Meta Platforms Inc. is expected to release its highly anticipated AR glasses soon. The company made this announcement at the recent Meta Connect Conference 2024.
The conference will be taking place at Meta’s Menlo Park headquarters. The company is also expected to announce updates to its existing virtual reality and artificial intelligence products at the event.
Sources are stating that one of the crucial showpieces of this conference will be Meta's first commercial AR glasses. It is expected that a complete consumer version of these glasses will come out in 2027 though initial units are reserved for developers and internal testing. This is a slow-going process, in that Meta has spent billions of dollars in Reality Labs, trying to find its way into the metaverse.
Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently said that he was rather optimistic about the AR project. Zuckerberg admitted that despite the tremendous challenges faced in the process, the company is on the cusp of showing a prototype that would work.
This comes at a time when Meta's Reality Labs unit has reported significant losses in the very first half of this year. The losses have accounted for nearly US$8.3 billion in losses.
As part of the AR-related news, Meta is also set to share interesting new AI product updates. The most awaited AI feature ready for rollout is Meta's ChatGPT-like chatbot.
Meta’s chatbot will be allowed to choose from a wide range of celebrity voices such as Judi Dench’s and John Cena’s. This would make it more interactive, interesting, and personalized. It has also been recently announced that the Meta UK users’ public profiles will be used to train its generative AI.
Meta would also improve its current VR product, the Quest 3, and maybe even launch a new generation of its camera-equipped smart glasses with Ray-Ban. The company would also unveil an affordable version of Quest 3S that could make VR technology accessible to everyone.
The Meta Connect keynote, which will feature Zuckerberg's talk, will be streamed live on the company’s website and in Horizon Worlds for Quest headset-wearing users. After the keynotes, developers can attend live sessions focused on innovating AI and mixed reality.