Mark Zuckerberg’s first Metaverse interview with Lex Fridman

Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, has been pushing the boundaries of virtual reality and augmented reality with its latest products and innovations. At Meta Connect 2023, the company’s annual developer conference, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the Meta Quest 3 mixed-reality headset, the next generation of its Smart Glasses with Ray-Ban, and a slew of updates with AI, including a new Meta assistant and 28 AI characters for users to interact with on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. But perhaps the most impressive demonstration of Meta’s vision for the future of social media was Mark Zuckerberg’s first interview in the Metaverse with Lex Fridman, an AI researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the host of the Lex Fridman Podcast. The interview, which was aired on Fridman’s YouTube channel, showed the two conversing as photorealistic avatars of themselves, sitting in a virtual room that resembled Fridman’s studio.

Lex Fridman's first time inside the Metaverse

How codec avatars work

The avatars were created using Meta’s codec avatars technology, which is a deep generative model of 3D human faces that achieve state-of-the-art reconstruction performance. Both Fridman and Zuckerberg underwent extensive scans of their faces and their expressions, which were used to build computer models. The headset then helped transfer the real-time expressions that the user makes to the computer model. The result was super-realistic faces that captured subtleties in expressions and showed minute details like the 5 o’clock shadow on Fridman’s face, the freckles around Zuckerberg’s nose, and the crinkles around eyes.

Fridman was visibly amazed by the realism and presence of the experience. He said, “The realism here is just incredible… this is honestly the most incredible thing I have ever seen.” He also noted how precise the expressiveness came across, enabling him to read Zuckerberg’s body language. He even said, “I’m already forgetting that you’re not real.”

Zuckerberg said that this was one of the first times that he had used this technology for an interview, and that he was excited to share it with the world. He said that he believed that this was the future of communication, where people could feel like they are together with anyone, anywhere, in any world. He also hinted that soon, people would be able to create similar avatars using their phones, by simply forming a couple of sentences, making varied expressions, and waving the screen in front of their face for a couple of minutes to complete the scan.

Mark Zuckerberg: First Interview in the Metaverse | Lex Fridman Podcast #398

What they talked about

The Mark Zuckerberg’s first Metaverse interview with Lex Fridman interview covered a range of topics, from Meta’s vision for the Metaverse, to AI ethics and safety, to Zuckerberg’s personal interests and hobbies. The two also discussed their views on Elon Musk, who has been critical of Meta and Zuckerberg in the past. Fridman praised Zuckerberg for his optimism and courage in pursuing his dreams, while Zuckerberg complimented Fridman for his curiosity and passion for learning.

The interview was widely praised by viewers and commentators as a groundbreaking moment for VR and AR technology. Many expressed their interest and excitement to try out the codec avatars themselves, and to see what other possibilities the Metaverse could offer. Some also joked about how they would like to see other celebrities or politicians in the Metaverse, or how they would create their own avatars.

The interview was possibly the world’s first interview in the Metaverse using photorealistic avatars , and it showed how future meetings could look like in a virtual reality-based social media platform. It also showcased Meta’s leadership and innovation in creating immersive and interactive experiences that could transform how people connect, work, play, and learn.