Mark Zuckerberg says AI glasses are the future, people without them will be at a disadvantage

India Today

5 days ago

If Mark Zuckerberg has his way, the next big tech revolution won't happen on a phone screen; it'll be perched on your nose. In Meta's secondquarter earnings call, the CEO expanded on the bold claims he'd made earlier in a blog post about 'superintelligence', saying that wearable glasses would become the main way people interact with AI in the years to come. Those who don't have them, he suggested, will eventually be left behind.advertisement'I continue to think that glasses are basically going to be the ideal form factor for AI, because you can let an AI see what you see throughout the day, hear what you hear, [and] talk to you,' Zuckerberg told investors. The next step, he explained, is adding displays to those glasses, a move that will 'unlock more value', whether that comes as a full holographic display in Meta's upcoming Orion AR glasses or a more discreet screen in lightweight, everyday AI eyewear.'I think in the future, if you don't have glasses that have AI, or some way to interact with AI, I think you're probably [going to] be at a pretty significant cognitive disadvantage compared to other people,' he added.
Meta has been leaning into this vision for a while. Its partnership with RayBan has already given the world a pair of AIenhanced smart glasses capable of snapping photos, recording video, playing music and even answering questions about what you're looking at. The recent collaboration with Oakley has added a sportier option to the lineup. What began as a bit of a novelty has now turned into a surprise commercial success. Sales of the RayBan Meta glasses more than tripled year-on-year, according to eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica.But for Zuckerberg, this is only the beginning.'This is what we've been maxing out with Reality Labs over the last 5 to 10 years, basically doing the research on all these different things,' he said.Why glasses, though? For one, they fit naturally into people's lives. Unlike bulky headsets, they're discreet and already widely accepted. Zuckerberg pointed out that many of us wear them daily – and that was true of smartphones too, before anyone realised they wanted a small computer in their pocket.The Meta chief also hinted that the next era of devices may be something none of us have thought of yet, but for now, glasses are the clear frontrunner.'The other thing that's awesome about glasses is they are going to be the ideal way to blend the physical and digital worlds together,' he said. 'So the whole Metaverse vision, I think, is going to end up being extremely important, too, and AI is going to accelerate that.'The Orion AR glasses, Meta's nextgeneration prototype, aim to go far beyond the current RayBan model with immersive holographic displays and smarter AI tools. While the road ahead for wearable computing may still have a few hurdles – battery life, weight, social norms – Zuckerberg's comments suggest he sees them as essential for what's coming next.And if his prediction comes true, a pair of AIpowered glasses may soon be as necessary as a smartphone – the sort of device you'll need just to keep up.- Ends