role in the company’s new hardware, the Meta Quest 3 and the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, both of which will ship with the Meta AI assistant. The company has been focusing on both AI and the metaverse for years and they will continue to focus on both.

One of the more intriguing features previewed during Connect were Meta AI-powered search capabilities in the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. The Google Lens-like feature would enable wearers to “show” things they are seeing through the glasses and ask the AI questions about it, like asking Meta AI to identify a monument or translate text.