Meta Connect 2024 and the Orion Demo

If you missed Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote at Meta Connect 2024, he announced a tantalizing new XR product demo, Orion. It’s a not-yet-for-sale prototype that costs around $10k to manufacture.

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Initial reports suggests that it’s one of the most compelling VR/AR devices to date, even compared to Apple’s Vision Pro.

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Ben Thompson interviewed Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth about the product and Meta’s future investments in this space and AI in general.

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Some big takeaways that we enjoyed:

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1) After much hype, it now appears that we have a realistic timeframe for mass adoption of XR devices that are “post phone” : 3-5 years.

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2) AI can unlock XR development and custom environments.

Building 3D environments is hard, and it’s a big blocker for app development in the XR space. Generative AI can do this on the fly and give users the ability to create worlds in real time.

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3) AI can use XR’s sensing capabilities to deliver agentic experiences.

Even with the displays turned off, XR glasses can record everything in your environment and provide insights. (e.g., “What was the name of that restaurant I saw on Mission street?”)

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4) AI will inevitably personalize our News Feed (or any feed on any platform) outside of your social network, and XR is the logical next step for delivery.

Advertising could be based upon the user’s environment and generative content could be tailored to the user’s profile. (e.g., an ad with you wearing the shirt)

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