Meta’s Shachar Scott on VR, AR & the Future of Connection

We are live in Las Vegas at CES, and today I'm thrilled to welcome back Shahar Scott. She's the VP of Global Marketing at Meta Reality Labs. Shahar's been at the forefront of some of the most transformational innovations in AR, VR, and mixed reality. I'm super excited to dive in. Great to see you.

Great to see you. Thank you so much for having me.

Absolutely. So we talked, I guess, about a year, maybe a little over a year ago, and so much has happened in your space since then and the adoption of the, you know, the Ray-Ban Meta sunglasses. I think at least from where I sit has out, you know, outsized expectations. And obviously you guys are just getting started on what you're building. Would love to hear what you've been up to in the last year at really continuing to evolve in this space and then what you have your eye on here in 2025.

Yeah, it has been a very exciting year. The acceleration of which the glasses were adopted was definitely exceeded our own expectations. I think AI had a really big part of that. Yeah. And just how intuitive the glasses became, a game changer in the same way that our phones once did and our EarPods once did. This has replaced a lot of the functionality that we use in some of those devices today, such that it became a game changer.

It also didn't require any change in human behavior. People already wore sunglasses. You're not asking them to wear goggles or something that's unnatural to them. And I think that just took that barrier away.— and made it so much easier. Much like ChatGPT, you're texting like you're texting a friend. You're wearing sunglasses like you're wearing sunglasses. And I think that is a key for getting mass adoption.

Yeah, that's right. Form factor is, is so comfortable that you can wear it all day, every day. And to your point, it had to be better than what you can already do. Googling, using ChatGPT, right? This is using voice on-demand commands, allows you to just continue to live in the moment.

Yeah.

And not have to look down at your phone. In a way that I think has made that experience just exponentially better. So it's been really exciting. We also announced a long-term partnership with Luxottica, which means that you can expect a lot more— Amazing. —in the category with them. They're an amazing partner for us and excited about what's to come this year. But you'll expect more displayless glasses. And then as you heard at Connect this, this last fall, We'll also start to introduce what does display glasses look like. We talked about Orion and the future of what that technology will allow us to do in the space. And so these things will have a crawl, walk, run, if you will, roadmap. And just the success of the Ray-Ban Meta Glasses just allowed us to do 10 times more.

So let's unpack a couple of things you said. So when you say display technology, basically, you'll be able to see an overlay into what you're looking at. Is that kind of where it's going? Yep.

So what are some use cases of that? Messaging is a very clear one. Information that you need. Directions. Directions. Exactly. Yeah. So, and that's all stuff that you can do today with the glasses using audio. So using live translation, I can look at a menu in Spanish, have it translated for me into English audio. You can imagine a world in which very soon that would actually overlay in English a different version of the menu for you.

I mean, it could be obviously if the consumer opts in, you're walking around a conference like CES and you're superimposing who that person is and how you're connected to them. I mean, do you see that's where it's going?

Yeah. I mean, I think that there's obviously privacy.

I know it's really important, but people opt in.

Yes, right. It won't be able to facially recognize people in that same way. So it wouldn't be able to tell me that's Matt Britton. I know him from this, this or this. But what it will do is if I'm looking at ingredients, tell me what recipe I can make and show me a picture book of a recipe that I can follow along easily and cook that meal for my kids.

Or you're looking at an apartment in a trendy neighborhood and you're like, I wonder how much that costs. Totally. Yeah. You can do that too. Yes. Yep. So you mentioned AI and how that is kind of making this, obviously with voice. I think one thing with voice is you look at Siri and Alexa and it never really took off the way we thought because it it really wasn't reliable. Now those tools are getting better, you know, and Amazon announced a partnership with Anthropic to make, you know, they're better baked in with AI. So I think voice is getting better. And I think as an owner of the Ray-Ban Meta Glasses, I, you know, the voice application is just so intuitive. Besides voice, what are some of the ways that AI can make this experience better moving forward?

Yeah, I mean, I think for me it is about, and for Meta, it's about personalization. Yeah. So depending on what use case you're using it for, you'll be able to use voice voice, and then over time neural interface to make sure that you're prompting the AI in a way that is allowing you to do what you're going to do.

What's neural interface mean?

It allows you to do it using wrist control. Oh, wow. Yeah. And so that's a big part of the technology that Mark introduced with Orion is bringing that voice option, something that is more comfortable to do when you're in public because you might not be able to, when you're riding the subway, use a voice command. Sure. Right? You don't want other people to necessarily hear that. Right. And so it would allow you to do that more seamlessly.

So how far do you see this going in terms of like, do you see a world where kids are in a classroom and based upon where they are in a learning curriculum, seeing certain things in their glasses? Like, wow, I just can see so many applications, especially with personalization AI. To it to really be a companion and a digital kind of view to your life?

Yeah, I mean, I, I don't have a crystal ball, but I, I think that seems like you do. I mean, um, sometimes no, but I, I do think that there's a productivity angle to what you just described, and certainly education, um, has a lot of form factors that would benefit from that. I think we're a little ways away from that.

What's a little ways? 2 years or 10? I don't know, right?

I don't know. I mean, I think, well, I think a lot of the research that we're seeing, a lot of the work that we're doing is to help accelerate that and, and to really understand how consumers are using it to improve it and make it more seamless. We're, we're building a very open ecosystem so that we can have developers helping us.

I was going to ask you about that.

Yeah. And we believe in that. And, and I think that's been true from day one at Meta. And so, I mean, TBD if it'll be 2 years or 10 years, but I think it's, I think it's not in the not long distant future, right?

So basically a world where you have partners, a developer ecosystem, building applications for these wearables for all sorts of different things, whether it be for a police force or whether it be for students or gaming or being at an NFL game.

Yeah, and we see that on Quest today. So yeah, we partnered with Lufthansa where they use VR and MR to train pilots on how to navigate different flight patterns and storms. And, um, Walmart uses it for training their employees at scale because they have so many employees. Sure. And so there are a lot of use cases that VR and MR is a better form factor for. I think over time we'll see AR display glasses take shape.

Yeah. So in terms of VR, which is a much more immersive experience, um, obviously Apple rolled out their Vision Pro. It was expensive, you know. Um, I think that I wasn't surprised to see it wasn't a smash hit because, you know, they just— it was, it was round one. But obviously with the Quest product, it's It has gained adoption since the acquisition occurred. Where is that space in its adoption curve with consumers? 'Cause unlike the sunglasses, that does require a little bit of a consumer shift. And the, the cases you mentioned are more edge use cases. Yeah. But do you see that becoming more mainstream anytime soon?

I do. And I think that Quest has proven that. So what, what we've seen on Meta Quest is the breadth of reasons why somebody would love that experience. Yes, gaming, obviously we've got the biggest catalog in the world of experiences that you can play for free. And with IP owners like Beat Saber and Batman we launched this holiday. But we see fitness as another huge segment. Yeah. So Supernatural FitXR, you can work out with Jane Fonda and Paris Hilton and all your favorite trainers to entertainment, to sports. As you said, our partnership with NFL, Pro Era NBA, you can watch every game courtside, but sit couchside in your own living room.

You see Sphere here in Vegas and what it showed in the Cosm. It's like people want to be immersed more. Totally. And it's right, it's all part of the same thing. Yeah.

And Cosimax is a great, uh, partner of ours. We really, um, yes, we partnered with Wrexham and, um, brought their stadium and also all their games into Quest. So cool. Yeah. So it is, there is different use cases for that immersive experience, entertainment being one that is another breadth use case that is really important to us. So I think that we see that adoption with, with Quest, people using it every day for different reasons. And of course productivity, Um, but, you know, I think that is what we're creating with AI glasses as well because the form factor is so comfortable. Yeah. And you can wear it all day. Yeah. Right now, Quest, you can wear it for 2, 3 hours. Right. You know, so I, I think that's, that middle ground is what we're trying to figure out. Yeah.

So of course we've talked a lot about entertainment and different types of applications, but, you know, your company owns 3 of the most important communication channels in history, obviously, Instagram and Facebook and WhatsApp, among others. Where do they fit into these experiences?

Yeah, so they are fully integrated in that using the glasses today, I can create content that I can then share on any of those channels. I can also video call using WhatsApp, send a text, a message using that. So they're fully integrated as well as, as I mentioned, open ecosystem. We've got Shazam, we've got Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music. The Calm app, so lots of other apps as well. Again, things that you would be doing anyways with AirPods that now is just way more enhanced experience with the glasses. And then with Quest, same thing into Horizon. You can text a friend using WhatsApp and Messenger while you're playing a game. Matt, let's play Beat Saber together. And so it's, again, how you would be using those features without having to take your phone out and do it. We're trying to integrate that technology just make it super seamless into the hardware.

So you got me hooked on the product when we talked last time. As I told you, I got one for all my execs. And like this summer, like, I was in the pool taking calls and no one knew, you know. And it's just like, there's just so many little cool use cases where the music, the sound, it's, it's all really great. And I'm the type of person where after I start using it, I always start to think ahead. And I start to think ahead as like, well, is this the future of the phone? Like why do people need to carry around a phone in this pocket if this goes to where, especially with the advancements that we've talked about. Yeah. Like how much time do you spend thinking about what your plan is this year versus where it's gonna be in 5 and 10, 10 years? Because this is something in here feels like the future to me. Yeah. Unlike any other product, you just kind of tell that this is kind of where it's going. A lot of people have talked about contact lenses for a while. Yeah. That has a lot more, you know, um, complications with that technology. But I'd love to know like where you spend your time thinking.

Yeah, I mean, I think as a company we have, you know, spent a lot of time seeing around corners and to Mark's credit, he's brilliant at that. And I mean, a lot of the work that we do is longer term. And so taking that roadmap, backing out of it, what are the different milestones that we have to take in order to achieve that outcome? Backing out of that. And so there are going to be multiple generations of this before we get to a place where it could replace potentially your device. Right. And I think every time that we launch a new device, even in order for this to have been successful, Ray-Ban Stories had to happen. Yeah. Even though that wasn't adopted in the way that we would have hoped. Right. But we had to have first gen in order to have second gen be success, and second will lead to third, etc. So a lot of what we do is plan ahead. But there's so much data that we're collecting and understanding about how consumers are enjoying and loving and using the product today. That'll help inform that.

Yeah. And of course, like Facebook and Instagram, like those companies grew, those brands grew on the notion of like people sharing experiences. Yeah. And this ultimately is like, it's just built for that in such an easy way that keeps you in the moment, et cetera. Are you seeing adoption with this product with creators in terms of how they're going and capturing their own worldview?

Yeah. Yeah. And actually that has been some of the most fun that I've had on this job is, um,— and it's truly a privilege to work where I am sitting right now at Meta. But, you know, the inbound of creators, I'm already doing this. So— On their own. We've had Tyla. You know, she shot her entire music video for "Water" on RBMs. Oh, that's awesome. We worked with Matthew Vaughn. He wanted to create the first action film shot exclusively on the glasses. We shot an entire stunt film with him. Wow. Using only the glasses. We had a concert in Brooklyn with Busta Rhymes where he wanted to connect with his fans without seeing a sea of phones. We had a 600-person hands-free, phone-free concert. No way. That's so cool. Coi Leray was there. It was amazing. That matters.

'Cause we, I was in the event last night and they made everyone cover up their phones and it was like such a cool party. Like it changes things.

It takes you— All you see are screens. And so that human connection that creators are able to have with their fans to completely change is when you can see someone's face. Yeah. So that has been a transformative experience, and we've used that content, used those experiences to actually educate consumers about the device. Yeah. And they're not only trusted influencers, but it— there's an authenticity built into that that isn't— that is very different than us creating, you know, marketing for the sake of the product, which we're doing both. But I think the as much as we can do authentically with creators, the better. For sure. So we've got, um, musicians, as, as I said, you know, creators, chefs, you name it, they're all using it differently and we're capturing that content and really, um, working with them to tell that story.

Wow. So obviously in order for you to keep growing this, you need partners, you need use cases, and you also need the technology to evolve, right? Yeah. And so how much time are you spending with the product team, with the engineers to truly understand what's possible?

Yeah, I mean, a lot. And I think that Ray-Ban was a perfect brand to start with because it is universal, right? It is. A lot of their designs and styles are actually worn by both genders. So it gave us a very wide net. Yeah, it is a very well-known iconic brand, almost 100 years of a heritage brand and perfect partnership. Perfect partnership. Very lifestyle fashion. Iconic. Yeah. That is one use case and it can be for every day. You can imagine that there are other brands that would allow us to do other things in sport and performance and fashion and luxury that Ray-Ban might not be a fit for. So that's what you're going to see us do more of, is proliferate with other brands. That's going to allow us to be something that can truly be for everyone. Yeah. And to my point of personalization, something that you'll want to wear every day, all day, it's got to fit into what you're doing, of course, with it. So that's really exciting.

Yeah, I mean, a big trend I often talk about is the trend of quantified self, where, you know, you're wearing the Oura Ring or the Whoop band or the Apple Watch, and you're— or, or, you know, a connected pillow, and it's connect— it's collecting all this data on your body. And in the past, you'd look at it, but you don't know what to do with it. But now with AI, it can synthesize all these data points and tell you what it means or how it's trending or how you benchmark, etc. So the ability to collect data is so important. So when you look at other wearables, obviously there's nothing going to be better in terms of content capture than the glasses, unless you guys have something up your sleeve that I'm not thinking of. But like, is it going to be more in the realm of collect more data so you can synthesize a broader experience?

Yeah, and, and, and to your question about like, how do we work with product and engineering, I mean, we are getting a lot of inbound, like, oh, I wish I could do this, or I tried it doing this um, for example, from an OEM manufacturer, um, and also just with like use cases. So like, for example, um, wearing it skiing right now, if it's— if you're wearing it outside in a very, very freezing temperature, battery's not going to last long, right? So that's one use case feedback that we're getting from consumers using this product today for something that we could probably improve in the future.

Yeah, using GoPros, but that—

it's so much cheaper, right? Exactly. Yeah. So we're We are getting a lot of that inbound data from the consumers that are using it today saying, oh, I wish it could do this. So that is informing a lot of our product strategy. And then as you mentioned, I think with OEMs and just the proliferation of data and accessibility, we'll be able to do a lot more with our partners to get more people to have them, bundles, et cetera.

Are you seeing this as a product that's primarily like a Gen Z product? Are you getting adoption from people of all ages?

Yeah, it runs the gamut for sure. Um, and it's not just for Gen Z. We're seeing, um, athletes use it. We're seeing CEOs like me. Exactly. Um, moms like me. So yeah, I mean, it is, it is definitely proliferated beyond Gen Z. I think that there's, again, with form factor, the price point, $299, like it, it is affordable, but we'll need to do even more to get it more affordable. Yeah. For everyone. And that is where we're heading. For sure.

So how much time are you thinking, spending about consumer behavior and different ways that consumers are evolving the way they live in this crazy world we're in, especially here at CES? You're seeing the future. So you understand really like, will— where will your vision and what's possible meet what consumers actually want to do? Because like when Google Glass— I— they sent me one of the first Google Glasses years ago and it was so cool, but way before its time. Yeah, right. So part of it is you don't want to be too early. You want to make sure that you can be there just to the right time.

Yeah, yeah. We, we have an amazing research team up in Redmond, and, um, they are running the gamut, you know, across accessibility, um, health. I mean, all the different facets of what will help us to diversify, like, the offering that the glasses provide, but also the use cases, the different segments that we'll want to reach. Um, and so they are just a constant funnel of information for us. And then again, we're, we're getting that constant feedback from consumers that are using it today to better understand how can we improve it, what do they care about, how can we make onboarding, like, reduce any friction.

So awesome. So let's shift gears a little bit, um, as we wrap up. I want to hear more about your role and what is like more specifically the work at Meta, Facebook, like, because it's obviously one of the most impactful companies in our lifetime and so many twists and turns the company has gone through from a political standpoint and this and that. And yet it continues to innovate and perform really well, etc. What's it like to work there and what does a normal day look like for you?

There is no normal day. No, I mean, it's a great question. I mean, honestly, it is truly a privilege and I mean that. I feel like I'm in the right time, right place, right role. With the Ray-Ban Meta Glasses, obviously the partnership with Luxottica is really important to us. So a big part of my, my role, my day-to-day is aligning with our stakeholders, both externally as well as internally, working with XFNs, our product team, our engineers, product marketing, data science, analytics, the whole gamut. And then with Quest, it's also working with developers, and really understanding what are they making for consumers. And so a lot of partner and stakeholder management is a big part of my, my role. I have a global team. So I'm also understanding how our products being used in different cultures, different people, how can we accelerate that in new markets? So it's, it's both like learning and doing. Yeah, I mean, it is, it is truly like, I feel like I'm the luckiest person in the world.

Well, you've earned it. On the consumer front, the consumer marketing front. How are people finding out about your products? I know that obviously Ray-Ban sells them. I know they're on Amazon. I mean, are you, are you thinking of new ways to make sure that you have an omnichannel approach to make sure that— because I think a big part of this, just the more people see it, they want it. And yeah, I would imagine one of the issues is like it's not always clear to the other— like everyone knows what AirPods look like. So they were— that became their best marketing channel is just everyone saw them, everyone's wearing it. With these, you don't know that they're wearing one of your glasses versus a regular. So how do you think about consumer marketing and distribution.

Yeah, we're building categories, we're building brands, and we're also educating consumers on the use cases and how this can fit into their life, enhance what they're already doing, make it better. Um, to your point, it— I'll still wear my AirPods when I'm traveling because I want that noise canceling until these offer that, right? But for making phone calls, listening to music, everything else, like, this is the device that I use every single day. So Educating consumers on that is a big part of what we do, but we're also building a category of products. As you said, before us there was Spectacles and Glass. Yeah. This is better. This is different. And so—

And the timing's right. The timing is right.

And we're learning from, you know, past, but also creating a whole new category. Those devices did not include AI. Yeah. It's— there's a different form factor now, but also a different user behavior that we're seeing among consumers. Of course. So So that is a big part of what our team is doing and also doing it at scale. Like we've got half the world using our family of apps every single day. And how are we going to continue to build the tech that, that creates and fosters that human connection through the hardware and software?

Yeah, for sure. So we're here at CES. Um, anything that you've run into or talked about in terms of innovation for 2025 that is piquing your interest right now?

Yeah, I mean, I, I walked the floor yesterday and, um, with the glasses, of course, so I could be hands-free. Um, I mean, obviously, like, AI is, is everywhere. And I think, um, this will be a very pivotal year for AI and how, for sure, how people not only adopt it, but, but to my point on personalization, to really figure out what does that mean for them and use it in ways that they maybe didn't know that they were going to use it in that way, and then it just becomes such a natural behavior that they can't live without it.

So it makes their life better. Totally.

Yeah, I mean, I think for me that's been the biggest takeaway, is wearable tech that is smart and intuitive and personalized.

Awesome. So to wrap up here, um, what are some of the ways that you're trying to improve personally? Um, because obviously you work at a very competitive company, you're probably working with some of the smartest people in the world, you have to be on your game right? And obviously you are. How are you able to stay in your game? What do you— what does your professional fitness regimen look like, so to speak?

Love this question. Um, I mean, I'm a voracious consumer. Like, I do try everything. I consume a lot of our peer and competitor products to understand what consumers might want from us and how can we complement what they're already doing. So I think that for me has always been— I've been, you know, a student of technology for my whole life. Yeah. And you're passionate about it. Yeah. And I love seeing how my kids use it and how they've known from a very young age to swipe and pinch and pull all the things, all the gestures. Watching them use the technology too is just like very intuitive.

Yeah. And built-in focus group. Totally.

And informed, uh, for how we should talk about things. Right. And so for me, it is, it is being consumer, but also watching consumers use our products and really understand how we can make them better. Yeah.

Awesome. So to wrap up here, you may remember, we usually ask our guests if there's a quote or mantra that guides their professional journey. What comes to mind for you? Oh my gosh.

I would like to say, like, if there's a word for this year, it's thriving. I'd like our team to thrive. I want our products to thrive. I want the world to thrive. There's just a lot going on right now. So I'll leave you with the word thrive.

I love that. Well, I hope you thrive in 2025 and beyond. I have no doubt you will. So thanks so much for joining us today.

Thank you so much for having me. Absolutely.

On behalf of Suzy and I, we team— thanks again to the great, innovative Shahar Scott, VP of Global Marketing for Meta Reality Labs, for joining us today live in Las Vegas. We'll see you soon. Be sure to subscribe, rate, and review the Speed of Culture podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Bye-bye.