On Wednesday, Deepwater Asset Management's Gene Munster said he still believes in Meta Platforms Inc.'s (NASDAQ:META) massive investment in Reality Labs, but a head-to-head test left him convinced the company's newest AI tools lag far behind ChatGPT.
ChatGPT Dominates Meta AI In Structured Evaluation
Munster took to X to share findings from a new comparison between Meta AI running on the company's Display smart glasses and OpenAI's AI chatbot's video conversation tool on an iPhone.
"We tested Meta AI on Meta's Display glasses against ChatGPT's video conversation tool on an iPhone," adding that the result "wasn't even close."
In a detailed note with Deepwater partner Brian Baker, Munster said the team ran 50 identical prompts through both systems. Meta AI understood roughly 90% of requests and delivered satisfying answers only about half the time.
By contrast, ChatGPT understood 100% of prompts and provided satisfactory responses 98% of the time.
"Meta AI felt like it was guessing while ChatGPT performed like an expert," the note said. The pair added that the assistant often struggled with basic comprehension and frequently ignored what was directly in front of the user.
Meta's Wearable AI Struggles With Vision and Context
According to the report, summoning Meta AI on the glasses was "harder than it should be" and the assistant frequently defaulted to generic replies instead of analyzing the live scene.
Even simple requests, such as describing an office environment or choosing between two visible items, resulted in vague or unrelated answers.
One of the clearest discrepancies appeared in what Munster called "the cartoon test." Meta AI labeled the image without insight, while ChatGPT offered a fuller explanation of the joke and context.
The note acknowledged "one bright spot": Meta AI performed well in foreign language translation and short sign recognition.
Munster Still Supports Meta's Long-Term Bet
Despite the shortcomings, Munster said he continues to support Meta's nearly $18 billion annual Reality Labs investment, arguing that AI-powered wearables will eventually become a major computing platform.
He said he agrees with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's vision. "Now comes the hard part: making it work."
Earlier this month, Munster said that despite Meta's new Display smart glasses’ impressive technology, the device still falls short on practical, day-to-day usefulness needed to appeal to mainstream consumers.
Meta's Smart Glasses May Soon Face Apple Rivalry
Meta introduced two new smart glasses at its Connect 2025 event in September — the $499 Oakley Meta Vanguard geared toward athletes and the $799 Ray-Ban Display with built-in AR capabilities.
Munster previously described the lineup as the "best bang for the buck."
The launch comes as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) prepares its next wave of XR hardware, including future Vision Pro updates and a rumored smart glasses product expected around 2027.
In June, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple could ultimately surpass Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses line, even with its slower entry into the market.
Meta holds a consensus price target of $826 based on ratings from 39 analysts. The three latest ratings from Cantor Fitzgerald, Freedom Capital Markets and TD Cowen set an average price target of $776.67, suggesting a potential 22.55% upside.
Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings show that META continues to trend lower across short, medium and long-term time frames. Click here to see how it stacks up against its industry peers.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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