So the story broke on the doubleTap podcast and their website.
https://doubletaponair.com/envision-meta-work-together-to-bring-ally-to-life/
If realised, this could be the answer to a lot of things we've been wanting. Are we almost on to that magical wearable thing on the face? what do y'all think?
By Gokul, 24 September, 2024
Forum
Assistive Technology
Comments
Just another fantasy, for now!
This is just describing the sort of Assistive Intelligence acessibility agent AI me and others have been banging on about for years. yes, it is theoretically possible to have an AI-companion that works like this, but we have all spent years talking about how Apple restricts access to the camera Etc.
you might as well say JAWS will be cross-platform and work on every device - that would be cool, is easy to imagine and wil probs never happen!
Limitations for sure
I am guessing that this integrations is going to be far more successful on Windows and Android side, rather than IOS and Mac side, as someone above pointed out, Apple likes to keep things closed. Not sure if Google Chrome on IOS and MacOS supports extensions.
Keeping aside Apple's restrictions, I don't see any technical limitations for implementation of such a cross-platform intelligence. I was hoping Be My Eyes would do something like this.
It all sounds fancy and very far-fetched, but, with money from Meta, and experience and knowhow from Envision, I think they stand a fair chance of delivering something acceptable. Envision platform has always deserved something better than those expensive and funny looking Google glasses. I hope the Meta Rayband like glasses become that new AI host.
not worried about Apple's integration or lack of
Hi all,
Unless I'm missing something, this will be available on a pair of Meta smart glasses, so no need to worry about whether Apple restricts access to the camera or not. Unless of course, you don't plan to buy a pair of meta glasses. If you've got Meta's glasses, whether Apple's camera access is restricted or not is surely irrelevant. But if Apple keeps restricting the camera, then this will never be truly cross-platform.
Good to see
Regardless of where this goes, it's great to see blind accessibility becoming part of the conversation.
Looks like it's gonna be mainstream
The sense I'm getting from the information filtering in from various sources seem to imply that meta is partnering with envision to bring-in ally as a main-stream, full-fledged assistant. Of course, even if this is the case, accessibility will very likely be front and centre since envision is on-board. It seems to be part of whatever is going to be announced on the meta connect event on 25-26 of this month so it should be something major.
Whether or not Ally goes cross-platform is not a concern for me so long as it is available on a relatively affordable platform like the Meta glasses.
affordable
The only thing is, what if these project aria glasses aren't really affordable? What if they cost a couple of thousand? Even if this sort of thing were available for the iPhone, getting your phone out your pocket to see what's around you when you're travelling wouldn't be practical.
True that.
I don't know about a couple of thousants, but I'd spend a fair amount for the convenience of having a "smart" assistant on my face. It all depends on the price v/s functionality I guess.
Having said that, given it's meta, hopefully they're aiming at a budget-friendly market segment with whatever product they're coming up.
Envision Ensmision!
They just wrap up other services for a very premium price. There is no insight, no great creativity, not much of anything really. I hope they haven't captured Meta's heart to much, there is nobody at Envision I would want to trust with developing this.
The project aria glasses…
The project aria glasses aren't being released. They are a test bed for future developments. There is an article on the verge about them. The follow up, the one that can be built within budget, are several years off.
All nice stuff, but, like the vision pro, the dream is still outrunning the reality of hardware limitations.
Saying that, during meta connect there is talk of video based AI on the meta ray bans which can identify things in real time. No doubt it will be partially useful for us unless meta actually allows us to use these cool existing toys in the way that is most benefitial to us.
My bad, I'm not sure if they are the same project or device, thi
My bad, I'm not sure if they are the same project or device, this is the verge article about orion:
https://www.theverge.com/24253908/meta-orion-ar-glasses-demo-mark-zuckerberg-interview