Is AI Eyewear Important? Zuckerberg: Without It, You'll Fall Behind in Cognition

Zuckerberg

Phoenix News Technology

According to a report by TechCrunch, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg emphasized the importance of AI eyewear during his earnings call on Wednesday. He stated that eyewear would become the primary means for users to interact with AI in the future, and those without AI eyewear would be at a disadvantage.

Zuckerberg said during the earnings call: "I still believe that eyewear will basically become the ideal carrier of AI because you can let AI see everything you see and hear everything you hear, and interact with you." He also added that giving these eyeglasses display functionality would unlock more value, whether it's providing a broader augmented reality field of view like Meta's next-generation Orion AR glasses or equipping daily AI glasses with a smaller display screen.

"I think that in the future, if you don't have AI-enabled eyewear or some way to interact with AI, you may fall behind significantly in cognitive abilities," he said.

Meta has been focusing on developing smart glasses products, such as its Lenses and Oakley Meta glasses. These glasses allow users to listen to music, take photos, record videos, and ask questions to Meta AI, including recognizing the content they see. Eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica noted that this type of wearable device unexpectedly became a best-seller, with sales revenue increasing more than twofold year-over-year for ROPIN META glasses.

However, Zuckerberg believes that display technology still has room for growth. "This is exactly the area we've been pouring our hearts and souls into over the past 5-10 years in our lab, basically covering all these different technologies," he said.

But future consumer AI devices may not necessarily take the form of glasses. In the spring, OpenAI acquired Jonathan Ive's startup for $6.5 billion to develop new consumer devices that interact with AI. Other startup companies are also exploring this area, including wearable devices (such as Humane's failed attempt) and pendant devices (like Limitless and Friend products).

For now, glasses seem the most reasonable choice because many people are already accustomed to wearing glasses, and this form is more easily accepted in social situations. But people didn't know they needed smartphones until someone created them. The next AI device might be something that people can't even imagine yet.

Despite this, Zuckerberg remains convinced that glasses will become mainstream. He said: "Another advantage of glasses is that they will become the ideal carrier for fusing the real and digital worlds. I think the entire metaverse vision will eventually become extremely important, and AI will accelerate this process." (Author/箫雨)