Meta Expands AI Access on Ray-Ban Smart Glasses in Europe

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers a speech, as a pair of Ray-Ban smart glasses appear on screen, during the Meta Connect event at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, US, September 27, 2023. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers a speech, as a pair of Ray-Ban smart glasses appear on screen, during the Meta Connect event at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, US, September 27, 2023. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
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Meta Expands AI Access on Ray-Ban Smart Glasses in Europe

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers a speech, as a pair of Ray-Ban smart glasses appear on screen, during the Meta Connect event at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, US, September 27, 2023. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers a speech, as a pair of Ray-Ban smart glasses appear on screen, during the Meta Connect event at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, US, September 27, 2023. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo

Meta Platforms said on Wednesday it is expanding access to its artificial intelligence assistant, Meta AI, on Ray-Ban smart glasses to seven additional European countries.

People in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland will now be able to interact with Meta AI using voice prompts to get answers to general questions, the Facebook and Instagram parent said.

Meta launched its AI technology in Europe in March, a rollout that was initially announced in June last year but was delayed following regulatory concerns on data protection and privacy.

While Meta AI was launched in the US in 2023, its release in Europe faced several hurdles due to the European Union's stringent privacy and transparency rules, Reuters reported.

Sprucing up its wearable technology with AI capabilities could help Meta attract new users at a time when the company is investing billions of dollars in bolstering its AI infrastructure.

Meta said the expansion will also include a live translation feature, which is being broadly rolled out in its markets.

It will be releasing a feature, where people can ask Meta AI about the things they are looking at and get real-time responses, in supported countries in the EU starting next week.

The company updated Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses with AI video capability and real-time language translation functionality in December 2024.

Meta had first announced the features during its annual Connect conference in September last year.



Microsoft Pledges to Protect European Operations, Unveils Data Center Expansion

A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
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Microsoft Pledges to Protect European Operations, Unveils Data Center Expansion

A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. (Reuters)

Microsoft pledged Wednesday to fight any US government order to halt data center operations in Europe as it sought to soothe concerns among European customers that trans-Atlantic tensions would lead to service disruptions.

The company's president, Brad Smith, said it's not something that officials are talking about in Washington, D.C. but it is a “real concern” for Microsoft's customers across Europe, which include governments.

President Donald Trump has stoked tensions between the US and Europe with his tariff-fueled trade war, and alarmed European leaders with policy changes, including pausing intelligence sharing with Ukraine, that throw into doubt his administration's commitment to the trans-Atlantic relationship, The AP news reported.

Smith, speaking at an event in Brussels, tried to allay concerns as he announced that the company was expanding data center operations across Europe.

“What we want Europeans to know is that they can count on us,” he said in a speech.

“In the unlikely event we are ever ordered by any government anywhere in the world to suspend or cease cloud operations in Europe, we are committing that Microsoft will promptly and vigorously contest such a measure using all legal avenues available, including by pursuing litigation in court,” Smith wrote in a Wednesday blog post.

He noted that Microsoft has experience fighting lawsuits from the previous Trump administration as well as from former President Barack Obama’s administration.

“If we ever find ourselves losing we will put in place business continuity arrangements” that include storing computer code in Switzerland that European partners can access, he said.

Microsoft is making five digital commitments to Europe, including increasing its data center capacity by 40 in 16 countries over the next two years, Smith said. The expansion will cost tens of billions of dollars annually. Smith declined to be more specific about the cost when asked by reporters.

The expansion comes amid calls for Europe to assert tech and data sovereignty by weaning itself off reliance from big US cloud data service providers, including Microsoft, Amazon and, to a lesser extent, Google.

“Given recent geopolitical volatility, we recognize that European governments likely will consider additional options,” and Microsoft is committed to collaborating with European companies, Smith said.