Meta Connect conference: Highlights from Mark Zuckerberg’s speech

The announcements are anticipated to indicate how Meta plans to navigate the shift to artificial intelligence from augmented and virtual reality technologies.

Key highlights

Zuckerberg announced Quest 3 Mixed Reality device.  The headset will start shipping on Oct. 10.

The Quest 3’s price start at $500. It boasts the same mixed-reality technology as in Meta’s Quest Pro device launched last year.

Zuckerberg said Roblox launching on VR.

The CEO said that Meta is focussing on building the future of human connection, a near-future where people interact with hologram versions of their friends or coworkers and with AI bots built to assist them.

“Soon the physical and digital will come together in what we call the metaverse,” he said.

The next version of Meta’s Ray Ban Stories smart glasses were introduced, which will let people record video or photos, livestream, listen to music and interact with the Meta AI assistant.

“Smart glasses are the ideal form factor for you to let an AI assistant see what you are seeing and hear what you are hearing,” Zuckerberg said.

The glasses, priced at $299, will be launched on Oct. 17.

“A lot of this effort around chatbots and stories and other ways just to keep engagement going (like) AI-driven personalization and stuff like that, that’s the overarching challenge for the company,” he said.

At the time that people can download its new AI models directly or through a partnership that makes them available on Microsoft’s cloud platform Azure along with safety and content tools, said Zuckerberg.

Before the event, Meta said that it was delivering on a plan announced early last year to roll out mobile and Web versions of its flagship social VR platform Horizon Worlds.

“Exciting news! Mint is now on WhatsApp Channels ???? Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest financial insights!” Click here!

Updated: 27 Sep 2023, 11:28 PM IST