Meta chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth used his Instagram to provide a more technical explanation for why multiple demos of Meta’s new smart glasses technology failed at the company’s developer conference this week. Meta had introduced three new pairs of smart glasses on Wednesday: an upgraded version of its existing Ray-Ban Meta, a new Ray-Ban Display with a wristband controller, and the sports-focused Oakley Meta Vanguard.
During the event, a demo with cooking content creator Jack Mancuso failed when the AI in his glasses skipped ahead in a recipe. In a separate demo, the glasses failed to pick up a live WhatsApp video call between Bosworth and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. At the time, Zuckerberg joked that the Wi-Fi might be to blame.
A Self-Inflicted Technical Glitch
Following the event, Bosworth clarified that the issue with the chef’s glasses was not a Wi-Fi problem, but rather a mistake in resource management. When the chef said, “Hey, Meta, start Live AI,” it triggered every single pair of Ray-Ban Meta glasses in the building to activate the feature. Bosworth explained that this created a massive flood of traffic that overwhelmed the development server, a type of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. “So we DDoS’d ourselves, basically, with that demo,” he said. He added that the team had not anticipated this level of activation during rehearsals.
A Bug in the System
The failed WhatsApp call, on the other hand, was the result of a new and previously unseen bug. According to Bosworth, the smart glasses’ display had gone to sleep at the exact moment the call came in. When Zuckerberg woke the display, it did not show the answer notification. Bosworth described this as a “race condition” bug, a type of software glitch where the outcome depends on the unpredictable timing of two or more processes. He stressed that the team had “never run into that bug before” and that it was a “terrible, terrible place for that bug to show up.” Despite the issues, Bosworth remained confident, stating, “I know the product works. I know it has the goods. So it really was just a demo fail and not, like, a product failure.”
Author’s Opinion
Bosworth’s candid explanation offers a valuable lesson in the unscripted reality of live technology demos. While the technical failures were undoubtedly embarrassing, the transparency from the CTO could help build trust with a skeptical audience. The incidents highlight the immense complexity of integrating new AI and hardware into a real-world environment, and they serve as a reminder that even for a tech giant, a product’s flawless performance in a controlled lab setting does not guarantee a perfect launch on stage. This experience demonstrates the fine line between showcasing cutting-edge innovation and the unpredictable nature of new technology, where a seemingly minor bug or oversight can bring a high-stakes presentation to a halt.
Featured image credit: Wikimedia Commons
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