Meta just announced a huge update to its AI and it’s coming soon to the Meta Quest platform, home to some of the best VR headsets you can buy. In the next few weeks, you’ll soon have access to a smart voice assistant anytime you wear your Quest 3, Quest Pro, or Quest 2.
You can see some examples of how Meta AI works on the Quest 3 in the video below. Note that Meta AI can use the Quest 3’s and Quest Pro’s mixed reality mode to see real-world objects and answer your questions. The Quest 2’s black-and-white passthrough camera isn’t supported for visual input.
Meta Quest VR headsets in the U.S. and Canada will start getting these new multimodal AI capabilities as early as August. It will be a gradual rollout, so you might not see the update until September.
I asked Meta about generating AI images in Quest headsets and whether the AI would be able to see my Meta avatar and virtual environment. Those features might come at a later date, but won’t arrive in the next update.
Meta AI has been in Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp since September 2023, helping you with customized AIs for cooking, jokes, and games. It can even generate images when you use the @MetaAI /imagine command while chatting with a friend.
Meta AI also supercharges Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, giving you cutting-edge AI assistance wherever you go. The upcoming Meta Quest update will bring a version of AI that’s similar to what’s available in Meta smart glasses. You can ask general questions like what to wear in the typically hot weather of Palm Springs and even hold up a pair of shorts and ask Meta’s AI to suggest a matching top.
This announcement came at the same time Meta announced its 405B parameter Llama 3.1, the largest AI ever released as open source. Meta also posted AI benchmarks that indicate Llama 3.1 is competitive with the latest OpenAI and Anthropic models.
You can try Meta AI 3.1 right now at meta.ai and on WhatsApp in the U.S. Keep your Meta Quest VR headset plugged in and in sleep mode to get the update as soon as its available in your area.
Google just dropped its latest AI model, Gemini 4 Carbon, designed to tackle complex coding jobs and cybersecurity threats. The company claims it can work through difficult engineering problems for days, finding hidden bugs and developing fixes across large codebases.
Gemini 4 Carbon also takes the top spot on Artificial Analysis' updated Intelligence Index, scoring 59 points, pushing out Claude Opus 5.5, OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra, and even its own predecessor Gemini 4 Argon.
Apple has just introduced a redesigned MacBook Pro with a few bells and whistles. The focus this time around is on a thinner and lighter build, and an upgrade to a touch-sensitive OLED screen without any ugly notch. And, in case you were wondering, there is definitely a price premium to pay for these niceties, which also include a glowing Apple logo at the back. What if you wanted to get the best that Apple has to offer? Well, the numbers are finally here.
For a mere $14,549, you can get yourself the fully kitted 16-inch MacBook Pro PROLED XDR with the beefiest laptop chip that Apple has to offer, and the best memory configuration in tow. For nearly $15,000, you treat yourself to the 16-inch version of the laptop with a nano-texture glass layer on the screen to reduce reflections and glare.
Apple has unveiled its first-ever touchscreen MacBook Pro. The company seems a bit confused about the naming, calling it the "MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display," which is tough to remember. If you look past that and review the full spec sheets, you might ask a genuine question: what are the differences between the touchscreen and non-touchscreen versions?
Given that Apple continues to sell both variants together, that's a genuine question. Luckily, you don't have to spend more time lining up the spec sheets side by side and hunting for differences hidden in the fine print. I took that bullet for you. Here's everything that's different between the PROLED XDR Display and the regular MacBook Pro.