The rush for Artificial Intelligence tools by tech companies continues as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg launched new AI features for WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and Quest 3.
“Soon the physical and digital will come together in what we call the ‘metaverse’,” Meta Co-founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg said during the launch of the new features.
Meta unveiled Quest 3, which is a virtual reality headset, dubbed the first mainstream mixed reality headset. By mixed reality, it means that the headset will blend the physical and digital worlds.
Also read: Chat GPT Can Now See, Hear and Talk: How it Works
“Quest 3 maps the room you are in so you can play virtual games like building Legos on your table, and if you need to duck some (digital reality) incoming fire you can hide behind your physical couch.”
The mixed reality headset is Meta’s most powerful headset, is 40% thinner than last year’s Quest Pro. By its virtue of being thinner, it is much more comfortable. It also has two tomes the graphic performance.
The headset will go for Ksh 73,827 ($499). In this respect, it is cheaper than last year’s Meta’s Quest pro that went for Ksh147.950 ($1000).
Users can now view virtual content on Quest 3 including Lego Bricktales, Stranger things, Live sports on Xtadium, Xbox Cloud Gaming and Asgard’s Wrath 2.
With the hardware news, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the next generation of Meta Quest software.
It includes a virtual screen that can float in either a virtual or mixed-reality space that appears to reposition and can resize. The screen will be coming in December.
Other features launched by Zuckerberg
Among other things, Meta released their AI generated features that will be available to their meta platforms.
Among the most exciting include WhatsApp AI generated stickers where WhatsApp users will be able to generate their own stickers using a “create sticker” feature.
This will be through Metas image generator, EMU. EMU, Meta’s new foundational model for image generation, will not only allow for WhatsApp users to generate their own stickers but also.
Meta has also launched a new AI generated chatbot, Meta AI. Meta AI is an AI model assistant that users can talk to in WhatsApp, messenger Instagram and soon, Quest 3.
Meta AI can answer questions with real time information, generate photo realistic images and more.
Meta is also set to launch more fun Ais with expertise in various fields including cooking, fitness, travel, fashion, sports, writing and games.
These AIs will take on distinct roles such as Max the King chef, Luiz the MMA maestro and Zach the funny man.
In a final big announcement, Zuckerberg announced the next generation of Ray-Ban smart glasses. Essilor Luxottica, the company that produces Ray-Ban, has been integrating technology into fashion with the help of Meta.
Moreover, the Ray-Ban smart glasses will allow users to livestream Facebook, take photos and videos and ask Meta for information on the go.
The glasses will retail starting from Ksh 44,400 ($300) and will be the first glasses to ship with Meta AI.
The rise of AI generative tools in tech
Open AI announced on September 25 the new face of Chat GPT where it can now see, hear, and talk,
According to Open AI, the AI-powered language model will have the ability to engage in a back-and-forth voice conversation.
Through the voice feature, Chat GPT will have a more intuitive type of interface by allowing users to have a voice conversation with Chat GPT instead of typing it out.
Also read: AI Tops Trending Google Searches by Kenyans
The Mckinsey global survey for the year 2023 on the current state of AI confirms the explosive growth of generative AI tools.
This includes the boom in self-writing, self-learning code, “no touch” decision making, and large language models.
According to latest report by tech giant, Google, Kenyan’s interest in AI and artificial intelligence related topics has soared drastically in 2023.
