Zuckerberg reveals new wearables, mixed-reality, and AI tech at Meta Connect 2024: The Return of the Metaverse.

Mark Zuckerberg, at the annual Meta Connect event this week, unveiled the tech giant’s focus on the Metaverse with the launch of its latest AR glasses technology and the new Quest mixed reality headset, along with expanded generative AI tools.

The Orion glasses, with a 70-degree field of view and an advanced input system combining voice, eye gaze, and hand tracking, are currently undergoing testing by Meta employees and select external audiences. These glasses are expected to be available for consumers in the near future.

Orion’s immersive features will include multi-tasking windows, life-size holograms of individuals, and immersive big-screen entertainment. The input system of Orion seamlessly integrates voice, eye gaze, and hand tracking with an EMG wristband for users to swipe, click, and scroll.

Meta also introduced the Quest 3S, a new high-resolution full-color mixed reality headset that can be pre-ordered starting from September 25 and will be in stores from October 15.

The Ray-Ban Meta glasses will soon receive AI enhancements such as reminders, QR code scanning, live language translation, and integrations with Spotify, Amazon Music, Audible, and iHeart.

Furthermore, Meta shared that their Llama AI solution has a user base of over 400 million people, with 185 million using it across Meta’s platforms every week. Llama can now both see and speak, and is accessible on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger. Additionally, the company has introduced new open-source Llama 3.2 models that can understand images and text, as well as smaller, more efficient models for edge and mobile devices.

Meta is also expanding regionally in English to businesses through click-to-messaging ads on WhatsApp and Messenger. Their generative AI ad creative tools have been adopted by over 1 million advertisers, with more than 15 million ads created using the tools last month. Ad campaigns utilizing Meta’s generative AI ad features showed an 11% higher click-through-rate and 7.6% higher conversion rate compared to campaigns that did not use the features.