Apple and Meta are rivals in the space to capture customers in what was once seen as the "next big thing" in tech – virtual reality. But the past year has seen attention turn to AI as the next "next big thing." So what do you do if you're working on both of these things? Why you put them together, of course!
Meta is going to start rolling out its Meta AI feature to the Quest 3 headset. Naturally, this gives you access to the ChatGPT-rivalling voice assistant powered by Llama, which lets you ask any number of questions. Plus, this will let the VR headset see what you see so you can translate text, get fashion tips, and more, all completely hands-free.
For now, these features have only been shown off in a series of demos released by Meta on its blog, but the features are heading to the Quest 3 soon. At the moment, they're already available on the Meta x Ray-Ban glasses, but these lack any AR or VR elements. And after this announcement, I'm left with one question: why can't we get Apple Intelligence on Vision Pro?
Will we get Apple Intelligence on Vision Pro?
There is some good news. In a recent Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says unequivocally that "Apple Intelligence is coming to the Vision Pro". But it reportedly won't happen this year. So that's good news! Notification prioritization, the new Siri, and integration with ChatGPT are all particularly relevant for Apple's headset. With Vision Pro being pegged as a productivity device, the writing tools could also come in particularly handy. While vision-based translation features weren't shown off as part of Apple Intelligence, we're sure they're achievable further down the road.
As a multimodal set of AI features, Apple Intelligence should be able to match Meta's incoming AI features. If not, Apple could even beat the Quest 3 offering. All the Apple Intelligence features are tied into Apple's ecosystem. So not only will you be able to do more in the headset, you'll be able to bring it back to your other devices as well. Plus, let's not forget Apple Intelligence runs locally, while these Meta AI features run in the cloud. So AI on the Vision Pro would be faster and more secure.
It seems like Apple Intelligence is coming to the Vision Pro, thankfully. And when it does arrive, it could be a compelling addition to the mixed reality headset.
