It has been difficult for tech companies in the past week to talk about anything other than artificial intelligence. Generative AI and its many potential applications have become a pervasive topic in the tech-field.
Though Mark Zuckerberg did spend a fair amount of time on Meta’s (META) Wednesday earnings call discussing the topic, he ventured to branch out into something that he’s been dreaming of for years: the metaverse.
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“A narrative has developed that we're somehow moving away from focusing on the metaverse vision, so I just want to say upfront that that's not accurate,” Zuckerberg said. “We've been focusing on both AI and the metaverse for years now, and we will continue to focus on both.”
The two areas are, in Zuckerberg’s eyes, closely connected.
“Mixed reality is built on a stack of AI technologies for understanding the physical world and blending it with digital objects,” Zuckerberg said. “Being able to procedurally generate worlds will be important for delivering compelling experiences at scale.”
He went on to explain that the metaverse will help bring more AI to consumers through something called “AI agents,” which he mentioned several times throughout the call.
“I think there’s an opportunity to introduce AI agents to billions of people in ways that will be useful and meaningful.”
It’s not really clear yet exactly what an AI agent is.
In support of Zuckerberg’s metaverse goals, the CEO said that more than a billion Meta avatars have been created. He added that half the people that use Meta’s Quest VR headset daily spend more than an hour on the device.
Meta, Zuckerberg said, is also preparing to launch its next-generation virtual and mixed reality device later in the year.
“Building the metaverse is a long term project,” Zuckerberg said, “but the rationale for it remains the same and we remain committed to it.”
In the meantime, Reality Labs, the Meta division dedicated to the company's metaverse plans, is $3.99 billion in the red for Q1, having only generated $399 million in revenue during that time.
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