Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was one of several big names to try out Meta’s new “Orion” prototype glasses at Meta’s Connect event on Wednesday — and he appeared to be a fan.
To demonstrate the good impression the glasses have had on those who have tried them, Meta head Mark Zuckerberg showcased a video of people’s reactions after wearing them. The video featured Silicon Valley prodigies, media personalities, and Olympians.
The Nvidia CEO, who was one of the testers, referred to the glasses’ 100-gram weight as “a big deal” and complimented various aspects of the technology.
“The tracking is good, the brightness is good, the color contrast is good, field of view is excellent,” Huang said in the video shown at the event.
The “Orion” glasses are the first prototype of full holographic augmented reality, and Zuckerberg referred to them as the “most advanced glasses the world has ever seen.”
Zuckerberg started putting together a team of the “best people in the world” about a decade ago to build the glasses. He said the technical challenges to making them are “insane.”
“This is the physical world where holograms overlayed on it,” Zuckerberg said.
The Meta CEO named several of the challenges with building the glasses, like the need for a wide field of view while keeping them light. Zuckerberg also said that you need to be able to see through them.
Zuckerberg said the glasses are made from a new kind of display architecture that uses tiny projectors that bend light to create holograms of different depths and sizes. The glasses are powered by a battery in the arm made of customized silicon and sensors.
Zuckerberg said the “Orion” holographic glasses aren’t ready for consumers yet as Meta refines some of the details and works on lowering the retail price. However, some external developers will be able to get access.
Huang’s compliments are somewhat of a big deal. Nvidia is one of the most valuable companies in the world, and its GPU chips are powering the AI revolution. Given the company’s cult-like following, Huang’s words also carry a lot of weight in the tech world and stock market.
But it’s also worth noting that Zuckerberg is a big Nvidia client. The Meta CEO has bragged about stockpiling GPUs to build a “massive amount of infrastructure” to further the company’s AI efforts.
In an interview with The Verge, Zuckerberg said that when Meta’s Nvidia components and other AI chips are accounted for, Meta will have nearly 600,000 GPUs by the end of 2024.
Nvidia declined a request for comment from Business Insider.
