I Guess We’re All Talking to Our Glasses Now

Michael Calore: Are you live streaming this podcast on Instagram from your new Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses?

Lauren Goode: I’m starting to get a sense of what you think about me. No, I do not have a pair of the new Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses. I’m sorry to disappoint you.

Michael Calore: Can you ask the Meta AI assistant for good ramen recipe for me?

Lauren Goode: I have in fact used some voice assistant on Meta glasses, which is a weird thing to say. But no, I don’t have access to any of this stuff right now. No smart glasses, no brand new VR headsets and currently no chatbots.

Michael Calore: Well, I thought Mark Zuckerberg said that we’re already living in the future?

Lauren Goode: If it’s his vision of the future, yes. We’re not currently all living in it, but we should probably talk about what that future might hold.

Michael Calore: I am down.

Lauren Goode: Let’s do it.

[Gadget Lab intro theme music plays]

Michael Calore: Hi, everyone. Welcome to Gadget Lab. I’m Michael Calore. I’m a senior editor at WIRED.

Lauren Goode: And I’m Lauren Goode. I’m a senior writer at WIRED, not yet replaced by AI.

Michael Calore: We are also joined today by WIRED senior writer Khari Johnson. Hi, Khari. Welcome back to the show.

Khari Johnson: Hi, thanks for having me back.

Lauren Goode: Welcome back to studio.

Khari Johnson: Thank you.

Lauren Goode: Our AI reporter.

Khari Johnson: Mm-hmm.

Lauren Goode: Also not yet replaced by AI.

Khari Johnson: Not yet.

Michael Calore: Not yet. That’s all we can ever say. This week, Meta held its big developer conference at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, which is right in the heart of Silicon Valley. The show is called Meta Connect, and it was hosted by of course the CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. Developer conferences like these are where companies talk about all the hardware and the software stuff they’ve got coming in the near future. At Meta Connect, the company announced two new pieces of hardware, the Meta Quest 3 VR headset and a new pair of smart glasses from Ray-Ban. It also announced some artificial intelligence tools, including its own voice chatbot, some text-based chatbots modeled on celebrities and some image-generation tools. So, we’re going to get into all these things one by one on today’s show. But first, Lauren, since you attended Connect in person, I want to hear about your experience there. How are the vibes?

Lauren Goode: If I had to sum up the vibes succinctly, I would say it was like hot, sunny, black mirror.

Michael Calore: Say more.

Lauren Goode: Well, it was indeed hot and sunny. This is down in Menlo Park in Silicon Valley on the company’s campus, and they decided to host us all outside. And for those who aren’t familiar with the San Francisco Bay Area microclimates, it’s often much hotter down in the valley than it is, say, in San Francisco. Mark Zuckerberg did kick things off with a keynote. He showed off the new hardware, then a series of executives came after him and expounded upon what he said in their specific areas or verticals of tech. And then, afterwards, we were just roaming the campus, and by we I mean there were a lot of developers and Facebook employees there, but also press. And so, as a member of the press, I had a couple of meetings, but I was roaming the campus, and it’s a really interesting place. It is a relatively new campus. It’s beautifully designed and there are emoji on the walls type vibes. One of the things that really struck me, if I can just open a reporter’s notebook a little bit here for the listeners on the other end, is that typically when I go to meet with a big tech company or I’m covering an event, as the press you’re shepherded around and you’re contained. You have a public relations person who’s with you, and they’re taking you everywhere. And if you have to use the restroom, they hover. I was just a free-range chicken yesterday. I just wandered around the Meta campus and ate in their cafeteria and was like, “This is really interesting.” It was interesting seeing the vibes on a big Meta Connect Day. The hardware itself… Wait, what should we talk about first? Should we talk about the mixed reality headset?

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