ZuckVision: Meta's CEO pitches metaverse 3.0, powered by AI 2.0 (www.businessinsider.com)

At Meta Connect, Mark Zuckerberg doubled down on an AI-plus-AR vision: consumer smart glasses (new Ray‑Ban Meta model priced around $800) shipping soon with a neural wristband that decodes subtle finger movements, plus a headline AI feature that can generate full 3D Quest worlds from text prompts. Meta also showcased prototype Orion glasses (not for sale) and stressed a major company-wide AI reset — assembling a “Superintelligence Labs” team with high-profile hires and multi‑billion dollar infrastructure bets — though onstage demos suffered a couple of technical flubs and no concrete roadmap for those advanced models was revealed. The significance is twofold: Meta is trying to pivot from ad-driven growth to owning the next platform by combining generative AI and wearable AR hardware, turning AI improvements (so far mainly used to optimize ads) into real-time, embodied experiences. Key technical implications are immediate — text-to-3D generation for VR/AR content and sensor-driven input (EMG/near-BCI style wristband) — and longer-term: whether Meta’s new superintelligence team can deliver AI capabilities good enough to justify wearing a computer on your face. Competitors (notably Google) currently lead in AI, so Meta’s success hinges less on shipping hardware than on producing compelling, privacy‑wise acceptable AI use cases that move beyond tech demos and early adopters.