Is artificial intelligence going to take over the world? Is augmented reality the future reality? Are films like WALL-E predictive programming to normalize futuristic technology? Where is our world headed?
Over the last year alone, technological innovations in artificial intelligence have developed exponentially; now “chatbots” like ChatGPT or Grok can write scripts, create art, and answer a person’s questions on nearly any topic with staggering accuracy in just seconds.
Today, Apple announced that the Apple Vision Pro would be available for pre-sale beginning on January 19th. The Vision Pro looks like virtual reality (VR) goggles but with superior processing and computing speed. Inside the goggles are two screens made out of 23 million pixels — 64 times the pixel density of an iPhone.
Spatial computing is something that futuristic movies have depicted for some time, and something that Google attempted to make a reality. In 2013 Google introduced the Google Glasses, an augmented reality product, but the public was not quite ready for it.
Now, Apple’s new augmented reality device could very well be the replacement for smartphones in the future. Currently, there is no device like the Vision Pro on the market. The technological advancement in these goggles is unlike anything we’ve seen; the processing chips, censors, and cameras are top-of-the-line. The goggles also feature 3D cameras that capture in real-time what you look like and the space around you. Externally, the screen over the goggles can show what your eyes look like.
With machine learning technology, the goggles can replicate your face and facial movements, identifying movement and shape for video calls and replicating what you look like.
To control the headset device, the infrared sensors and cameras enable you to use your eye movements and hand movements. Your eye movements track what you want to select within the augmented reality.
This new innovation, and the others that are all but guaranteed to follow, spell disaster for human interaction, which has already plummeted devastatingly low. It reeks of a future dystopia, and that future may be closer than we fear.
