Mark Zuckerberg’s Attempt to Revive the Metaverse: Selling an Old Concept in a New Package?

Mark Zuckerberg spoke at Meta Connect 2023 this week, where the company unveiled its version of artificial intelligence technology, smart wearables and more. But one thing we didn’t hear much from Zuckerberg and Co. is a reference to the metaverse.

The term, which Mark apparently invented and became the talk of the industry in recent years, was only a footnote throughout the session.

In fact, some reports noted that Zuckerberg didn’t say a metaverse for the first 33 minutes of his keynote, which is startling. In the end, he decided to rename Facebook and bring all its co-owned products, such as Instagram, under the parent company Meta. But it seems that Meta has realized that the world has moved on from the metaverse, and AI is the next big focus of the industry.

OpenAI took the lead by announcing ChatGPT earlier this year, which has undeniably become a sensation. Microsoft decided to pay big bucks to get help from its AI chatbot, which is now moving to version 4.0. Google and Amazon have slowly lived out their moves in the artificial intelligence arena.

So it’s understandable to hear Meta and Zuckerberg talking about Generative AI and how the company plans to integrate its AI technology into platforms like WhatsApp, smart glasses and more. But where does that leave the grand metaverse project? Cartoon-like characters in the metaverse didn’t really excite people, so is that the end of the dream?

Reports have already talked about a lean workforce now building products for the ecosystem. And it’s likely that Meta would prefer to pair its Quest line of headphones with a metaverse that’s now more in tune with mixed reality, like Apple’s Vision Pro headset.

You can’t really blame the Meta for turning away from its original focus after a few years as well. Everyone was happy with the direction of virtual reality, which has now evolved into mixed reality, and Apple gave some confidence.

Having said that, isn’t Meta supposed to usher the company into the metaverse era and make it the next big thing in the industry, what happened to those efforts? It seems that Zuckerberg has also tapped into the AI craze, which explains why there has been so much talk about AI at Meta Connect 2023 this week. Artificial intelligence is coming in the form of stickers, messages and even games. It goes all the way and Meta wants a piece of it.

But here’s the thing. We’ve heard so many tech companies venture into the metaverse and speak highly of its future, have they also turned to AI now that the founder of the ecosystem has taken a step back. It will be interesting to see how Meta plans to move its development towards AI and more importantly for how long.