Mark Zuckerberg abandons metaverse as shiny new toy appears

Meta can be a extremely significant player in generative AI. Meta owns few of the largest interface of chat UI through Whatsapp, Messengar and Insta. Inserting a chatbot can hook more people in the eco system. You can book your cab or order your groceries through a simple chat in whatsapp. A primitive version is already there but with introduction of LLM Meta can actually build a app store for whatsapp. Moreover Meta has a data moat which is out of access from Microsoft and Google. It has access to 70% of all human chat conversations in the last 10 years

To be honest, I am a little surprised to see this article on the front page of HN. There is a lot of speculation with almost no substance

I love VR and AR. I think it’s incredible and will eventually replace phones as the primary UI. It’s just too versatile, ambient computing around you all the time, anywhere from a single button to a virtual interactive world.<p>I think though that the tech won’t exist properly till display tech catches up and can give you 10 times more than the Quest 2 gives in a pair of standard eyeglasses. I think we are two decades off still, so all of Meta’s pioneering efforts are way early.<p>A pivot into AI and spinning off the VR division would make investors very happy and probably be the best move for the company.

I&#x27;m actually a little sad. I desperately want better VR. Hate to see one fewer player in the space.

If only Mark&#x27;s big bet was on AI and not the Metaverse. Better late than never I suppose. I wonder if he will be brave enough to rename Meta again to an AI-themed name.

Such clickbait journalism. Mark focusing on AI implies they abandoned the metaverse? What a joke

What is suppose to come first?<p>An earth-spanning Metaverse controlled by countless human engineers (and countless managers) or LLM&#x2F;AI (where tons and tons of the dirty work within the metaverse is off-loaded to sophisticated bots)?<p>I&#x27;d rather be interacting in the real world - assisted by smart tech - to make my real life easier&#x2F;better. This means LLM&#x2F;AI. There&#x27;s real value here (if done right...).<p>The metaverse, for a long time, is still going to feel like gaming 2.0. Just another form of entertainment.<p>If the article is valid, it&#x27;s a good move by Zuckerberg.

The article doesn’t say that he abandoned anything, and I’m glad. VR has huge potential but needs big companies like Meta to spend billions on R&amp;D until it hopefully becomes mainstream.

The problem with VR isn’t complicated. People get sick when they use it, and there aren’t any killer apps for it.<p>These limitations have been known for decades as every VR attempt has run into them. Oculus and The Virtual Boy ran into the exact same problems.<p>I’m sure someone warned the Meta teams of this and they assumed they’d crack this intractable problem with one weird trick, but they didn’t, and probably nobody will. Certainly not while they’re trying to anyway.

Maybe I’ll finally get ads for products I haven’t already purchased yet.

Having seen what they&#x27;ve done already, it&#x27;s a far better use of their resources.

What a surprise.

Brace yourselves, AI Winter is coming.