Mark Zuckerberg’s big showcase of Meta’s latest smart glasses didn’t go as planned. During the company’s MetaConnect 2025 event, the demo of AI-powered Ray-Ban glasses kept messing up. The CEO struggled to keep his composure as the glasses refused to work properly, including a failed attempt to make a WhatsApp video call on stage. It was awkward to watch, with Zuckerberg having to apologize and try again.

Tech Glitches Steal the Show

The real trouble started when content creator Jack Mancuso tried to use the glasses to help with cooking. The AI kept confusing him, claiming he’d already combined ingredients when he hadn’t even started. The “Live AI” feature seemed to hallucinate details, making it clear the technology was still rough around the edges. Instead of impressing, the glasses left everyone questioning how ready they really are for prime time.

Meta’s CTO Andrew Bosworth explained later that the issues were just “demo fails,” not signs of a broken product. He said that when the chef asked to start the AI, it triggered all the glasses in the building to activate at once. This overload caused the system to crash, something that wouldn’t happen in normal use. Bosworth also admitted that the demo was unprepared for so many devices connecting to the same server, which led to the glitches.

Technical Woes and Possible Bugs

The problems didn’t stop there. Zuckerberg’s attempt to make a WhatsApp call failed because of a “never-before-seen bug,” Bosworth explained. Apparently, the glasses couldn’t accept calls, even though Meta has the capability. The company’s excuse was that the bugs were just part of the early testing phase. But it raises questions about how reliable these glasses will be once they hit the market.

Beyond the bugs, there’s concern about the AI hallucinations that seem to happen often with these kinds of devices. AI assistants in gadgets are known to sometimes give false or misleading information. With smart glasses, this could mean you’re guided by a voice that’s not entirely trustworthy, which could be frustrating or even dangerous. The price for the basic model is $379, with a more advanced version costing $799. Whether people will be willing to pay that for a device that might still have serious bugs is uncertain.

Interestingly, some journalists who got a chance to try the glasses later on seemed impressed by the experience. They found the concept promising, even if the demo was a disaster. This suggests that the technology has potential, but it’s still very much a work in progress. The failed presentation might simply have been a case of poor planning and technical hiccups rather than the product itself being a flop.

In the end, Meta’s big moment was overshadowed by technical issues that made the company look unprepared. It’s a reminder that even the biggest tech giants face hurdles when launching new innovations. Whether these glasses will become reliable tools or remain as demos of what could go wrong remains to be seen. For now, it’s clear that making AI work seamlessly in wearable tech is still a challenge, and the road to truly useful smart glasses is still long.

Inspired by

• https://futurism.com/meta-disastrous-smart-glasses-demo-worse

Sources

• gmpg.org
• theverge.com
• mobilesyrup.com