Meta’s Augmented Reality moves ahead of glasses

Hey sleepyhead,

Happy Monday. Here at Yawn, we celebrate this day of the week much like Michael Scott celebrates his own birthday; all gas, no brake; no matter how much everyone else doesn’t wanna be here.

Let’s keep that same energy, shall we?

Today’s agenda:

• Meta’s Augmented Reality plans ahead of glasses 🧐

• Top tech companies betting billions on AI 🎰

• Why billionaire Asana CEO scoops up shares of own company 🍨

• US & UK fighter pilot training to mix real jets with AR 🛩

🧐 Meta advancing AR tech with Ireland’s Tyndall institute

The release of AR/VR glasses from Meta is an announcement we would love to be making this morning. Unfortunately, they’re just not quite there. Not yet.

However, moves are being made by the Cali-based company. Meta has announced a four-year research program with deep-tech research institute Tyndall located in Ireland to advance Augmented Reality technology.

Meta will invest €5 million in this project, which will focus on key AR technologies, including the investigation of the efficiency of microLED, microdisplay-based systems. The project will be led by Tyndall’s Professor Paul Hurley, who was previously appointed as Meta's Industrial Chair in Semiconductor Technologies.

🎰 Top tech companies betting billions on AI

This one’ll be short n’ sweet, but here’s a quick breakdown of the moolah being dropped on AI by the big tech bois:

• Dropbox: $50 million

• AWS: $100 million

• Workday: $200 million

• Salesforce: $500 million

• PwC: $1 billion

• Accenture: $5 billion

• Microsoft: $13 billion (into OpenAI)

That’s roughly $20 billion that’s being committed to AI by only 7 companies!

That’s not even including the likes of Apple, IBM, Meta, Google, or Oracle 🤯

Pretty nuts.

🍨 Why billionaire Asana CEO scooping up shares of his own company

Asana's co-founder, Dustin Moskovitz, deviated from the typical tech founder playbook by increasing his ownership in the company instead of reducing it. His ownership in Asana reached over 51% of outstanding stock after a buying spree that included the purchase of additional shares.

Apparently, his push for increased ownership is driven by his desire to invest in supporting his philanthropic efforts, particularly in the field of AI. Moskovitz and his wife, through their organization Good Ventures, focus on donating funds to areas related to AI safety and governance.

Moskovitz sees AI as a significant risk and has contributed substantial amounts to organizations such as OpenAI and research institutions working on AI safety measures. In expressing his mixed emotions about AI, Moskovitz coined the term "Excito-nervous for AI”.

🛩 US & UK fighter pilot training to mix real jets with AR

Red 6, a veteran-founded AR tech company, has joined forces with Lockheed Martin, Royal Air Force, Korea Aerospace Industries, and the US Navy to supply augmented reality technologies in support of the military flight training.

The augmented reality technology (also known as Advanced Tactical Augmented Reality System or ‘ATARS’) developed by Red 6, allows fighter pilots to engage in realistic training environments while flying real jets, overlaying real-world-feeling targets on their field of vision.

Traditional training methods have limitations, such as a limited number of opponent aircraft, high costs ($100K/hr per plane), and unequal training opportunities for pilots. This technology, however, enables pilots to train against a larger number of opponents and simulate scenarios with sophisticated enemy capabilities at a much smaller cost.

With the addition of the ATARS system, Red 6 can simulate limitless dynamic environments, render entire landscapes, and create a persistent, continuous, and synchronized AR military metaverse for training.

The ATARS system has the potential to be used in other Lockheed Martin platforms like the F-16, F-22, and F-35 in the future.

This is how future Mavericks will be made…

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Til the next one,
Roberto Nickson & Colby Shelton