Meta plans to introduce a wearable AI pendant

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Meta wants to find more ways to make money from its artificial intelligence developments, with new reports suggesting that the company is planning to launch an AI pendant that would give the wearer access to Meta AI at any time, via a tap on the device.

As reported by The Information, which based its story on leaked internal communications, Meta is planning to launch several AI-powered devices, including the pendant, along with four new AI glasses models. The aim would be to give its AI models more utility, and make Meta AI a part of more people’s everyday lives.

The pendant development seemingly stems from Meta’s December acquisition of Limitless, a startup which, prior to the Meta acquisition, had been developing an AI-powered pendant that’s able to record conversations and generate summaries and reminders.

Meta’s version would incorporate more functionality, and could provide another means to integrate its AI chatbot into daily use, while also limiting the intrusiveness of the camera that’s built into its AI glasses.

On the glasses front, The Information also reported that Meta is looking to launch four new models of AI glasses this year, along with a subscription-based “Wearables for Work” offering for professional use.

Meta wants to solidify its AI business plans as it continues to spend big on development in order to lead the race and build the best AI tools.

Meta has committed to spending $600 billion on AI datacenter and infrastructure projects over the next three years in the U.S., and that’s just one part of its broader commitment to AI development, as the company works towards its goal of digital “superintelligence.”

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg views AI as a transformative tech shift, and as such, he wants his business to lead the way and become the foundational infrastructure of the current global AI push.

At the same time, public sentiment about AI is starting to wane, and despite the hype, most business users are not yet seeing the gains promised, although their AI implementation costs continue to rise.

Meta’s own team has acknowledged this.

In an interview with The Core Memory podcast last month, Meta’s AI Superintelligence Chief Alexandr Wang said that AI projects, including Meta’s efforts, “haven’t yet demonstrated, in a very real way, how this is actually a tool for personal empowerment or personal agency, or how it just makes people’s lives a lot better.”

Wang said that while many people have found AI tools helpful, and some people find they make things a little better, overall user experiences “are not overwhelmingly better” as a result.

Add to this the fact that social media platforms continue to pump out generative AI tools that seem to run counter to the “social” elements of their apps, and the broader internet is starting to feel overrun with AI-generated content, squeezing actual human input to the perimeter.

Amid all of this, AI projects need to demonstrate how they’re going to turn a profit. Maybe that can happen with more practical AI tools, such as a pendant that can translate, take notes and automate reminders based on conversations. Maybe that’s the practical value AI needs to demonstrate, and that Meta needs to shine a light on.

AI still seems like a hard sell, and as more and more examples of the tech’s poor use continue to come to light, the challenge in proving true utility in more use cases becomes even more significant.

Either way, it makes sense that Meta would be looking for more ways to drive value, and to show its shareholders how it’s eventually going to make money from its huge development outlay.