Facebook-owner Meta is working on artificial intelligence (AI) research to allow people to have more natural conversations with voice assistants, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Wednesday, a step towards how people will communicate with AI in the metaverse. The company's Project CAIRaoke is "a fully end-to-end neural model for building on-device assistants," said Zuckerberg, speaking at a Meta's live-streamed AI event Wednesday.

All Bets on the Metaverse

Zuckerberg is betting that the metaverse, a futuristic idea of virtual environments where users can work, socialize and play, will be the successor to the mobile Internet.

The social media company, which recently lost a third of its market value after a dismal earnings report, has invested heavily in its new focus on building the metaverse and changed its name to reflect this ambition. This month Meta reported a 2021 net loss of $10.2 billion from its Reality Labs, the company's augmented and virtual reality business.

Meta also recently announced its research team has built a new artificial intelligence supercomputer that it thinks will be the fastest in the world when completed in mid-2022.

Zuckerberg said Meta was working on a new class of generative AI models that will allow people to describe a world and generate aspects of it.

Your Wish is Your Avatar's Command

He showcased an AI concept called Builder Bot -- which allows users to describe what they want the AI to generate. He showed a demo where he, as a legless avatar on an island, commanded AI through speech to create a beach and then add clouds, trees and even a picnic blanket.

"As we advance this technology further, you'll be able to create nuanced worlds to explore and share experiences with others, with just your voice," said Zuckerberg.