Meta Debuts Ray-Ban AI-Powered Smart-Glasses

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled two major smart eyewear devices on Sept. 27 that makes the race between Apple and Amazon even more exciting as it re-enters the arena as a major competitor that could flip smart eyewear on its lenses.  

The revamped Ray-Ban Meta glasses, which compete with Amazon’s Echo Frames and Snapchat’s Spectacles, features an embedded AI assistant, called Meta AI. This feature can respond to voice commands, provide restaurant recommendations, and offer other smart services. Furthermore, a forthcoming software update will empower the glasses with the ability to recognize and interpret visual and auditory inputs. Users will be able to identify landmarks or translate unreadable signs just by asking Meta.

Playing into this new belief that smart eyewear is the next launching pad for high-end computing, Zuckerberg believes that smart glasses will serve as an “important platform for the future,” as he told attendees to the Meta Connect conference. 

“They are the natural way to put holograms in the world,” he continued, emphasizing the potential of AI assistants to see and hear what its wearer sees and hears. During Meta’s July earnings call, Zuckerberg also stated his belief that smart eyewear will “replace 2 billion regular glasses with a smarter version.”

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, mixed reality headsets are expected to reach around 21.4 million shipments by 2027. 

As of May, S&P Global estimated the global installed base for AR/VR headsets reached 34.7 million by the end of 2022. In 2022, there was an estimated 7.9 million shipments of mixed reality headsets. 

Of course, that depends on the size and ease of wearing these devices. Right now, the market is flooded with large, over the head mixed reality headsets that are heavy and hard to travel with. 

Meet Ray-Ban Meta

Two years ago, Ray-Ban teased the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, originally referred to as Ray-Ban Stories. However, the glasses were labeled by Gizmodo as a “privacy nightmare,” and weren’t used much by those who invested the $300 into them, according to The Wall Street Journal. 

Unlike its predecessor, Ray-Ban Meta will include both sunglasses and clear-lens glasses, coming in two different frames – Wayfarer and Headliner. Underlying the revamp, is the eyewear’s embedded Meta AI assistant that is designed for multimodal functionality as it learns about the world around it from its wearer. It also allows consumers to make Bluetooth phone calls, capture hands-free images and videos, and of course, play music. 

With a hefty price tag of $299, the Ray-Ban Meta glasses increase in price based on the add-ons, such as polarized lenses, transitions and prescription lenses. 

Quest 3

When Meta first launched the Quest in 2019, it remained an industry-leading product, having sold a reported 20 million devices to date. 

However, that could all change when Apple’s Vision Pro begins shipping. While the Quest 3 carries a $1,000 price tag, the Vision Pro more than doubles it at $3,500. 

During this year’s Meta Connect, the company revealed that 100 new games would be coming to the Quest store, adding to the existing 500 games that currently sit on the platform. 

Editor’s note: This article was written by an nft now staff member in collaboration with OpenAI’s GPT-4.