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So long, iPhone. Generative AI needs a new device

Is this the twilight of the screen age?

If the idea is to build a new consumer electronics device better suited to seeing, talking and listening AIs, there is a fair chance it will no longer be reliant on the touchscreen.

PHOTO: AFP

The Economist

When a beaming Mr Mark Zuckerberg

took the stage in Menlo Park on Sept 27

to announce a new array of Meta products, the Facebook supremo may have buried the lead. He began talking about Quest 3, Meta’s virtual reality (VR) headset, which is understandable considering that his obsession with the metaverse is now inscribed in his company’s identity. Techies, though, were more excited by what came later: an announcement that Meta, in combination with Ray-Ban, would soon launch smart glasses incorporating an artificial intelligence (AI) virtual assistant.

The specs will be able to see and hear, as well as answer their wearers’ questions. With luck, they will not hallucinate.

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