Meta's Connect 2025 keynote on Wednesday included repeated failures during live demonstrations of its new artificial intelligence-powered smart glasses, forcing CEO Mark Zuckerberg to address the glitches on stage.
During one segment, Zuckerberg attempted to accept a WhatsApp video call using the Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses. The call did not connect. "This is, uh… it happens," Zuckerberg said. "Let's try it again, I keep messing this up."
A separate demo featured content creator and amateur chef Jack Mancuso using the glasses' "Live AI" feature to prepare a steak sauce. The AI incorrectly stated he had already combined the base ingredients while he stood in front of an empty bowl.
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In an Instagram ask-me-anything afterward, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth said the cooking demo failed because when Mancuso said "Hey Meta, start Live AI," the command activated Live AI on every Ray-Ban Meta device in the building. "That obviously didn't happen in rehearsal," Bosworth said. "We didn't have as many things."
Bosworth also said Meta routed all traffic to its "dev server," including from headsets in the building, causing what he described as a self-inflicted denial-of-service condition. He attributed the failed WhatsApp call to a "never-before-seen bug" that prevented Zuckerberg from accepting calls on the glasses, adding, "You guys know we can do video calling."
The regular smart glasses are priced at $379, while a version with a small in-lens screen costs $799. Journalists who tried the glasses separately reported being impressed, according to the source material.
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