Meta has been focusing on AI hardware devices recently. The company’s Meta Ray-Ban AI smart glasses have been a success with over 7 million units sold. Now, it is believed that the Mark Zuckerberg-led firm is doubling down on hardware with a dedicated team as part of its Superintelligence Labs (MSL).
As per a report from Business Insider, the Meta Superintelligence Labs division, led by Alexandr Wang, is assembling a dedicated hardware team. This team will likely be separate from the Reality Labs division that was responsible for the Meta Ray-Bans and other products such as the metaverse.
Meta wants more AI hardware
The Meta Superintelligence Labs is the company’s pioneer AI division that is tasked to build the company’s future AI products, including agentic AI. As per the report, some engineers from the Reality Labs division have already transitioned to MSL to prototype AI software on Reality Labs hardware.
While the new team will be separate from Reality Labs, the two divisions are expected to work closely. Do note that Meta recently laid off 700 employees, including some from Reality Labs.
The new team is expected to work on new hardware devices, apart from smart glasses or VR headsets. Though the details of the device likely to be developed are unclear for now.
Meta has appointed veteran engineer Rui Xu to lead the hardware division within MSL. Xu previously headed hardware at Dreamer, an AI agent startup whose founders were recently brought to MSL. Rui Xu has also worked on smart devices at Chinese giant ByteDance.
AI hardware market to get tougher
Meta is not the only company that is looking to expand in the AI-native hardware business. OpenAI is expected to launch its first AI hardware device soon, which is being designed by former Apple chief designer Jony Ive.
Apple is also said to be working on its own AI smart glasses for some time now. And recent reports indicate that London-based phonemaker Nothing may also introduce its own smart products as early as the end of this year.
Meta continues big AI push
Meta is seemingly expanding its efforts in the AI space. Previous reports indicated that the company was building an AI team dedicated to using AI to enhance its recommendation algorithms for Instagram and Facebook.
In the past, Mark Zuckerberg has acquired the likes of Moltbook and Manus AI, two AI startups focused on agentic AI. Alexandr Wang who leads the company’s Superintelligence Labs was appointed after Meta acquired his startup Scale AI for $14.5 billion.
The tech giant is also pushing employees to use more AI tools at work. Zuckerberg himself is believed to have his own AI CEO agent that helps him do his work.
At the same time, Meta is reportedly planning to cut jobs. The tech giant could cut as many as 15,000 jobs soon in a bid to manage costs. Other tech firms such as Oracle and Amazon have already laid off thousands of workers.
