At the 2024 Meta Connect developer conference held yesterday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives unveiled a range of products and features designed to propel the company's vision for AI, mixed reality, and online content into the future.
At Meta Connect, CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced the Meta Quest 3S mixed reality headset, priced at $299 (approximately Rs 24000), making it cheaper than the original Quest 3. The 3S features enhanced hardware, spatial audio by Dolby Atmos, and serves as a remote desktop for Windows 11 PCs through a partnership with Microsoft. New apps for Prime Video and Amazon Music are included, but analysts caution that headset bulkiness still hinders widespread adoption. “A lot of the magic in mixed reality is you can feel a sense of presence,” Zuckerberg said. “It’s different from anything any other platform has ever built and different from anything any other platform can provide.”
Meta has introduced enhancements to its AI products, including the Llama 3.2 model, which interprets images and text. Users can converse with Meta AI, featuring both system and celebrity voices like John Cena and Dame Judi Dench. This follows OpenAI’s controversy over unauthorized voice use involving Scarlett Johansson.
“I think that voice is going to be a way more natural way of interacting with AI than text,” Zuckerberg said. “And I think it has the potential to be one of — if not the most — frequent ways we all interact with AI.”
Additionally, Meta AI has introduced real-time language translation via Ray-Ban glasses, demonstrated by UFC fighter Brandon Moreno and Mark Zuckerberg translating between Spanish and English. Additional features include automatic video dubbing for Instagram and Facebook, aiding content creators and marketers. While Llama 3.2 launches globally this week (excluding the EU), concerns remain regarding impersonation, disinformation, and privacy. Despite not focusing on ads, Meta reports over 1 million advertisers using its generative AI tools.
Lastly, Meta has unveiled upgraded Ray-Ban smart glasses, enhancing communication with Meta AI and real-world object identification. Key features include video AI, real-time translation, and audio messaging via WhatsApp and Messenger. The highlight was the prototype of Orion, Meta's first true AR glasses, utilising light diffraction for holographic displays.
“The display is different from every other screen you have ever used and that is because it is not actually a screen,” Zuckerberg said. “It is a completely different kind of display architecture with these tiny projectors in the arms of the glasses that shoot light info waveguides and nanoscale 3D structures etched into the lenses so they can diffract light and put holograms at different depths and sizes into the world in front of you.”
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