Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses were already a useful tool for creators and really just anyone who likes new tech, but today Meta is making them even more useful with a powerful suite of additional AI features. The announcement is part of Meta’s Connect event that took place today, where the company also announced the affordable Quest 3S headset, alongside its latest dive into AR inventions with the Orion AR glasses.
With regard to Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses, the bulk of its announcement centers on the new things these glasses can do. It’s also about making the embedded Meta AI easier to interact with, Meta says. For starters, you’ll no longer have to say “Hey Meta” to continue a conversation after starting one and asking your initial question. This is intended to make talking with the AI feel more like a natural conversation. So, more like you’re speaking with someone in front of you instead of a piece of software.
This will ultimately make using the Meta Ray-Ban glasses more enjoyable. That being said, it’s not necessarily the biggest thing about the improvements that are on the way. In addition to these new features, Meta is also launching a new special edition transparent model of the Ray-Ban glasses.
The new Meta Ray-Ban features include “reminders”
One of the cool new changes coming is the reminders feature. These are more or less quick little alerts that can help you remember a handful of different things. Meta says the glasses will be able to remind you of where you parked. Specifically, Meta says that if you fly somewhere, the glasses will be able to remember where you parked in the long-term parking lot. That seems pretty useful if that’s not something you took the time to jot down beforehand. Worth noting is that this particular reminder won’t be limited to just airport parking.
The glasses will also be able to remind you to send text messages to someone. Essentially the way it works is the camera on the glasses takes a photo of what you’re looking at and then sends an alert reminder to your phone about it later on.
Meta AI gains voice message and video support
Have you ever found yourself walking around a new city and wished for someone to tag along? Well, with the Meta Ray-Ban glasses, you can have Meta AI do that. Meta says it’s adding video to Meta AI so that you can receive continuous real-time help with stuff. The possibilities seem virtually endless here, but Meta does give a couple of examples. Say you’re traveling and you want to learn about the landmarks and things you see around you. You can have Meta AI “tag along” and ask it questions about those landmarks, where it can then give you real-time feedback on what you see.
In addition to that, you can have Meta AI be your shopping companion. Everyone at one point in their life has probably been to the grocery store looking for something to cook for dinner the same day. This can be a frustrating and timely experience if you have no idea where to start. With the new video added to Meta AI, it will analyze the ingredients you’re looking at and it can suggest recipes. Meta says it can even “tell you if that sauce you’re holding will pair well with the recipe it just suggested.”
It all sounds pretty advanced and genuinely useful. Like features that people would actually use on a day-to-day basis. The AI will also be able to translate speech in real time. Meta doesn’t give an exact date for the launch of these features, but says things “are coming soon.”