People say the project is called “Camerabuds.”
It is common knowledge that Meta is anxious to demonstrate its capabilities as an artificial intelligence firm, and it is possible that the company is considering a new hardware project in order to assist it in achieving this goal. It has been reported in The Information that the corporation is now in the first phases of “exploring” designs for headphones that are equipped with artificial intelligence.
According to reports, the firm is referring to it as “Camerabuds.” This is due to the fact that the headphones or earbuds (the company is exploring both designs) would function with two cameras that face outward and would be able to detect the wearer’s surroundings as well as power real-time artificial intelligence functions. This is quite similar to what the business has accomplished with the multimodal artificial intelligence technologies that are included in its smart glasses.
There is currently no clear indication as to whether or not such a project would actually move forward, and Meta did not immediately react to a request for comment or clarification. It has been stated that Mark Zuckerberg has “seen several possible designs for the device,” but he has not been “satisfied” with any of them up to this point. On the inside, there are also engineering considerations, such as concerns over the battery life and heat, in addition to the numerous privacy concerns that come along with wearables that are equipped with cameras attached to them. There is also the possibility that those with long hair could present an issue because their locks would obstruct the vision of the cameras.
According to The Information, Meta has a track record that is fairly inconsistent when it comes to the hardware projects that it has worked on. Portal, the company’s series of smart speakers, was discontinued in 2022, and a camera-enabled smartwatch, which had been expected for a long time, was killed off. However, the most recent iteration of its Ray-Ban-branded smart glasses, which use Meta AI, have been met with a more favorable reception. Zuckerberg has stated that there has been “high demand” for the glasses, and that they have seen greater and more persistent engagement than the first-generation shades. However, the firm has not announced the number of pairs that it has sold.
In addition, the incorporation of Meta AI into an additional piece of hardware would be in complete accordance with the company’s goals of competing with other major artificial intelligence companies. It is likely that Meta is expecting that placing its most recent AI features into a device that people are already accustomed to using, such as headphones, would make it easier to sell. This is because AI-specific hardware, such as Rabbit’s R1 and Humane’s AI Pin, has not been particularly impressive up until this point.