Four years ago, when Meta released smart glasses that could take photos and videos, the product became a surprise hit. Since then, millions have snapped them up.
Now the company is raising its bets on eyewear.
On Wednesday, at its annual developer conference in Menlo Park, Calif., Meta unveiled three new types of smart glasses. One of them, called Meta Ray-Ban Display, has a tiny screen in its lens that can display apps, share media to Instagram and play music from built-in speakers. The apps on the glasses will be controlled by a wristband. It also has a voice-based artificial intelligence assistant that can talk through a speaker and see through a camera.
Another pair was an upgraded version of its existing Ray-Bans, while the third was meant for sportswear and is being made by Oakley. Meta Ray-Ban Display will cost $799, about double the price of older versions, and will be released on Sept. 30.
At the conference, some of Meta’s smart glasses appeared unfinished. Onstage for the unveiling on Wednesday evening, Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s chief executive, asked the glasses to provide a barbecue sauce recipe and to call a colleague — but the devices failed to do so.
“They tell us not to do live demos,” Mr. Zuckerberg said, while the audience laughed along. He added that “the glasses will be able to see what you see, hear what you hear, and then go off and think about it.”
Meta has billed its smart glasses and virtual reality headsets as a way to experience the “metaverse,” a virtual world that Mr. Zuckerberg has called the future of the internet. But this year, the glasses were aimed more at everyday uses — reading texts while on a walk, for instance, or a way to get directions to the grocery store.
The smart glasses are an extension of Meta’s work on artificial intelligence. The company has been pumping billions of dollars into building new data centers and revamping its A.I. division, which is focused on creating “superintelligence,” a hypothetical form of A.I. that could be more powerful than the human brain. On Wednesday, Mr. Zuckerberg called glasses “the ideal form of superintelligence.”
Unlike the company’s heavier virtual reality headsets, Meta’s smart glasses resemble regular eyeglasses. The cameras, microphones and speakers are barely visible, which gives them a broader appeal than the bulkier devices, said Melissa Otto, the head of research at S&P Global Visible Alpha.
“The metaverse was geared very much toward gamers,” Ms. Otto said. “But think about how many people wear sunglasses.”
Eli Tan covers the technology industry for The Times from San Francisco.
The post Meta Unveils Smart Glasses With Apps and an Artificial Intelligence Assistant appeared first on New York Times.
