Meta’s $799 AI Glasses Demo Glitches: Can Zuckerberg Really Build the Future?

It was supposed to be a triumphant showcase. Mark Zuckerberg, standing beneath violet lights at Meta’s California headquarters, introduced what he described as the future of wearable technology: a pair of AI-powered smart glasses. These sleek frames, starting at $799, promise to text, stream video, and even whisper recipes into your ear — all through the power of artificial intelligence.

The Meta CEO framed it as the dawn of a new era in computing, a bold leap into augmented reality. But the event quickly reminded everyone of a harsh reality: technology doesn’t always perform on cue, no matter how confident the CEO.

The Demo Gone Wrong

The first demo was meant to wow the crowd with everyday usefulness. 

A volunteer wearing the glasses asked them how to start a sauce recipe. Instead of providing clear, step-by-step guidance, the AI skipped important steps. The man kept repeating, “Start from the beginning,” only for the device to insist he had already added the base ingredients.

The exchange grew awkward as the glasses looped through incomplete instructions. Eventually, the user gave up, blaming the Wi-Fi connection, while Zuckerberg brushed it off with a smile. He joked that after spending years developing the technology, it was ironic that the Wi-Fi failed right at the crucial demo moment.

The second failure came minutes later, this time with Zuckerberg himself. During a staged WhatsApp call, the glasses were supposed to seamlessly answer through a neural wristband that translates tiny movements into commands. Instead, the band froze. Zuckerberg stood on stage tapping the air, unable to connect, before conceding defeat and moving on to the next demo.

The symbolism was almost too perfect. Here was a company promising to wire the future, but struggling to even pick up a phone call.

Betting on Glasses

Despite the glitches, glasses make sense as Meta’s next hardware push. Unlike bulky headsets, people already wear glasses every day, and Meta has partnered with familiar brands like Ray-Ban to make them stylish and less intimidating.

This isn’t Meta’s first attempt, either. Since 2023, the company has been selling early versions of smart glasses and reportedly moved around two million units. That’s not blockbuster iPhone-level adoption, but it shows there’s a market. Zuckerberg isn’t wrong to think wearable computing could become the next great interface.

The real problem isn’t the idea — it’s Meta’s execution.

A Company Without a Clear Identity

In the past three years, Meta has pivoted so many times it’s hard to keep track. First, there was the metaverse: a cartoonish virtual world where people could work, play, and socialize. Billions were invested, and billions were lost, as the project struggled to attract users.

Next came the VR headsets. For a while, they looked promising, especially among gamers, but adoption outside niche communities stalled. Then came Threads, Meta’s would-be Twitter rival, which fizzled after its early hype.

Now, the focus is back on glasses — layered with another massive gamble on artificial intelligence. Meta is pouring $15 billion into AI infrastructure, building new data centers, hiring talent from rivals with multimillion-dollar packages, and promising breakthroughs in machine intelligence.

But here’s the issue: most tech companies stake their future on one defining platform. Apple has the iPhone. Google has search. Amazon has Prime. Meta, on the other hand, is trying to be everything at once — a social media giant, a VR studio, a hardware manufacturer, and an AI research lab.

If everything is “the future,” then nothing feels grounded in the present.

The Problems Meta Can’t Escape

The timing of Meta’s big demo made the disconnect even clearer. While Zuckerberg pitched eyewear that might someday enhance your life, protesters were gathered outside the company’s offices demanding stronger protections for children online.

Parents, activists, and even former employees accuse Meta of burying internal research that showed its platforms could be harmful to kids. Social networks like Instagram and Facebook, critics argue, already fuel anxiety, body image issues, and online exploitation.

So while Meta promises a tomorrow filled with smart glasses and AI assistants, many families are still grappling with the damage its existing products cause today.

That contradiction cuts to the heart of Meta’s struggle. It wants to build the next great computing platform, but it hasn’t yet proved it can manage the platform it already controls.

What Is Meta Really?

That leads to the bigger question: what exactly is Meta?

Is it still a social media company? A hardware maker? An AI lab? A VR and AR studio? Or is it trying to be all of those at once? Zuckerberg would argue ambition is a strength, but to critics, it looks more like a lack of focus.

The flopped demos may be temporary setbacks, but they reveal something deeper: Meta has vision, but not clarity. It is chasing so many versions of the future that its grip on the present feels shaky.

And as competitors like Apple and Google refine their platforms with steady precision, Meta risks spreading itself too thin.

For now, Zuckerberg will keep pushing — betting billions that the glasses on his face are the next frontier of technology. But until Meta can prove it can deliver consistent, reliable products — and take responsibility for the impact of its current platforms — the company’s vision of tomorrow will continue to clash with the realities of today.