Meta ships first smart glasses powered by its Superintelligence Labs’ Muse Spark model

Meta Platforms Inc. today announced a partnership with EssilorLuxottica to launch a new lineup of artificial intelligence-powered smart glasses that can “see” the world and talk to users about it.

Building on the company’s previous lineup and incorporating generative AI features already present in its wearable devices, Meta’s new line features new shapes, colors and premium materials, starting at $299 – about $80 cheaper than the last-gen Ray-Ban Meta line.

Meta is cheering on its AI software by focusing on the hardware, saying there’s now a dedicated button that lets users quickly access Meta AI’s core functions. The glasses have high-quality audio with open-ear speakers, allowing them to deliver clear phone calls, music, podcasts and audiobooks. It also features multi-microphone arrays to pick up voices and reduce wind noise.

They also feature cameras to capture and share video and photos. The glasses have an eight-hour battery and on-the-go charging, providing up to 40 hours of additional battery life.

The power of AI within the frames

The company recently introduced Muse Spark, the company’s first multimodal reasoning model out of Meta Superintelligence Labs. It’s built specifically for the company’s products – and supports its wearables such as glasses.

With its multimodal capabilities, users can activate Muse and receive answers about everything from sports scores and local restaurant venues to get a better understanding of what they are looking at, translating text in foreign languages and managing their calendars. The company touted the AI’s ability to help them with their everyday lives, such as supporting healthy habits, navigating a busy day or managing digital tasks hands-free.

Meta also said it intends to bring pedestrian navigation for displayless glasses, where the AI will speak directly to the user with turn-by-turn directions. The glasses will also receive support for 14 new languages in live translation, including Japanese, Chinese (Mandarin), Hindi and Korean, so users can have real-time conversations anywhere.

Although the company has stressed privacy, there has been some tension lately given its push to build facial recognition into its wearables. The company was caught silently testing recognition software with its smart glasses by Wired and the Electronic Frontier Foundation verified it. Shortly thereafter, Meta stripped the code from Meta AI and thereby its wearables. This brash move damaged the company’s already problematic reputation as a surveillance instrument.

Although there are uses for facial recognition in consumer gear, passing this information to corporations and sending faces and other private – presumably intimate – data to corporations and governments can legitimately feel like a violation to many users.

Varied styles for the fashion-forward

Meta said that, as part of the partnership, it’s bringing three different styles with distinct silhouettes for different faces and moods.

These include the Adventurer, clean rectangular frames for a standard look; Fury, based on a bold, rounded frame; and Glasses by Kylie, which feature a slim, oval shape designed in collaboration with Kylie Jenner, inspired by her personal style, using an AI clone of her voice.

Even as fashion statements are made, the lower price will certainly help sales for the new Meta Glasses. Google LLC has plans to release its own Gemini-enabled eyewear in collaboration with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, and Samsung Electronics Ltd. also has plans to launch its own line of smart glasses.

Image: Meta Platforms