As part of the 10th anniversary of Connect, Meta CEO & Founder Mark Zuckerberg shared how the rise of AI and metaverse technologies are reshaping the way we experience our physical and digital worlds. In his submission, while the physical world around us is amazing, it is the combination of our physical and digital worlds that defines our reality. Yet too often, we rely on screens to tap into virtual spaces and content—and that can pull us away from the moment and the people we’re physically with.
“Imagine replacing your TV with a fully customizable home theater you can take with you anywhere. Or sitting around a table with friends, some of whom are in the same physical room while others are avatars of those who live miles away—and yet still feeling fully present in the same space and experience. Or a meeting where some of the avatars are embodied AIs that can help you accomplish a variety of tasks. All of that could be possible when our physical and virtual worlds come together seamlessly.”
Many of the foundational technologies needed to make that vision a reality are either already here or on the way. Mixed reality lets us bring digital objects into the physical world or create fully immersive experiences to explore. Advances in AI let us create unique characters that we can interact with in different ways. And future AR glasses will eventually bring these technologies together in a stylish form factor.
Mixed Reality Goes Mainstream with Meta Quest 3
Meta Quest 3 is the world’s first mainstream headset built for mixed reality—and our most powerful headset yet. With double the graphic processing power of Quest 2,* Quest 3 is also the world’s first device to feature the new Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 platform we helped develop in collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies. And it’s completely standalone: no PC, no console, no battery packs—nothing to break the feeling of presence. It understands your physical space, so you can play with the world around you. With mixed reality, the limits of your physical space can expand, and you can be part of a much larger world—like opening a portal to the Upside Down from your living room in Stranger Things VR.
With Quest 3, you can immerse yourself in an expansive content library with games and experiences to suit every taste and mood. More than 100 new and upgraded titles are coming to Quest 3 this year, and many of them will incorporate mixed reality. Because Quest 3 is backwards-compatible, you get access to a vast library of 500+ VR and MR experiences on day one. And with Xbox Cloud Gaming coming to Quest in December, you’ll be able to play Halo Infinite, Minecraft Legends, Forza Horizon 5, and hundreds of other high-quality Xbox games—all on a massive 2D screen you can take with you anywhere.**
Starting at $499.99 USD, Quest 3 ships October 10.
Advances in Artificial Intelligence
While it has been an amazing year for AI, most people today still haven’t experienced this new technology firsthand—and we have an opportunity to change that by building state-of-the-art AI into apps that billions of people already use.
We want to give people the chance to build AIs of their own, so AI studio will ultimately let developers build third-party AIs for our messaging services. We’re building a sandbox that will let people who don’t code create their own AIs. We’re working on a way for creators to build AIs that represent them and help them engage and grow their communities. And we’re making it so businesses can create AIs that interact with customers and help with commerce and support.
Generative AI will bring with it new challenges, so we’re putting in the time and effort to make sure we get this right. That includes training and fine-tuning models to fit our safety and responsibility guidelines, red-teaming with external experts and internal teams to help ensure our models are safer and more inclusive, programming in guardrails around inappropriate conversations, and sharing system cards publicly so people better understand how these models work.
This next generation of artificial intelligence will enable a wide range of experiences and interactions, which will transform how people, businesses, and creators use all of our products. And we’ll continue innovating to ensure everyone has a chance to participate in the upside. Click here to learn more.