Zuckerberg introduces AI systems as ‘key to unlocking’ the Metaverse

Meta CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg gave new insights on his expanding Metaverse plans in a presentation on Wednesday. The livestreamed company event showcased some of the AI advances currently under development.

Among Zuckerberg’s ideas are for people to have “conversational assistants,” builder bots, and a universal speech translator. 

The Big Tech mogul argued AI is the “key to unlocking the Metaverse,” which Zuckerberg claims will be the next step for the internet. The company said these advances are being researched and developed through a new project called ‘CAIRaoke’. 

On Wednesday, Meta announced it had developed “an end-to-end neural model that can power much more personal and contextual conversations than the systems people are familiar with today,” adding it is testing the more conversational and nuanced virtual assistants out in their Portal video service. 

The tech giant also said that people will be able to “talk naturally with their conversational assistants, so they can refer back to something from earlier in a conversation, change topics altogether, or mention things that rely on understanding complex, nuanced context” and will even be able to use gestures eventually. 

In a video presentation, personal assistants were shown remembering birthdays, offering dinner suggestions, and making reservations at restaurants (as well as providing business details), all through voice command. 

Zuckerberg also showed off the Builder Bot feature, which is intended to help people create digital environments via voice command. The tech boss demonstrated the feature by taking control of a legless 3D avatar on a beach and adding elements like clouds and a picnic blanket. 

There is no timeframe for when these technologies will reach the levels Zuckerberg is speaking of, but the company said it believes these AI advancements will be “the ubiquitous, seamless method for navigation and interaction” on VR headsets and AR glasses.