On Wednesday, at Meta Platforms, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:META) Connect 2025 event, Mark Zuckerberg's live demos of new AI-powered glasses stumbled twice onstage, prompting analyst Gene Munster to warn of backlash while applauding the CEO's willingness to showcase products in real time.
Live Cooking Demo Goes Off Script
Zuckerberg invited food creator Jack Mancuso onstage to demonstrate how the upgraded Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses could assist with cooking.
Mancuso asked the AI for step-by-step instructions to make a Korean-inspired steak sauce. Instead of responding directly, the glasses repeated lines about soy sauce and sesame oil, skipping over the basics.
Mancuso joked that Wi-Fi was to blame, handing the stage back to Zuckerberg as the audience offered encouragement.
"The irony of the whole thing is that you spend years making technology and then the WiFi at the day catches you," Zuckerberg said.
Ray-Ban Display Demo Falters
The second stumble came during a demo of the Meta Ray-Ban Display, which adds a heads-up display to show notifications and navigation.
Using a neural wristband, Zuckerberg tried repeatedly to answer a video call from Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth. The hand motions failed until Bosworth appeared onstage to help.
"This WiFi is brutal," Bosworth said. Zuckerberg added, "You practice these things like 100 times, and then, you never know what's going to happen."
Munster Reacts To Demo ‘Bombs'
Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, weighed in on social media after the keynote.
"$META will get heat for the demo bombs," he wrote. "I applaud Zuck for ‘doing it live.' Bill O'Reilly must be proud."
High-Profile Demo Failures Are Not New
Meta is not alone in facing awkward onstage moments.
In 2019, Tesla's Cybertruck reveal turned infamous when its "armored" windows shattered during a demo.
Back in 2010, Steve Jobs struggled with Wi-Fi during an iPhone 4 presentation.
In 2023, Google faced backlash after its Bard chatbot delivered an incorrect answer at launch.
Such slip-ups can fuel skepticism but also show the challenges of integrating emerging technology into consumer-ready products.
Price Action: Meta shares slipped 0.42% to $775.72 on Wednesday but edged up 0.71% in pre-market trading on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro.
Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings show that META continues on an upward trend across short, medium and long-term horizons, with further performance insights available here.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Photo courtesy: Frederic Legrand – COMEO / Shutterstock.com
