Meta will showcase the Orion AR glasses, Quest 3S and more during the event

Social media and tech giant Meta unveiled AI-powered features for its mixed and virtual reality products at its annual communications event on Wednesday.

While a new Meta Quest headset and improvements to Horizon and its virtual reality apps dominated the presentation, it was the company's new mixed reality glasses Orion that stole the spotlight.

Orion AR glasses

Meta Orion The prototype augmented reality glasses, previously named Project Nazre, incorporate the company's flagship generative AI model, meta AI, holographic displays and hands-free communication.

Instead of projecting an image through the glass, Orion uses projectors built into the glass arms to direct light into waveguides. Those waveguides create nanoscale, 3D structures etched into the lens to separate light and place holograms at different depths and sizes in front of the wearer.

Custom-designed silicon and sensors control everything, and a battery mounted on the arm of the glasses provides power.

Calling it the company's North Star, Meta said the augmented reality glasses “combine the comfort and speed of wearables with a large display, high-bandwidth input and contextual AI” in a way that's convenient for everyday use.

Users can track the Orion glasses with voice and AI, eye and hand-held commands, and control the neural interface from the wrist.

Orion has not yet been released to the public, but will be tested among employees and select partners to fix bugs for future releases.

Ray-Ban Meta glasses

Meta Ray-Ban The eyewear line is also getting an update. This includes upcoming integrations with Audible and iHeartRadio, as well as improvements to the glasses' AI assistant.

Whenever wearables look at an object and want to ask Meta AI a question, instead of saying “Hey Meta,” they can ask a question about the object, the CEO explained. Cooler still, the glasses will have a memory feature and can scan and remember what the wearer is looking at.

There are also live translations of two people talking in different languages, as seen in the live forum between UFC flyweight champion Brandon Moreno and Zuckerberg.

Meta AI

Meta AI, meanwhile, is getting a refresh with new features in the Meta suite of apps, including voice interaction, allowing users to ask questions and receive responses on platforms.

“We are adding multimodal. Video AISo Meta AI can now give you real-time help when you're doing things like trying to figure out what kind of outfit you want to wear to a party you're going to, Zuckerberg said.

Meta AI users can ask the chatbot questions and edit photos, a development in Llama 3.2. It's also implementing AI Studio, which allows developers to build their own AI agents.

Voice dialogues will also be provided for users interacting with the AI, which will be answered by the voices of many celebrities, including wrestler and actress John Cena, Judi Dench, Kristen Bell and Nora Lum, known professionally as Awafina.

Zuckerberg said that while AI updates are available worldwide, they are not available in the European Union.

Meta Quest 3S Headphone

of Meta Mission 3SThe company's latest virtual reality headset has also made its debut. The new Quest 3S headset will be available for pre-order on October 15 starting at $299 for the 128GB internal storage model and $399 for the 256GB model.

After launching Meta Quest 3, the company said it will launch. Twist down The Quest 2 and Pro headphones go on sale at the end of the year or until they sell out.

Horizon OS

Horizon's meta virtual game and environment updates this year include photo-realistic spaces called hyperscapes, improved avatars, a new YouTube co-viewing feature in partnership with Google, and new exclusive games. Batman: Shadow of ArkhamAnd an updated and more seamless journey between experiences.

“We're also going to continue to improve the social experience at Horizon because that's our thing,” Zuckerberg said, referring to the company's history as a social media company. “Because so much of the magic of mixed reality is that this technology makes you feel like you're there.”

For developers, Meta is opening up Horizon OS to more third-party developers. Developers including Xbox, Lenovo and ASUS's Republic of Gamers are using Horizon OS, Meta said.