Meta CTO Reveals Why Smart Glasses Demos Failed at Meta Connect, Blames Resource Management Mistake

Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth explains that the smart glasses demos failed at Meta Connect due to a mistake in resource management planning, not Wi-Fi issues. The failure occurred when the chef's glasses started every Live AI in the building during the demo, overwhelming the system. Bosworth also apologized for the glitches and assured that the company is working to improve the technology.

Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth took to Instagram to explain the technical reasons behind the demo failures of Meta's new smart glasses at Meta Connect 2025. The event showcased three new pairs of smart glasses, including an upgraded Ray-Ban Meta, a new Meta Ray-Ban Display with a wristband controller, and the sports-focused Oakley Meta Vanguard. However, several live demos encountered issues, including a failure to respond to a cooking content creator's query and a missed WhatsApp call between Bosworth and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Bosworth explained that the failures were not due to Wi-Fi issues but rather a mistake in resource management planning. When the chef asked his Ray-Ban Meta glasses to start the Live AI, it triggered every Ray-Ban Meta in the building, overwhelming the system. Additionally, the second part of the failure was due to how Meta routed the Live AI traffic to its development server, causing a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on itself. This resulted in the server being unable to handle the sudden influx of traffic from the other glasses.

The WhatsApp call failure was attributed to a new bug. The smart glasses' display went to sleep at the exact moment the call came in, causing the display to not show the answer notification when Zuckerberg woke it up. Bosworth described this as a "race condition" bug, where the outcome depends on the unpredictable and uncoordinated timing of two or more processes trying to use the same resource simultaneously. Despite the issues, Bosworth assured that the product works and that Meta is working to improve the technology.

Despite the glitches, Bosworth expressed confidence in the product's capabilities and assured that the company is committed to addressing the technical issues. The Meta Ray-Ban Display, for instance, offers a heads-up display that can handle text, images, and live video calls, while the Oakley Meta Vanguard is tailored for sports enthusiasts with features like Garmin integration for performance tracking.

The article provides a detailed and professional overview of the technical challenges faced by Meta during the Meta Connect event and the company's response to these issues. It highlights the importance of thorough testing and resource management in ensuring the successful deployment of new technologies.