Meta Announces Funding Grants for Research Into AI Glasses Use

Meta has announced a new series of accelerator grants to fund research into the expanding opportunities of AI glasses, in order to drive improvement in various sectors.

Which, in the broader context of the supposed move away from the metaverse, is interesting, considering that Meta also awarded similar grants and funding for projects exploring the use of AR, VR and smart devices. But, of course, Meta has its finger in many pies, and expanded research is part of the deal.

It’s just interesting to see the main focus shift to AI, as opposed to how AR/VR will change digital connectivity.

Meta’s AI Glasses Impact Grants will be awarded to organizations using AI glasses “to drive positive societal and economic progress.”

As per Meta:

“There are two types of grants that U.S.-based organizations can apply for: Accelerator Grants for those who are already leveraging our AI glasses to scale their impact, and Catalyst Grants for organizations proposing new, high-impact applications using our Device Access Toolkit. We will award 15 Accelerator Grants of $25,000 and 10 of $50,000 USD, depending on the scale of the project. We’ll also award five Catalyst Grants of $200,000. In total, we’ll grant nearly $2 million to more than 30 organizations and developers.”

The projects will focus on innovative use of AI glasses, like:

“…providing farmers and agricultural workers with hands-free and real-time AI capabilities to diagnose crop health, project harvest readiness and yield, and capture spatial data for improved decision-making.”

These types of practical uses of gen AI could drive significant improvements, though as always, and as more AI projects are finding, the real value of these tools is as a complementary element to existing human expertise.

Much of the initial hype around gen AI was that it would be smarter than humans, and would be able to replace many jobs. But over time, the value of this latest range of AI tools (which are really machine learning systems) is being reassessed, and the professional value re-framed as assistive, as opposed to replacive.

As such, these grants could serve a valuable purpose, in highlighting innovative uses of AI glasses to improve people’s lives, both personally and professionally.

Like, for example, translating speech into sign language in real time, or highlighting concerns on medical charts.

Meta will be keen to showcase these, as part of its evolving AI push, which will also help to guide its work in key areas.

Because as it continues to sink hundreds of billions of dollars into AI development, it’s eventually going to have to find a way to make that money back, which will require large-scale industrial investments and projects that will pay for access to these features.

Consumer devices simply won’t bring in enough money to justify the spend, and while Meta’s ad business is still strong, and Meta has the money to invest, at some stage, every AI project is going to have to present a path to profit from their massive outlays.

That could end up being a bigger challenge for OpenAI, which, at present, has around $1.4 trillion in data center commitments. OpenAI brought in $20 billion in revenue last year, primarily through ChatGPT subscriptions. Which is a sizeable number, but at $20b per year, it would take OpenAI 70 years to even recoup its costs.

And that’s the costs as they stand, not factoring in growth, so you can see how consumer interest alone just won’t tip the scales in this respect.

That’s why it’s adding ads to ChatGPT, because it doesn’t have the business foundation of Meta or Google. The same will also be a challenge for xAI, even with Elon’s money, because the costs of scaling AI models is just so massive that it’s hard to fathom the full scope of what it will take to reach profitability.

Meta’s gone big on AI, even more so than it did with its metaverse vision and VR investment, and it too will need to find practical, valuable use cases to justify its outlay.

These grants are another step towards solidifying that path.

Meta says that applications for its AI Glasses Impact Grants close on March 9th. You can apply here.