Meta Could See a Big Boost from This Year's Developers Conference, And Here's Why
4min read The Meta Connect 2024 annual developer conference is scheduled to take place tonight. According to the agenda on Meta's official website, the company's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, will deliver a keynote speech at 10 am Pacific Time, sharing the latest advancements in mixed reality (MR), artificial intelligence (AI), and wearable devices.
Specifically, combining reports the conference will introduce details related to the open-source model Llama and launch the Meta Quest 3S headset. In addition, Meta's first AR glasses, which have been in development, will also be unveiled. This confirms previous news that Meta is applying for patents related to AR glasses. It is said that the patent combines machine learning, AR, and AI Agent, and is claimed to expand users' visual experiences and provide assistive functions for some users with visual and auditory impairments.
What's New In Meta's AI Features?
Meta is expected to announce a brand-new artificial intelligence audio feature at the Meta Connect 2024 conference on Wednesday, allowing users to choose a voice from five well-known actors for the Meta AI chatbot. Moreover, there will be other generic, unbranded voices available for users to select.
This week, Meta's suite of applications, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, will roll out the Meta AI voiceover feature featuring the celebrities above' voices in the United States and other English-speaking markets.
Meta is in negotiations with Hollywood and other celebrities to embed their voices into Meta's artificial intelligence projects.
Since the launch of the milestone AI chatbot ChatGPT by OpenAI, backed by Microsoft in 2022, generative artificial intelligence services have been a hot topic. Globally, numerous tech companies and those from various industries are striving to introduce AI chatbots powered by large language models (LLMs) based on their strengths and databases, offering rapid and efficient generation of content, images, videos, and voices.
Meta's AI chatbot, Meta AI, has been in fierce competition with Alphabet's Google-developed Gemini and OpenAI's ChatGPT since its introduction to Meta's social platforms.
In May of this year, OpenAI showcased a similar customized audio feature for its AI chatbot ChatGPT. However, after users pointed out that it sounded like Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson, OpenAI suspended the use of the AI voice dubbing named Sky in the audible version of ChatGPT.
The vision for Meta AI is to introduce an all-around AI companion that understands user preferences and habits, much like the fictional AI assistant portrayed by Johansson in the globally acclaimed film HER.
Meta's First AR Glasses Are Here
Furthermore, Meta is expected to introduce updates to its virtual and augmented reality headsets (VR/AR headsets), particularly the first version of Meta's AR glasses, at the upcoming Meta Connect 2024 event, and discuss plans for other hardware devices, such as Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
Earlier this month, Ray-Ban smart glasses manufacturer EssilorLuxottica expanded its partnership with Meta, with both parties aiming to collaborate on developing multiple generations of smart glasses over the next decade. Last year, Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses became the first consumer electronics product to include the audio version of the Meta AI chatbot.
According to media reports, the most anticipated product at the Meta Connect event this time may be the Quest 3S portable VR headset, priced at $299.99. The Verge also suggests that Meta may highlight its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. The features and price point of Meta's potential new product could put the stock prices of Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) and Snap Inc. (SNAP.US) on high alert due to competitive products.
Bank of America analyst anticipates that Meta will showcase a prototype of its new AR headset and focus more on mixed reality and augmented reality in the demonstration, rather than a one-sided focus on virtual reality as in the past.
Meta Is Expected to Reveal New Research Progress On Llama
Post also stated that Meta might introduce brand-new AI features for its Messenger and WhatsApp, and update Meta's heavily promoted open-source large language model, Llama. Post believes that the new Meta AI feature demonstration will have the opportunity to showcase the integration upgrade of AI features on Facebook and Instagram, as well as how Meta AI can enhance user engagement.
Meta launched its developed Llama 3.1 series of open-source AI large language models in July. Analysts from JPMorgan Chase have said that this open-source AI large model release could make Meta AI the AI assistant with the largest user base by the end of the year.
Meta released three Llama 3.1 open-source AI large language models in July, with Llama 3.1 405B containing 405 billion parameters, making it Meta's largest model to date. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg referred to Llama 3.1 as the starting point of art, with performance metrics to match the most powerful models announced by OpenAI and Google. At the same time, Meta has formed strong partnerships with NVIDIA and cloud giants Amazon AWS and Microsoft. NVIDIA AI Foundry and the cloud giants will provide customized services for global enterprises using the Llama 3.1 model.
Meta claims that Llama 3.1 405B can match the performance of OpenAI's GPT-4o and Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet in many AI large model performance metrics. For example, Llama 3.1 405B is superior to GPT-4o in performing text-to-code generation tasks and generating charts, achieving mixed results in all-around performance comparisons with GPT-4o and Claude 3.5 Sonnet.
Can Meta's Share Price Keep Rising?
In the view of many Wall Street analysts, Meta, with more than 3 billion users worldwide, is expected to make the Meta AI chatbot the world's most popular AI chatbot, potentially surpassing the popularity of ChatGPT. This is also the core logic behind analysts' optimism about Meta's stock price, that is, advertising and software applications and other user application ends are undoubtedly the areas where Meta excels the most. Therefore, Meta, with a huge user base of 3 billion, is in the best position for AI monetization.
Barton Crockett, an analyst from the well-known Wall Street investment institution Rosenblatt, said that Meta Connect 2024 is likely to lead the global AI news cycle in the near term and may provide a catalyst for the rise of Meta itself and the popular tech stocks related to AI.
The analyst believes that Meta may introduce a cheaper virtual reality helmet, showcase new Meta augmented reality glasses, and emphasize the progress in integrating artificial intelligence into existing software products. The Rosenblatt analysis team rates Meta as a buy, with a target price of $643 within 12 months. In contrast, Meta's stock closed at $564.41 on Monday, hitting a record high of $573.98 during the session, and the upward momentum of Meta's stock price this year seems unstoppable.