Meta presents its new generation of Ray-Ban smart glasses powered by artificial intelligence

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The tech giant is adding artificial intelligence (AI) to digital assistants and new Ray-Ban smart glasses, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced, as it seeks to regain lost ground in the global AI race.

Zuckerberg made the announcements at the Connect Developer Conference at his Silicon Valley headquarters, the company’s flagship product event.

“Smart glasses will eventually allow us to bring it all together into a stylish form that we can show off.”

The second-generation smart glasses from Meta and Ray-Ban, in partnership with EssilorLuxottica, will have a base price of $299 and go on sale on October 17.

Zuckerberg said it will allow users to broadcast what they see and hear in real time, as well as act as virtual assistants for everyday life.

Meta also introduced 28 AI assistants available to communicate via WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram, with “characters” based on stars such as Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton and YouTube star MrBeast.

“But you have to understand that this is still in its infancy and still has many limitations, which you will see as you use it,” he warned.

Meta has been more cautious in its approach to developing AI products than its competitors Microsoft, OpenAI, and Google. It prioritized taking small steps and creating local models for developers and researchers.

Meta also revealed its latest version of the Quest virtual reality headset, which now features improved graphics and sound and the ability for the user to see their surroundings without removing the device, as confirmed by AFP in the demo.

This VR product is much cheaper than the Apple Vision Pro, which starts at $3,499 and will be available early next year in the US only.

Smartglasses are one of many avenues that big tech companies have taken to go beyond smartphones and offer an easy-to-use device, with little success so far.

Connect was the Meta’s first in-person event since 2019, before the pandemic.