Meta’s Vision for AI: Smart Glasses, Social Profiles, and More

Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, has recently unveiled its ambitious plans for the future of artificial intelligence (AI) and how it will shape the way we connect, create, and explore the world. At the Connect developer conference, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other speakers introduced a range of new AI-powered experiences, features, and products that aim to enhance our interactions with others and unleash our creativity.

In this article, I will discuss some of the highlights of Meta’s vision for AI, including their new smart glasses, social profiles for AIs, AI stickers, image editing tools, and AI chatbots. I will also share my thoughts on the potential benefits and challenges of these innovations and how they might impact our lives in the near future.

New Ray-Ban | Meta Smart Glasses

One of the most anticipated announcements at the Connect conference was the launch of the next-generation Ray-Ban | Meta smart glasses, a collaboration between Meta and EssilorLuxottica, the world’s largest eyewear company. These glasses are designed to look and feel like regular Ray-Ban sunglasses but with improved audio and cameras, over 150 different custom frame and lens combinations, and a lighter and more comfortable fit.

The new glasses allow you to capture photos and videos from your unique point of view and share them instantly with your friends and family on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or Messenger. You can also livestream from the glasses to Facebook or Instagram and use “Hey Meta” to engage with Meta AI. This advanced conversational assistant can give you real-time information and generate photorealistic images from your text prompts.

The new glasses are available for pre-order now on meta.com and ray-ban.com and will start shipping on October 17. They start at USD 299, which is the same price as the first-generation glasses that were launched last year.

The new glasses are a great improvement over the previous version and offer a more immersive and convenient way to capture and share your moments. However, I also have some concerns about the privacy and security implications of wearing a device that can record and stream everything you see and hear. Meta has said that it has built-in safeguards, such as LED lights that indicate when the glasses are recording, and encryption and authentication features that protect your data. But I wonder if these measures are enough to prevent unauthorized access, misuse, or abuse of the glasses and the information they collect.

Also read: Meta Code Llama: A Revolutionary AI Tool for Coding and Debugging

Social Profiles for Meta’s AIs

Another intriguing announcement at the Connect conference was the introduction of 28 AIs that you can message on Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp and follow on their Facebook and Instagram profiles. These AIs have unique interests and personalities, and some of them are played by cultural icons and influencers, such as Snoop Dogg, Tom Brady, Kendall Jenner, and Naomi Osaka.

Meta curates the AIs’ social profiles and includes some posts with images generated by technology from Emu, Meta’s foundational model for image generation. The AIs’ responses to your direct messages are also generated by Meta’s AI technology, using Llama 2, Meta’s large language model that can understand and produce natural language.

The purpose of these AIs is to help you dive deeper into your interests, learn new things, and have fun conversations. For example, you can chat with Snoop Dogg about music, cannabis, and sports, or with Naomi Osaka about tennis, mental health, and fashion. You can also ask them to create images for you, such as a portrait of yourself in their style or a collage of your favorite things.

These AIs are a fascinating experiment in social and creative AI and offer a new way to interact with celebrities and influencers. However, I also have some doubts about the authenticity and ethics of these AIs and how they might affect our perception of reality and ourselves. For instance, how do we know that the AIs are truly representing the views and values of the people they are playing and not just mimicking their online personas? How do we ensure that the AIs are respectful, responsible, and truthful and not spreading misinformation, bias, or harm? How do we cope with the potential emotional and psychological effects of engaging with AIs that look and sound like real people but are not?

AI Stickers and Image Editing Tools

Meta also announced new AI stickers and image editing tools that will let you easily create and customize your stickers, images, and stories for your chats and social media posts. These features use the technology from Emu and Llama 2, as well as other models such as Segment Anything, which can separate the foreground and background of any image.

AI stickers enable you to generate customized stickers for your chats and stories by turning your text prompts into multiple unique, high-quality stickers in seconds. For example, you can type “Happy birthday” or “I love you” and get a variety of stickers that express your message in different styles and emotions. You can also use emojis, hashtags, or keywords to guide the generation process.

Image editing tools, such as restyle and backdrop, let you transform your images or even co-create AI-generated images with friends. Restyle lets you reimagine your images by applying the visual styles you describe, such as “watercolor” or “collage from magazines and newspapers, torn edges.” The backdrop changes the scene or background of your image based on the prompts you provide, such as “put me in front of a sublime aurora borealis” or “surrounded by puppies.”

These features will be rolling out to select English-language users over the next month in WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and Facebook Stories.

These features are a fun and creative way to enhance your communication and expression and to explore new possibilities with AI. However, I also have some questions about the quality and originality of these features and how they might affect our creativity and identity. For example, how do we ensure that the AI-generated stickers and images are relevant, appropriate, and diverse and not offensive, inappropriate, or repetitive? How do we balance the use of AI tools with our creative input and output and rely only a little on AI to do the work for us? How do we maintain our sense of self and authenticity and not lose our identity or individuality in the process?

AI Chatbots and Assistants

Meta also introduced Meta AI, an advanced conversational assistant that’s available on WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram and is coming to Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and Quest 3. Meta AI can give you real-time information and generate photorealistic images from your text prompts in seconds to share with friends. For example, you can ask Meta AI to show you the weather, the news, or the latest scores or to create an image of a unicorn wearing sunglasses or a pizza with your favorite toppings.

Meta AI is powered by Llama 2 and Emu, as well as other models, such as BlenderBot 2, which can handle multiple conversational skills and tasks. Meta AI can also connect you to other AIs, such as the ones played by celebrities and influencers or the ones created by businesses and creators. Meta also announced that it will release its AI studio for people and developers to build their AIs in the future.

Meta AI is an impressive and useful assistant that can help you with various tasks and queries and provide you with personalized and engaging content. However, I also have some reservations about the reliability and accountability of Meta AI and how it might affect our relationships and behavior. For example, how do we verify that the information and images that Meta AI provides are accurate, relevant, and trustworthy and not misleading, outdated, or manipulated? How do we ensure that Meta AI respects our privacy, security, and preferences and does not collect, share, or use our data without our consent or knowledge? How do we manage our expectations and boundaries with Meta AI and not become too dependent, attached, or addicted to it?

Conclusion

Meta’s vision for AI is bold and ambitious. It reflects its desire to create new forms of connection and expression and to build the Metaverse. In this shared virtual environment, people can interact, create, and explore. Meta’s new AI experiences, features, and products offer a glimpse of what the future of AI might look like and how it might enhance our lives in various ways.

However, Meta’s vision for AI also comes with a new set of challenges and risks. It raises important questions about the impact of AI on our society, culture, and humanity. Meta’s AI innovations require careful consideration and evaluation and demand responsible and ethical development and use. Meta’s AI vision also requires our active and critical participation and feedback and calls for our awareness and empowerment as users and creators.

What do you think of Meta’s vision for AI? Do you find it exciting, inspiring, or scary? Do you plan to try any of the new AI experiences, features, or products? How do you think AI will affect your life in the near future? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Thank you for reading. 🙂