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

Would you purchase a pair of pricey, true AR glasses from Meta understanding you’ll additionally help CEO and extoller of “masculine energy” Mark Zuckerberg? Superior AI glasses are one of many most important topics on his thoughts, in keeping with each his public statements to traders and a leaked memo of an inner 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 in the course of the firm’s fourth quarterly outcomes name Wednesday that its Ray-Ban Meta glasses have been “an actual hit.” He speculated that “this shall be a defining 12 months that determines if we’re on a path in the direction of many lots of of thousands and thousands and finally 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 also 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 effectively. 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 have been a success final 12 months. Business Insider reported that the group growing the corporate’s VR and AR applied sciences beat all product gross sales and consumer 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 inner all-hands reported by The Verge late Thursday, the Meta CEO mentioned there was a “extensive open subject” 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 manner could also be Zuck himself. In line with current experiences, his “mask-off” second, through which he decried DEI and replaced fact-checking on Fb and Instagram with a neighborhood notes-like characteristic, hasn’t resulted within the lack of too many international customers. Nonetheless, the leaked transcript from the corporate’s all-hands confirmed that many staff have been greater than a little bit involved about how chummy he was getting with President Donald Trump and his ramping-up anti-trans hate crusade. Musk refused to talk to workers about any of these issues.

As an alternative, Musk mentioned, “We now have a chance to have a productive partnership with america authorities.” This was after Meta already made its Llama AI available to U.S. government agencies.

Zuckerberg advised traders he deliberate to speculate “billions of {dollars}” in AI infrastructure over the approaching years. That starts with $65 billion in AI and a 2GW information heart incorporating greater than 1.3 million of Nvidia’s graphics processing chips. Zuckerberg, together with each different huge U.S. tech agency, is making an attempt to ignore DeepSeek, which launched a mannequin virtually as succesful as its newest and best with out counting on such obtuse information processing.

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