After past years of relatively boring Meta Connect developer conferences, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed to the world that his platform will now focus on virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. In his own words, he mentioned that “Soon the physical and digital will come together in what we call the metaverse.”
Thus, Meta will focus on building the future of human connection and paint a near future where people interact with hologram versions of their friends or coworkers and with AI bots built to assist them. Furthermore, Zuckerberg also announced a wide variety of new AI-powered bots, features in their messaging apps and an update on products such as the Meta Quest 3 and the future Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses.
5 New Features Teased in Meta Connect 2023
1) AI Personality Chatbots Based on Famed Celebrities
Technology giants like Google, Apple, Samsung and Meta have shifted their focus to enhance AI further. At Meta Connect 2023, Zuckerberg revealed that Meta has built 28 AI personality characters based on famous celebrities from across the worlds of sports, music, social media and more.
For example, Meta has included the personalities of one of the sporting world GOATs, Tom Brady, in Bru as someone you can share your passion for sports with. Meta also inducted the traits of the most subscribed individual on YouTube, MrBeast, in Zach to have someone you can share humour with. If you are looking for a big sister role model, Billie, based on the popular model Kendall Jenner, is what Meta would recommend.
However, Meta mentioned that they built these AI personalities based on the Llama 2 LLM, and most of their knowledge bases are limited to information that existed before 2023. Moreover, the AI chatbox will not have audio until next year. Even so, Meta has promised users to bring its Bing search function to its AIs in the coming months. Thus, we can expect this feature to only improve in the future.
2) AI Personal Assisted Supported By Bing
Talking about Bing, Meta has unveiled a new AI personal assistant at Meta Connect 2023 that utilises Microsoft Bing to provide real-time web results. According to Meta, they tailored this AI assistant to provide users with real-time data and quickly produce photorealistic graphics from text prompts. In addition, this AI assistant utilises specialised datasets anchored in natural conversation to respond in a conversational and friendly tone when answering your questions.
According to the present VP of GenAI at Meta Connect, Ahmad Al-Dahle, they wanted to take the opportunity to enhance its features.
“With Meta AI, we saw an opportunity to take this capability and create an assistant that can do more than just write poems. Behind Meta AI, we built an orchestrator. It can seamlessly detect intent from a prompt and route it to the right extension. For example, whether you want to know the history of Eggs Benedict, how to make it, or even where to get it in San Francisco, Meta AI can help ensure you have access to the most up-to-date information through the power of search,” he said.
While it is an exciting new feature, it will only be available in beta in the U.S. on WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram, and it is also coming soon to Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses and the Quest 3 VR headset.
3) AI Stickers and Image Editing Powered by Emu
Continuing with users’ ease of use, Mark announced at Meta Connect that generative AI stickers would be coming to its messaging apps. How so? By pairing up with its new foundational model for image generation, Emu. According to Mark, its capabilities will allow users to make personalised AI stickers using the feature across WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and even Facebook Stories in seconds.
Furthermore, he also mentioned Emu will allow for two new functions, restyle and backdrop. While restyle reimagines the visual styles of an image by inputting prompts, the latter changes the scene or background of your image by using prompts.
“People send hundreds of millions of stickers to express things in chats every day. And every chat is different, and you want to express subtly different emotions. But today, we only have a fixed number — but with Emu, now you have the ability to type in what you want.” In compliance with Mark’s wish, it is indeed a welcome addition, as it provides more versatility in our conversations.
4) AI Studio Platform for Businesses and Creators
While the main focus at Meta Connect 2023 was on enhancing users’ ease of use, Mark did not forget about the businesses and creators as he introduced a new AI studio platform for businesses to build AI chatbots for their company’s various messaging services, including Messenger and Instagram. Although the function can apply in many sectors, Mark did reinstate that companies should only use it on e-commerce and customer support.
Moreover, he hinted that Meta is building a sandbox tool for launch next year to allow anyone to experiment with creating their own AI. Thus, it would provide many new aspiring creators of AIs that can extend their virtual presence across platforms. However, he did mention that these AIs will have to be sanctioned by them and directly controlled by the creator.
5) Updated Info on Smart Glasses and Quest 3
Lastly, Mark did not forget to update the long-awaited news regarding their smart glasses and virtual headset Quest 3 at Meta Connect. While virtual headsets have a record of success in the market, smart glasses have a tragic history. For example, Google exiled its support from Google Glass this September as the concept never really generated any success. Many thought it was ten years too late, but Google eventually forgo the product that was first sold in 2013.
Furthermore, Snapchat also faced dire results with its spectacles, as the public just was not ready for such an intimate, in-your-face technology. In addition to subpar marketing, Snapchat also sacked off the concept to the public and is only developing it for developers looking to push the limits of immersive AR experiences.
Thus, with such strong evidence of a failure, what makes Mark confident in its own smart glasses? Well, with history to draw back upon, Mark will definitely emphasise marketing the product. For example, he revealed at Meta Connect that the product lets people record videos or photos, live stream, listen to music and interact with the Meta AI assistant to help it see what you are seeing and hear what you are hearing.
As for the virtual headset, Mark announced at Meta Connect that their virtual reality headset Quest 3 will come equipped with improved passthrough tech, higher resolution displays and better graphics. To prevent a drawn-out article, we summarise the main points in bullet form for you.
- 10x as many pixels compared to its predecessor.
- A 110-degree field of view.
- Powered by the New Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chip.
- Retails for $500.
- Headspace, a ‘Virtual playground for your mind,’ is coming.
- Augments to personalise your physical space.
Concluding Remarks
Meta appears to have not given up on the idea of the metaverse despite wide scepticism. The focus on improving artificial intelligence and instant integration with consumer-facing products is also a welcome move. All of this, however, is still at a nascent stage. And let’s not count out the competition. For instance, Google has made big strides with Gemini. How will it shape the technology landscape in the future? Tough to predict. But we can safely say people have begun embracing the new avatar of AI.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Meta Connect Held Annually?
While Mark Zuckerberg has done Connect events before, the change from Facebook to Meta only started on Oct 28 2021. Thus, it is only the third year that we have had a Meta Connect, and this year has provided the most info regarding the development of AI at Meta Connect.
Why Is Meta Connect 2023 Focusing On VR and AI?
Since the launch of ChatGPT and the technological standstill of human capabilities, people like Mark Zuckerberg and his compatriots hope to bring technology to life in its metaverse plan. However, the transformation has sparked many new challenges, and Mark admits it is a giant step to overcome while fending off close rivals TikTok.
Will Metaverse Be Successful?
Think of it as when the first iPhone launched. It was an unprecedented product that turned heads due to its technological advancement. Now, we are at a similar stage where we think we know everything but actually know nothing. Thus, will the prospect of a three-dimensional virtual reality exist? It is hard to say, but we are sure we will be first in line when it does happen.
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