Meta unveils 'first ever' AI-powered glasses for $799 despite demo failure
At the Meta Connect Event on Sept. 17, Mark Zuckerberg announced the new evolution of AI-powered glasses, the Meta Ray-Bans. While the CEO's presentation was off to a solid start, the performance of the glasses went down hill.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the newest evolution in AI glasses during his keynote at the annual Meta Connect event on Sept. 17.
The tech giant shared “the latest on AI glasses and lays out Meta’s vision for artificial intelligence and the metaverse," at Meta’s California headquarters, according to Meta. While many had hoped this event would reveal the smart glasses code-named Hypernova, instead they announced an upgrade to the Ray-Ban Meta frames, a new pair of Oakleys called the Meta Vanguard that are geared toward sports, and the new model called the Meta Ray-Bans.
Zuckerberg announced the company’s "first AI glasses with high resolution," Meta Ray-Bans, that will be released on Sept. 30 priced at $799. The unveiling ran into a few more hiccups than originally planned for the event.
What are Meta Ray-Bans?
"This is one of those special moments where we get to show you something we've poured our lives into," Zuckerberg told the audience and livestream of 4,000 viewers, as reported by Mashable.
These glasses have a full-color, high-resolution display, designed to help the user look up and stay present. Just by looking through these glasses, users can see messages, photos, translations, and get assistance from Meta AI, all without pulling out your phone. Plus, the displays can appear and disappear when you want it to.
“It’s technology that keeps you tuned in to the world around you, not distracted from it,” according to the tech company.
Zuckerberg also announced that the Meta Ray-Bans are accompanied by another device, the Meta Neutral Band, which is an EMG wristband that picks up movements to command the glasses of certain instructions without using a phone.
The user can also write words using their hand movements, and the words will appear on their glasses’ display. “I'm up to about 30 words a minute on this,” Zuckerberg said.
What went wrong during the presentation
The CEO started his demo by showing a live view of the Meta Ray-Bans he was wearing for the audience, which showed him able to start playing a song and sending text messages all from his band movements.
Then things took a turn. Zuckerberg started to receive WhatsApp video calls from Meta CTO Andrew "Boz" Bosworth, according to Mashable.
Zuckerberg was supposed to be able to answer the call using hand movements with the band but was ultimately unsuccessful. Boz then joined him onstage after the failed attempts.
They moved on to showing a demo of the "LiveAI feature” on the Ray-Ban Metas, which are priced at $379. This feature was supposed to show the presenter how to make sauce out of the ingredients in front of him.
However, the glasses kept repeating, “Now that you've made your base…” when it hadn't given the presenter the instructions for the base yet. The presenter kept requesting to no avail, “What do I do first?"
Zuckerberg went on to blame the Wi-Fi connection for the issues with the demo, but he didn’t explain why the glasses failed to pick up the calls from Boz.
For the previous model of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, many features work whether the glasses are connected to Wi-Fi or not, according to Meta. However, if the user wants to use the Meta AI function, the pair has to be connected to the internet.
Where will these glasses be available for purchase?
The Meta Ray-Ban Display will be available at limited brick-and-mortar U.S. stores, including Best Buy, LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, and Ray-Ban Stores.
Following the release on Sept. 30, the glasses will be available in select Verizon stores. Consumers can also book an in-person demo to try out the glasses for themselves.