Mark Zuckerberg Thinks Meta May Promote ‘Billions’ of AI Glasses

Would you purchase a pair of pricy, true AR glasses from Meta realizing you’ll additionally assist CEO and extoller of “masculine energy” Mark Zuckerberg? Superior AI glasses are one of many major topics on his thoughts, based on each his public statements to buyers and a leaked memo of an inside all-hands assembly. Beneath the hyperbole and more and more right-wing inflection of Zuck’s public statements, Meta CEO is using excessive on AI and his main efficiency with the corporate’s good glasses.

Zuckerberg told investors throughout the firm’s fourth quarterly outcomes name Wednesday that its Ray-Ban Meta glasses had been “an actual hit.” He speculated that “this will likely be a defining 12 months that determines if we’re on a path in direction of many tons of of hundreds of thousands and ultimately billions of AI glasses.” This comes after a Bloomberg report this month claimed Meta is engaged on a pair of Oakley-style AR glasses for athletes. The corporate can be reportedly engaged on a follow-up to the Ray-Ban Meta, codenamed Hypernova, which features a heads-up show.

“Billions” feels like a pie-in-the-sky dream, although the corporate’s AI glasses have reportedly been doing nicely. Leaked memos signed by Meta’s head of its Actuality Labs division, Andrew Bosworth, point out that the Ray-Ban Meta glasses and Meta Quest 3s had been successful final 12 months. Business Insider reported that the group creating the corporate’s VR and AR applied sciences beat all product gross sales and person targets in 2024. In line with the leaked memo, gross sales grew by 40% 12 months over 12 months.

That doesn’t imply that Meta’s Actuality Labs division isn’t nonetheless burning cash, just as it did when the phrase “metaverse” was nonetheless being bandied round. The corporate reported near $5 billion in Actuality Labs losses within the fourth quarter. Meta’s AR division made solely $1.1 billion in gross sales throughout that very same time. The distinction between then and now’s that Zuckerberg sees a brand new market opening with augmented actuality and AI glasses. In a leaked transcript of an inside all-hands reported by The Verge late Thursday, the Meta CEO stated there was a “huge open area” for them to leverage its present and future AI glasses.

Regardless of his statements, Zuck’s glasses aren’t the one sport on the town. CES 2025 was inundated with smart glasses of all styles and sizes. Samsung and Apple are additionally engaged on their very own good glasses. Meta definitely has a head begin, however that doesn’t imply it’s a shoo-in to win the lengthy race.

Zuck Refuses to Speak to Employees About his Hate of DEI and Love for Donald Trump

Standing in Zuck’s approach could also be Zuck himself. In line with current reviews, his “mask-off” second, wherein he decried DEI and replaced fact-checking on Fb and Instagram with a group notes-like function, hasn’t resulted within the lack of too many world customers. Nonetheless, the leaked transcript from the corporate’s all-hands confirmed that many workers had been greater than a bit of involved about how chummy he was getting with President Donald Trump and his ramping-up anti-trans hate crusade. Musk refused to talk to employees about any of these considerations.

As a substitute, Musk stated, “We now have a possibility to have a productive partnership with the US authorities.” This was after Meta already made its Llama AI available to U.S. government agencies.

Zuckerberg instructed buyers he deliberate to take a position “billions of {dollars}” in AI infrastructure over the approaching years. That starts with $65 billion in AI and a 2GW information middle incorporating greater than 1.3 million of Nvidia’s graphics processing chips. Zuckerberg, together with each different large U.S. tech agency, is attempting to ignore DeepSeek, which launched a mannequin virtually as succesful as its newest and biggest with out counting on such obtuse information processing.

Zuckerberg ended his inside assembly by telling workers to “buckle up.” It expects to put off workers the corporate considers “low-performers.” He instructed employees that “rip[ping] the band-aid off” was “a nicer factor to do for people who find themselves most likely going to finish up making it anyway.” With feedback like that, is it shocking that employees are leaking these conferences? Not-so-ironically, The Verge reported on extra leaked inside communications saying Meta was trying to fireplace the leakers.