Meta Connect 2023 keynote comes to an end. The focus has been on Meta Quest 3, the company's latest mixed reality headset, and a bunch of AI features headlined by Meta AI, the company's answer to ChatGPT and other AI chatbots. You can read through our story to know about all the key announcements made today. Until next time!
Meta and Ray-Ban's new smart glasses are no longer called Stories (thank god!). They are now marketed as Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. They are up for preorder now and will be on sale from October 17 starting at $299. With the smart glasses, you can take calls, stream music, and do live streams on Facebook and Instagram. They can shoot 12 photos and 1080p videos, and everything syncs through the Meta View app.
Meta AI is Zuckerberg's response to ChatGPT, Google Bard, and Microsoft Bing. You can talk to it directly or use it into any chat on Instagram or Messenger or WhatsApp. The chatbot offers dozens of AI characters based on celebrities like Snoop Dogg, MrBeast. Charli D’Amelio, Tom brady, and more. For now, the tool supports text and is limited to US. In the coming weeks, the company will introduce more AI personas and voice support will be added too.
Instagram users will be able to edit pictures with AI tools. The feature will release sometime in October. The AI-powered photo editing on Instagram will let you input a text prompt such as “watercolor” , "80's punk", or “magazine collage” and the tool will updates the existing image based on those directions. Separately, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger will get AI-generated stickers that you will be able to share in chat.
Meta Connect is now live. The company has annonced Quest 3, calling it the first "mainstream mixed reality headset." Sounds like a jibe at Apple's $3,500 Vision Pro. You will be able to immerse in a virtual world and transition back to real world with just a tap on the headset. One big announcement is that XBox games are coming to Quest 3. Assassin's Creed is also coming to the platform. It starts at $500 and shipping will start from October 10.
Meta Connect 2023 is about to start in a couple of minutes. If you want to watch it live, you can stream it through Facebook.
Meta had planned to start the keynote event at 10:30pm IST but there is a 30 minute delay. The company is now trying to kick things off at 11:00pm IST. The delay is because Meta's team is facing difficulty in getting people into the venue.
Today or tonight (depending where you are in the world), Meta may also unveil its generative AI chatbot. Internally, it is called "Gen AI Personas" but we are sure it will have a better name than that. The chatbot is not likely to be as capable as ChatGPT or Google Bard but it will have distinct personalities or "personas" to engage audiences. One of the personas may speak like Abraham Lincoln while another could offer travel advice in a laid-back style. The various personas will be integrated into Instagram and Facebook and may later come to WhatsApp as well as Threads, Meta's rival to X.
Meta will also announce new and updated tools, develper programs and features across AI, VR, MR, AR, Meta Horizon Worlds, and Meta Avatars. Within AI, key areas will be contextual AI, neural interfaces and ultra-realistic codec avatars. The company will also introduce Code Llama, a new code generation model from based on Llama 2 for transforming development of projects in AR, VR and MR.
Another product to look out for during the Connect 2023 event is the Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses. Thse first generation of smart glasses come with built-in cameras, open-ear audio, and seamless social media sharing. So you can listen to music from Spotify, answer calls, take high quality photos and videos, and even summon Facebook Assitant to do things for you. The glasses can be charged in the supplied carry case, similar to how you charge your earbuds.
So far, Meta has shipped six VR headsets in seven years. During this time, the company has sold about 20 million Quest headsets, with the Quest 2 being the most popular. While Meta has not priced its VR hardware too high (around $500 mark), the product category has failed to attract customers due to lack of features, apps, and games. The social media giant's metaverse concept has not delivered in a tangile way. The need of the hour for Meta is games, games, and more games.
Meta Quest 3 is the company's new headset that will start at $500. It was revealed in June this year. We already know it features a higher resolution display, better performance and a slimmer, more comfortable design. Today, Meta will reveal more about its features, capabilities, and what all games you will be able to play.
Meta's Connect 2023 is a two-day event. The keynote presentation will start in about an hour from now. You can watch the event virtually through Meta's Facebook page. You can also experience Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote in 3D via Meta Horizon Worlds. You will get to explore a world inspired by the company’s Menlo Park campus in California.
It's about time. Meta will kick off its Connect 2023 event at 10:30pm IST. At the keynote presentation, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg will launch the new Quest 3 mixed reality headset. The spotlight will also be on some announcements related to artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality and more.
