Today, on Connect’s 10th anniversary, Meta CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg shared how the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and metaworld technologies are changing the way we experience our physical and digital worlds. Although the physical world around us is amazing, it is the combination of our physical and digital worlds that defines our reality. Too often, however, we rely on screens to access virtual space and content, which can distance us from the moment and the people we’re physically with.
Imagine replacing your TV with a fully customizable home theater that you can take anywhere. Or sitting around a table with friends, some of whom are in the same room, while others are avatars of those who live miles away, and yet feel fully present in the same space and experience. Or in a meeting where some avatars are corporeal AIs that can help you with various tasks. All of this will be possible when our physical and virtual worlds merge seamlessly.
Many of the key technologies needed to make this vision a reality are already here or on the horizon. Mixed reality allows us to bring digital objects into the physical world or create immersive experiences to explore. Advances in artificial intelligence allow us to create unique characters that we can interact with in a variety of ways. And future augmented reality headsets will combine these technologies in a fashionable format.
Today at Connect, Zuckerberg shared our progress in all three areas.
Mixed reality becomes popular with Meta Quest 3
Meta Quest 3 is the world’s first widely available mixed reality headset and our most powerful headset yet. With twice the graphics processing power of the Quest 2*, the Quest 3 is also the world’s first device with the new Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 platform, which we helped develop in collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies. It is completely autonomous: no PC, no console, no batteries, no anything that disturbs the sense of presence. Understand your physical space so you can play with the world around you. With mixed reality, the boundaries of your physical space can be expanded and you can become part of a much larger world, for example by opening a portal to Upside Down from your living room in Amazing VR stuff.
With Quest 3 you can Immerse yourself in a huge library of content with games and experiences for every mood and taste. This year, Quest 3 will feature over 100 new and improved titles, many of which will feature mixed reality. Because Quest 3 is backwards compatible, you’ll have access to an extensive library of over 500 VR and MR scenes from day one. And with Xbox cloud gaming When you come to Quest in December, you’ll be able to play Halo Infinite, Minecraft Legends, Forza Horizon 5 and hundreds of other high-quality Xbox games, all on a huge 2D screen you can take anywhere**.
Starting at US$499.99, the Quest 3 will go on sale on October 10 advance orders They are already open. press here know all the details.
Advances in artificial intelligence
While it’s been an incredible year for AI, most people have yet to experience this new technology first-hand, and we have an opportunity to change that by integrating next-generation AI into applications that billions of people already use.
We’ve talked about Llama’s ecosystem of large language models, and today we’re introducing our image generation model. Emu (short for Expressive Media Universe) uses your text prompts to create high-quality, photo-realistic images in seconds. And thanks to Emu and Llama 2 technology, you can create your own AI chat stickers to liven up conversations on the go.
Also, introducing Retouch and Background, two new features coming soon to Instagram that use Emu technology to let you transform your photos or even co-create AI-generated images with your friends. Retouching allows you to redefine images by applying visual styles that you describe (you can write, for example, “watercolor” or “magazine and newspaper collage, torn edges”), while the background takes advantage of what we learned from our Segment Anything model so it can change the scene or background of your image.Messages like “place me in front of the beautiful northern lights” or “surrounded by puppies” will keep your subject in the foreground while creating the background you described.Images created with the change style and background will indicate the use of artificial intelligence to reduce the likelihood that people will confuse them with human-generated content.In addition, we are experimenting with forms of visible and invisible markers to help people distinguish between AI-generated content.
Unlike most others in the industry, we don’t believe there is a single super-intelligent artificial intelligence that everyone uses. On the contrary, we believe that you will need different AIs for different things, such as information retrieval, communication, entertainment, gaming, help with work, and more. You might even want to build your own AI to suit your goals, whether you’re a small business, a creator, or someone else.
That’s why we’re building AI Studio, a new platform for building artificial intelligence that can help you accomplish tasks and just have fun. People will be able to interact with these AIs across Meta’s product universe. They will have Instagram and Facebook profiles and you can chat with them on WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram. In time, they will also incarnate as avatars in the metaverse.
We’ve built our own AI with AI Studio, which we’ll be rolling out to the US in beta starting today.
Meta AI is a new assistant that you can talk to like a human. It uses a custom model based on Llama 2 technology and has access to real-time information thanks to a collaboration with Bing. And Emul is built into Meta AI, so you can create high-quality, photo-realistic images for free in seconds.
We’ve also created an AI with more personality, opinions and interests that are more fun to interact with. There is Victor, a coach who encourages you to achieve your goals. Dungeon Master can send you on adventures based on a classic text. And ours sous chef Max can take random ingredients from your pantry and whip up a delicious recipe on the go.
These are just a few of the AIs we’ve trained so far, and in the coming weeks there will be a few more with different interests, from gaming and philosophy to sports, fashion and more.
We want to give people the ability to create their own artificial intelligence, that’s why AI research enable developers to create artificial intelligence for our messaging services. We’re building a platform that will enable those who can’t code to create their own artificial intelligence. We’re working to empower creators to create AI that represents them and helps them interact and grow their communities. And we enable companies to build artificial intelligence that interacts with customers and helps them with sales and support.
Generative artificial intelligence will bring new challenges and so will we dedicating time and effort to make sure we do it in the best possible way. This includes training and refining models to align them with our safety and accountability standards, collaborating with external experts and internal teams to make our models more secure and inclusive, planning safety measures to prevent inappropriate conversational practices, and publicly distributing system education maps for people to better understand how these models work.
This next generation of AI will enable a wide range of experiences and interactions, changing the way people, businesses and creators use all of our products. And we will continue to innovate so that everyone can take advantage of the opportunities that arise. press here for more information.
Introducing the Ray-Ban Smart Glasses Collection | The goal
Created in collaboration with EssilorLuxotticaour next generation of smart glasses is designed so people can stay connected and capture the moment without having to stop and take out their phone, and easily share their experiences with friends, family or the world.
We’ve improved them over the first generation in almost every way, and for the first time people will be able to live stream from their smart glasses to their friends and followers on Facebook and Instagram.
It’s also the first smart glasses with Meta AI.*** Starting in the US, people will have access to our new generation of hands-free artificial intelligence wherever they are and whatever they’re doing, in real time. And next year, we’ll release a free update so that smart glasses can understand what people are looking at and help them. So if you want to know which building you’re standing in front of or get gesture translation on the go, the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have the answer.
Smart glasses will be an important platform in the future, not only because they are a natural way to see digital holograms in the physical world, but also because you can let your AI see what you see and hear what you hear , making your smart glasses more useful over time.
The Ray-Ban Meta collection of smart glasses will be available on October 17th for a starting price of $299 and are available for pre-order now at meta.com in ray-ban.com. Haz Click here for more information.
While we work hard to create new technologies the world has never seen, we are also focused on making these advancements accessible to everyone. And innovating to bring the future to billions of people at an affordable price is what Meta does best.
We have a long way to go, but we’re excited to walk it with the development community and all of you.
*Based on Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 platform vs Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 platform.
**Requires Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and compatible controller (sold separately). Transfer restrictions apply. Server availability and wait times may vary. Select regions.
***Voice features available in English, Italian and French. Selected voice features are only available in English. Voice features and functions may vary by language. Meta AI features are initially only available in the US.
****The Ray-Ban Meta collection of smart glasses will be available in 15 countries, including the US, Canada, Australia and across Europe.
