The Meta group unveiled the AI Studio chatbot creation platform as well as the Meta Quest 3 mixed reality headset and Ray-Ban Meta connected glasses.
What if “Max the cook”, “Lorena the traveler”, “Lily the editor” or “Victor the sports coach” became your next contacts on WhatsApp… even if they don’t really exist? The Meta group unveiled Wednesday during its Meta Connect conference a series of virtual assistants with a strong personality with which Internet users will be able to converse and ask for advice for their daily lives.
Blending the boundaries between real and virtual, the Californian group asked celebrities to lend their features to these artificial intelligences. Naomi Osaka, Paris Hilton, Snoop Dog, Kendall Jenner, and American content creators MrBeast and Charli D’Amelio took part in the game. In 2024, their robots will have a voice.
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This series of “chatbots” (conversational robots) is the first demonstration of the capabilities of AI Studio, a platform which will soon allow developers to create their own virtual assistants, which will work on the group’s messaging services. “ I don’t believe there will be just one big, centralized artificial intelligence in the future. Instead, we will interact with a series of AIs for specific uses “, CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained on stage.
A cautious deployment
Meta indicates that in the first half of 2024, influencers will be able to use these AIs to interact with their fans. And in the future, businesses present on Instagram will be able to use it to partially automate their customer service. Mark Zuckerberg, however, exercised great caution. This last option is in the preliminary testing phase with a handful of brands, and it will not be open to all of Meta’s professional customers anytime soon.
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“The safety of these AI is a critical aspect “, he stressed, explaining that these chatbots should not damage the image of a company by talking nonsense. “ We’re going to roll out these products much more slowly than usual, and make sure they’re beneficial. But I remain optimistic, and I am sure that we will see incredible new use cases emerge. »
The Meta group will nevertheless put online at the end of the year, in beta version, its Meta AI assistant, a sort of ChatGPT connected to the internet thanks to a partnership with Microsoft’s Bing search engine. Meta AI can be queried during any conversation on Messenger or WhatsApp. It will also be able to generate images and stickers on demand using the EMU (Expressive Media Universe) model.
Smart glasses
Meta AI will also be integrated into Ray-Ban Meta Smartglasses, the group’s new connected glasses produced in partnership with the EssilorLuxoticca group. In 2024, these smart glasses will be able to understand what their wearer sees, and recognize a monument, translate a menu, or indicate how to repair a leaking faucet. The questions, processed by Meta AI, will be asked orally.
The new connected Ray-Bans designed by Meta CARLOS BARRIA / REUTERS
These connected Ray-Bans, which will also allow you to make live videos on Instagram, will be sold in the United States on October 17 starting at $299. “ We want to offer affordable products. This is as important to us as being at the cutting edge of technology “, said Mark Zuckerberg.
A low-cost mixed reality headset
Meta’s CEO repeated the same message during the presentation of the Meta Quest 3 mixed reality headset, due in the United States on October 10 for $499. A price that couldn’t be further from the $3,500 of Apple’s Vision Pro, which will be released in early 2024… “ These technologies must be accessible to all “, he proclaimed on stage.
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Meta Quest 3 is the group’s first standalone mixed reality headset, “ wireless or external battery “. Users will see both the real world (their living room, their office, etc.) and virtual elements like a video game. Tools for professionals will also be available.
For Mark Zuckerberg, these three announcements foreshadow the convergence between mixed reality, connected glasses, and artificial intelligence. The word “metaverse”, dear to the founder of Facebook and for which the group invests more than 10 billion dollars per year, has been uttered numerous times.
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