Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a far-reaching dream at Meta Connect 2024: a world where smart glasses, and not smartphones or computers, would define how the majority of users interact with digital content. Advanced augmented reality eyeglasses, such as the forthcoming “Orion” device from Meta, will change the ways people converse with the world in the 2030s, according to Zuckerberg.
Whereas all the earlier versions of AR glasses are somewhat primitive, Orion has managed to bridge holographic displays between the digital and physical worlds seamlessly. Just think of virtual notifications, maps, or social media updates floating at eye level, out of one’s field of vision, which wouldn’t require looking down at a phone. With Orion glasses, your purely digital life will surface interactively in the real world.
But perhaps the most intriguing feature in Orion Glass is its neural interface: paired with a device worn on the wrist, that technology enables users to control glasses through hand and even brain gestures. In other words, interaction with digital interfaces is going to soon be as intuitive as pointing at something or just thinking about it, without needing touchscreens.
Artificial intelligence will lie at the very core of these AR glasses. AI-enabled capabilities include real-time language translation and object recognition, letting the user interface with the world around them in entirely new ways. An example could be where the user speaks to other people in different languages, and the glasses provide instant translations or pull up real-time information about objects, people, and places around them.
Orion glasses could revolutionize collaboration, productivity, and task management in the workplace. A number of immersive games, movies, and social experiences could also be in store for entertainment. The future was already set for the precedence when Meta’s earlier smart glass, Ray-Ban Meta, showed how a pair of normal-looking spectacles could practically revolutionize the proposition of real-time AI video processing, live language translation, and voice commands through eyewear.
Despite the hype surrounding this technology, Meta still has a few challenges to overcome before smart glasses can truly replace smartphones and computers. Issues to be resolved include optimizing user experience, privacy problems, and a decrease in the cost of such devices so that a large class of consumers could afford them. The day that happens, then Zuckerberg’s vision of a future dominated by smart glasses just might become real.
