Meta AI Arrives on Quest Headsets with New Creative Tools

by Prasanna July 24, 2024 0 Comment

Meta AI has received a major upgrade, including new creative options and upcoming support on Quest headsets.

An experimental update due in August will let Quest users ask the AI questions, including about the scenes they see through the Quest 3’s passthrough video. You can ask what top will go well with the shorts you’re holding in front of you, for instance.

The camera feature (Meta AI with Vision) won’t be available on the Quest 2. The support will only come to the US and Canada to start.

The creation tools will be easier to access. You’ll not only have the option of making AI-generated images directly within feeds, comments, and stories, but even the choice of editing the resulting pictures. If you don’t like the animal in an image, you can ask Meta to change it. An “Edit with AI” button is coming to allow more sophisticated tweaks.

It’ll be more practical to create your own avatars as well. An “imagine me” prompt will get you to scan your head and insert it into a scene. You can make yourself an astronaut or create a 3D sticker, among other examples.

The quick access will be available in Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp this week. “Imagine me” is initially available only in the US as a beta.

The upgrades come as Meta is launching a new open-source AI model, Llama 3.1 405B. It can handle more sophisticated questions, and is better at coding and math. Meta has also made its technology available in seven new countries. Latin America is getting its first taste with launches in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru, while Cameroon is the lone African recipient this time.

The AI now recognizes new languages like French, German, Hindi, Italian, Portugese, and Spanish.

The Quest upgrade is a potential coup for Meta. Apple Intelligence is coming to the Vision Pro, but not in 2024. For now, mixed reality enthusiasts will have to get a Quest 3 if they want a headset that can use generative AI, no matter how much they’re willing to spend.