Tech change for 400 million people as Meta AI updated

Meta has revealed major updates to its most popular apps, a cheaper VR headset and new updates to its smartglasses at Meta Connect 2024.

There’s been a major update for the more than 400 million people who use Meta AI.

The artificial intelligence tool, now built on Llama 3.2, could already do a raft of tasks including answering questions, helping with writing and giving advice.

Last year it was incorporated into some of the world’s most popular apps, including Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, with the blue and purple circle of the chatbot becoming ubiquitous.

Speaking at Meta Connect 2024 in California on Wednesday morning (local time), billionaire Mark Zuckerberg announced the AI can now speak and see.

He revealed that you can now talk to the AI, and it will talk right back to you.

And don’t expect the dulcet intonations of Siri, the AI can be given the voice of numerous celebrities, including Awkwafina, Dame Judi Dench, John Cena, Keegan Michael Key, and Kristen Bell.

As the tech is rolled out, you will be able to make the AI assistant sound like celebrities including Kristen Bell. Picture: Getty/Supplied

The new tech will be rolled out in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand over the next month.

For people in the United States, Meta AI can now also “see”, meaning it can analyse photos shared in chat, tell you about it, and edit it based on prompts.

You can ask the AI “How do I make this cake?”, show it a photo, and it will answer it.

For example, you could take a photo of an animal while bushwalking, show it to Meta AI, and it will identify it.

Or, you could take a photo of a meal and ask Meta AI how to cook it.

The AI can also edit photos, including removing objects, changing your outfit and removing the background using generative tech.

The Imagine image generation function has also been updated so that you can get AI images right in your feed, Stories and Facebook profile pictures. The AI can also suggest captions.

I took a selfie of myself and asked the AI to imagine me as a “unicorn” and a “superhero”, and this is what it came up with.

How the AI envisioned me as a superhero.

Myself as a “unicorn”.

AI themes on Messenger

There’s also been an AI update to the “Themes” in Messenger. The ability to choose a theme for your chat is already around — for example, “cats” or the green “brat”, simply by holding a press in the background.

But you can now use AI to create personalised themes.

AI in Facebook feeds

The company also said it is experimenting with populating AI-generated content in Facebook feeds.

These include images from Meta AI created based on a person’s logged interests or current

trends.

You can then tap on the content to take it in a new direction or swipe it to create new material.

Video translation

Other new tech that’s on the horizon for users of Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger include automatic video dubbing and translation that could make millions of Reels more accessible.

The company is starting tests with videos from creators in the US and Latin America, with English and Spanish, before it is expanded to more creators and languages.

Entry-level Meta Quest

Another big announcement today is the new entry-level Meta Quest 3S, the newest addition to the company’s virtual reality (VR) headset line.

The Meta Quest 3S has similar mixed reality capabilities and performance as the Meta Quest 3 but is at a cheaper price point thanks largely to a different lens.

The new Meta Quest 3S is powered by the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 platform.

The Quest 3S is compatible with most Quest 3 accessories.

I tried it out and the headset is particularly good for three things: video, gaming and music.

With the VR, you can turn a limited space into essentially a movie theatre. Apart from beaming a large screen into thin air, the headset is particularly good for watching immersive “spatial video” such an exploring Portugal in 360 degrees or diving off a cliff with a wingsuit flyer.

I had a chance to play Fortnight and the new Batman game, where I felt really immersed into the world of the Dark Knight. You can almost feel the grime as you crawl through a vent or watch as rats run past you. It feels like you physically grip the ladder as you climb and spread your wings to glide.

The Quest 3S is going on sale on October 15, with the 128GB storage retailing for $US299.99 ($AU436.47), compared to the Meta Quest 3 512GB, which has a price drop to $USD499.99 ($AU727.46).

Ray-Ban Meta update

The Ray-Ban Meta smartglasses have also received major updates.

New AI improvements to roll out over the next few months include the ability to read QR codes and phone numbers.

You’ll also be able to verbally ask the glasses to remember or remind you of things as you see them.

Other tech that’s coming this year is live language translation, and new integrations with Spotify, Amazon Music, Audible, and iHeart to allow people to listen to music on the go through the glasses.

I tried out the glasses and they were able to translate a billboard from Spanish to English and then give me information about it.

The tech was also able to identify what cars I was looking at and answer follow-up questions about the most popular model.

Andrew Backhouse is at Meta Connect 2024 courtesy of Meta