In October 2021, amid a pandemic still marked by widespread mask use, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, announced a radical transformation: the company would be renamed Meta and would focus on the metaverse, an immersive digital environment inspired by science fiction, where virtual reality would allow for the replication of everyday activities like socializing, working, or traveling, all through VR glasses. Zuckerberg expressed his desire for Meta to be recognized as a metaverse-focused company, anchoring its identity in building this digital future. However, four years later, the ambitious project has not taken off, and the company's attention has shifted to generative artificial intelligence, a booming sector. According to Bloomberg, Meta plans to significantly cut investment in Reality Labs, the division responsible for the metaverse, where nearly €70 billion has been invested over the past four years without tangible results. The reduction is estimated to reach 30% and may involve layoffs. The term "metaverse" has lost prominence even within the company, which barely mentions it at events like Meta Connect, where artificial intelligence and virtual reality take center stage. Edgar Martín-Blas, CEO of Spatial Voyagers and a collaborator with Meta in developing the metaverse, considers the divestment logical. He states that the concept is "burned out and has fallen behind," and that the strategy made sense in 2021 when society still maintained pandemic habits like remote work and the virtualization of personal relationships. Over time, in-person interaction regained ground, and interest in the metaverse faded. The limited commercial success of the Meta Quest headsets confirms this trend: they remain niche products, and their sales have declined, according to Meta itself. In contrast, the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, equipped with AI for taking photos, recording videos, listening to music, and chatting with a chatbot, have tripled their sales in a year. The company expects to sell ten million units annually starting in 2026. In September, Zuckerberg introduced the Ray-Ban Meta Display, a new version with a high-resolution screen that allows users to check messages, contextual information, and notifications, all thanks to Meta's Llama AI. Martín-Blas argues that the future lies in smart glasses with AI, which could replace mobile phones and transform how we access information, projecting it directly in front of our eyes. Throughout 2025, Meta has intensified its focus on artificial intelligence, attracting talent from companies like Google and OpenAI, and announcing multimillion-dollar investments to develop so-called "superintelligence," a technology aimed at surpassing human intellectual capacity. To this end, Meta has created the Superintelligence Lab, a new laboratory dedicated to this goal. Zuckerberg recently highlighted that the AI glasses division has had a promising start and that if they seize the opportunity, the coming years will be the most exciting in the company's history. All signs point to resources previously allocated to the metaverse being redirected toward artificial intelligence and the development of new smart glasses. (Source: abc.es)