Joanna Stern’s sit-down with Mark Zuckerberg: Muse, smart glasses, AI risk, and Meta’s next move

# Overview

Stern's interview previews the themes Zuckerberg presented on stage and expands on how he describes Meta's direction: making AI a personal, always-available assistant embedded in everyday devices, including glasses.

# How Zuckerberg answered the AI-risk question

Stern asked whether AI could end humanity. Zuckerberg framed safety as an internal responsibility: each lab should take the time it needs to address issues, and companies can police themselves. He did not call for industrywide coordination. That stance signals Meta's preference for company-led safety practices over formal cross-industry restraint.

# The new products Stern saw

Stern also described hands-on time at Menlo Park and the company's broader device lineup, including VR glasses. The experience is presented as a push toward tighter integration of AI into always-on personal devices rather than a focus on a distant spatial computing future.

# Trust, privacy, and the "pervert glasses" backlash

Stern pressed Zuckerberg about privacy and public skepticism. She referenced critics who labeled Meta's Glasses as "pervert glasses." Zuckerberg dismissed the uproar in interviews, repeating that the company intends to design with safety and control in mind. Stern framed the underlying issue this way: the vision requires Meta to have unusually intimate access to users' lives, so trust is the central barrier to adoption.

Zuckerberg compared Meta's strategic pivot to a historical Apple analogy: Apple started with touchscreen tablets but pivoted to make the phone the dominant product. His point was that metaverse work was not wrong, but AI has become a bigger immediate opportunity for mainstream consumer adoption.

Stern and related coverage place Meta among four major consumer-AI players. The interview and Meta's product rollouts argue that Meta's strengths are focus and product execution. Where some companies may be more diffuse, Meta is betting that tight consumer products wrapping AI will determine market winners if model-level moats prove weak.

# Bottom line

• Stern conducted an exclusive video interview released around Meta Connect.
• Topics included AI risk, Muse, audio-only Ray-Ban glasses, VR glasses, and trust.
• Zuckerberg emphasized lab-level responsibility for safety rather than calling for cross-company coordination.
• He used an Apple/tablet-to-phone analogy to explain Meta's shift toward AI-first products.