An Interview with Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth About Orion and Reality Labs
Today’s Daily Update Interview is with Meta Chief Technical Officer Andrew Bosworth. Bosworth was an early employee of Meta who created the News Feed, built out Facebook’s ad product, and, since 2017, has led what is now known as Meta Reality Labs; he became Meta’s CTO in 2022.
Over the last few years I have moved towards letting interviews stand on their own, without additional analysis or commentary, but it’s hard to escape the necessity of said commentary in the wake of yesterday’s Meta Connect 2024 keynote, and my opportunity to try Orion, Meta’s not-for-sale AR product. I will expand on my thoughts more next week, but for now:
First, I thought Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivered one of the best tech keynotes in years. The keynote was live, chock-full of demos (includine a demo fail), and downright fun. I hearkened back to an old Steve Jobs keynote in Tuesday’s Article, and this presentation was in line with that spirit. Meta demonstrated some really cool new technology and did so in a way that captured the wonder that made so many of us fall in love with this industry.
Second, Orion, Meta’s AR glasses, is spectacular. I must start with the caveat that this is not a shipping product; the glasses that I tried felt like a consumer-ready product, but they reportedly cost $10,000 each, and Meta has decided to hold off on shipping a consumer version until they can bring the price down. That will be a tall order, and that challenge should be kept in mind with everything that follows.
