Meta Unveils Quest 3 Headset, AI Chatbots, and New Smart Glasses
Meta reveals its first mainstream mixed reality headset, celebrity-inspired AI chatbots, and upgraded Ray-Ban smart glasses at its annual Connect conference. The new devices integrate advanced artificial intelligence directly into the company's social media ecosystem.
Meta unveils the Quest 3, its first mainstream mixed reality headset, which boasts double the graphic processing power of its predecessor thanks to Qualcomm's Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 platform. The device starts at $499.99 and begins shipping on October 10, bringing over 100 new and upgraded game titles that incorporate mixed reality experiences. Additionally, Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming comes to the Quest platform in December, granting users access to popular titles like Halo Infinite and Minecraft Legends.
The tech giant also introduces more than two dozen AI-powered chatbots designed to work across WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram. The flagship Meta AI assistant delivers real-time information via a partnership with Microsoft Bing and generates photo-realistic images from text prompts. Meta further adds 28 celebrity-themed chatbots with distinct personalities, alongside a new AI Studio platform that allows developers to build custom bots with their own social media profiles.
Rounding out the announcements are the next-generation Ray-Ban smart glasses, which retail at $299 and ship starting October 17. These updated wearables allow users to livestream directly to Facebook and Instagram followers and feature built-in Meta AI to identify objects in the real world. Meta also rolls out an AI sticker generator powered by Llama 2 and its Emu image generation model, bringing custom text-prompted stickers to select English-language users across its messaging apps.