The news: Meta Connect, the company’s annual developer conference that starts Wednesday, will highlight how it’s weaving AI, VR/AR hardware, and ad technology across its platforms.

Meta is expected to shift its multibillion-dollar bet from VR to smart glasses. The company will unveil Hypernova—its first $800 consumer smart glasses that are a step closer to its $10,000 Orion concept demoed a year ago. 

Hypernova builds on the success of the Ray-Ban Meta line, integrates AI assistants, and represents Meta’s clearest shot yet at creating a mass-market wearable platform.

However, Meta has already burned through nearly $70 billion on Reality Labs since 2020, and investors remain skeptical that another hardware push—no matter how polished—will deliver returns fast enough to justify the spend.

AI and ads remain the core engine: Meta has poured billions into AI talent and $14.3 billion into Scale AI, betting returns will come from smarter ad tools, tighter measurement, and AI assistants that keep users locked in.

For Meta, harnessing its AI braintrust should be the clear focus.

• 62% of US ad buyers will prioritize generative AI (genAI) in 2025, per IAB, making it one of the top three areas of investment alongside cross-platform measurement (64%) and attribution modeling (61%). 
• By contrast, only 12% of ad buyers plan to increase focus on metaverse efforts, with half saying it’s not a priority at all. 

That aligns with Meta’s roadmap: embedding AI assistants in feeds, automating campaign creative, and refining attribution to deliver more measurable ROI.

Our take: Meta is shifting from experimental hardware to AI as the company’s true growth engine. Smart glasses may grab headlines, but the near-term payoff—and competitive edge—will come from campaigns built on AI. 

The bigger test is whether Meta can fuse its hardware, AI, and ad products into a cohesive platform that justifies its massive spending and persuades both consumers and advertisers to buy in.