By Victoria Song , a senior reporter focusing on wearables, health tech, and more with 12 years of experience. Before coming to The Verge, she work

Meta has a major opportunity to win the AI hardware race

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2024-09-23 04:00:02

By Victoria Song , a senior reporter focusing on wearables, health tech, and more with 12 years of experience. Before coming to The Verge, she worked for Gizmodo and PC Magazine.

Just a few short months ago, the tech world was convinced AI hardware could be the next big thing. It was a heady vision, bolstered by futuristic demos and sleek hardware. At the center of the buzz were the Humane AI Pin and the Rabbit R1. Both promised a grandiose future. Neither delivered the goods.

It’s an old story in the gadget world. Smart glasses and augmented reality headsets went through a similar hype cycle a decade ago. Google Glass infamously promised a future where reality was overlaid with helpful information. In the years since, Magic Leap, Focals By North, Microsoft’s HoloLens, Apple’s Vision Pro, and most recently, the new Snapchat Spectacles have tried to keep the vision alive but to no real commercial success.

So, all things considered, it’s a bit ironic that the best shot at a workable AI wearable is a pair of smart glasses — specifically, the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.