Meta has just announced that its annual Meta Connect conference will take place in its usual venue at Menlo Park between September 25-26, 2024. The event, now in its third year, is expected to showcase Meta's latest advancements in AI, VR, and the expanding vision of the Metaverse.
It has been a big. year for Meta in the AI space, ramping up launches of its own dedicated MetaAI chatbot, new versions of its Llama family of large language models and integration of its various generative AI models into Instagram, the Quest and WhatsApp.
More of this is expected at Meta Connect. Registrations for the event are already open online, with options to attend both in public at Menlo Park and online via Facebook and Horizon Worlds.
But with several major hardware and software announcements competing for time during this year’s event, you’re probably wondering what’s really on the cards. Read on for a list of potential developments that we can expect from Meta Connect, based on various rumors, leaks, and press releases circulating online.
How to attend Meta Connect 2024
Meta Connect is Meta's flagship technology conference, bringing together developers, creators, and tech enthusiasts to explore the company's vision for the future. Meta Connect 2024 will be a hybrid event, with an in-person component at Meta's headquarters in Menlo Park as well as a virtual livestream accessible worldwide through Facebook and Horizon Worlds.
As usual, registration for Connect 2024 is available free of charge on Meta’s official website. Once signed up on the website, you will receive regular updates and announcements leading up to the actual event on September 25 and 26.
When it’s time to attend, you can follow along with the conference using one of the below options:
- Join the event IRL at Meta’s campus in Menlo Park, California.
- Follow along virtually, in real-time or on-demand, using the @MetaforDevelopers Facebook Page.
- View the entire live keynote in VR using the Horizon Worlds app on your Meta Quest headset. (Make sure you’re in the list of 13 supported countries where Horizon Worlds is available, first.)
What to expect from Meta Connect this year
Meta Connect 2024 comes at a pivotal time as Meta doubles down on AI while facing increased competition in the XR space from rivals like Apple.
Meta Quest 3S
One of the most anticipated announcements at Meta Connect 2024 is the potential unveiling of the Meta Quest 3S, a more affordable version of the Quest 3 VR headset launched last year by Meta. A recent store listing leak hinted at the existence of this "lite" model even though Meta has not officially confirmed it.
The Quest 3S could help boost adoption of Meta's VR ecosystem by lowering the entry price point while still offering immersive VR experiences. Key specs and features remain to be seen, but given the lower price tag, you can expect some tradeoffs compared to the higher-end Quest 3.
This is also likely to come complete with Llama 3.1, Meta's powerful new family of artificial intelligence models offering deeper AI assistant integration and vision features similar to those we've seen in the Ray-Ban smart glasses.
Orion AR Glasses Prototype
Meta Connect 2024 may give us our first real glimpse at Meta's long-awaited augmented reality glasses, codenamed Project Orion. Unlike the Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses which mainly focused on audio and camera functionality, the Orion AR glasses are expected to offer true visual AR experiences with digital overlays integrated into the real-world view.
Meta has been developing the Orion glasses for nearly a decade, representing a significant leap in AR technology. While a finished consumer product is still likely a few years away, Meta may demo an early prototype to showcase its progress and get creators started building AR apps for the platform.
Again, this is a technology made possible thanks to integration with artificial intelligence models like Llama 3.1, bringing rapid processing of data to the device. It will also utilize vision models from Meta to identify real-world objects and places.
AI Chatbots and Avatars
Expect a major focus on artificial intelligence at Meta Connect 2024, as Meta doubles down on AI across its products and platforms. Meta previewed some of its AI advancements earlier this year, like an AI assistant for WhatsApp, Instagram and Quest, as well as AI tools for image editing and avatar creation.
At the event, Meta will likely dive deeper into its conversational AI technology. It would be particularly exciting to see a deeper dive into AI Studio, Meta’s latest platform for creating no-code AI chatbots without writing a line of code.
We will also see a focus on the Llama family of models, and while it is an outside chance this could include the first look at a multimodal version of Llama or the opening up of Meta's image, video and audio generation models.
The Meta Horizon Ecosystem
Of course, Meta Connect would not be complete without significant updates on the company's progress in building the metaverse. Expect Mark Zuckerberg's keynote to lay out Meta's vision for the metaverse over the next year and beyond.
We'll likely get a status update on Horizon Worlds, Meta's social VR platform, which aims to integrate avatars, inventory, and identity across different virtual experiences. Meta may announce new tools and standards to help developers create more interoperable metaverse content.
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