Google Disrupts Itself With AI Mode. The search giant has launched a new search service that responds to queries with answers instead of links. If natural language is the new operating interface, and agents the ones doing the shopping, what good are links anyway? What’s the value of a click when mostly bots are doing the clicking? Google’s “innovator’s dilemma,” writes Shelly Palmer, is, as the industry leader, how does it both protect its 200 million dollar legacy business from disruption from the likes of OpenAI and Perplexity, while staying on offense. In essence, to retain dominance in search, or whatever comes after, Google must disrupt itself before someone else does.
Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025 wrapped up in Barcelona. Like CES in two months ago, AI was everywhere. Audio and video smart glasses made a strong showing, sporting new AI features. Meta’s clearly in the lead here but there are many others doing AI smartglasses with AI models other than Llama, which powers Meta’s glasses.
Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses were all over. They sold over a million units over the holidays, and offer solutions l ike real-time translation and hands-free communication, blending Luxottica Ray-Ban style with AI-powered functionality. It seems, the AI-driven audio smart glasses are adding features every month. They’re now capable of remembering user preferences for a more personalized experience.
TCL’s RayNeo X3 Pro video display glasses for gaming and entertainment enlarge the small screen of a handheld device into a 200 inch screen. Brilliant Labs introduced open-source AI-powered eyewear, allowing developers to build custom applications.
The fully occluded mixed reality Samsung Moohan is poised to challenge Apple’s stumbling Vision Pro with better specs and lower pricing, except for one important thing. Unless Samsung and its partners, Google and Qualcomm, have discovered a new consumer use case for fully occluded mixed reality, Moohan is destined for the same fate as the Vision Pro, languishing in a drawer for want of a reason to use it.
Honor announced a $10 billion investment over five years to expand into AI-driven devices. Their new three-phase strategy is to enhance smartphones with AI, including developing a personal assistant UI Agent, with Qualcomm and Google (who else?), that interacts with on-screen interfaces to perform tasks like booking reservations. Originally a Huawei sub-brand, Honor became independent in 2020 when it was sold to Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co., Ltd. to evade U.S. sanctions. Since then, it has secured substantial funding from China Mobile, China Telecom, CICC Capital Corp, and Shenzhen’s SDG Group, with strong backing from the Shenzhen government. The have since expanded beyond smart phones to AI-powered PCs, tablets, and wearables, including the MagicBook Pro 14, Pad V9, Watch 5 Ultra, and Earbuds Open.
Peer raises $10.5M for metaverse engine, launches 3D personal planets. Peer launched its “personal planets” feature, enabling users to create 3D social hubs within the metaverse. Peer leverages AI to generate games, characters, and experiences, connecting users in real-time. Future plans include location-based mechanics, digital property sales, and premium experiences, aiming for accessibility across devices. This round brings Peer’s total capital raised to $65.5 million, all from angel investors. The sole investor in this round is the Family Office of Tommy Mai. You can download it now from the app stores.
Welevel raises $5.7 million in seed funding, led by BITKRAFT Ventures. The German game company will use the funds to expand its AI-driven game development tools. Welevel plans to double its development team as it works on a AAA sandbox survival game set to enter early access next year. Founded in 2021, welevel integrates AI to enhance world-building, NPC behavior, and quest generation. Investors include figures from Roblox, Shopify, Crunchyroll, Oculus, and ESL. With AI streamlining production, the studio seeks to compete with larger game developers while maintaining creative flexibility and reducing costs.
Dubformer Raises $3.6M to Enhance AI Dubbing with Emotional Expression. Dubformer’s Emotion Transfer technology enhances dubbing by replicating emotional nuances rather than simply cloning voices, addressing the limitations of traditional AI-generated speech. The company, founded in 2023, already serves 200+ clients, including Paramount. The round was led by Almaz Capital, with participation from s16vc, FinSight, and angels.
Noctal Raises $1.8M to Launch AI-Powered Sound Design Platform. Noctal’s AI automates sound effect placement, synchronizing audio with video actions while offering intelligent recommendations and a customizable sound library. Founded by Isaiah Chavous and James Paul, LA-based Noctal will streamline production workflows for creators, studios, and editors. The round was led by Caruso Ventures, with participation from Media Empire Ventures (founded by Grimes, Daouda Leonard, and Mac Boucher), along with investors including X’s Head of Original Content Mitchell Smith and MLB player Tony Kemp.
Animal Company, a free-to-play virtual reality game developed by Wooster Games, has rapidly gained popularity since its early access launch on the Quest platform in July 2024. Drawing inspiration from titles like Gorilla Tag and Lethal Company, it features arm-powered locomotion and cooperative gameplay where players explore environments, collect loot, and evade monsters. As of March 2025, Animal Company surpassed one million monthly active users, becoming Quest’s top-earning game for the week, overtaking Gorilla Tag. The game’s revenue model relies entirely on in-app purchases, including cosmetic items and an in-game currency called Company Coins. Recent updates, such as the Tech Tree, Mining, and Planetarium, have significantly boosted user engagement and activity.
The South-by-Southwest Festival is set to begin on tomorrow, March 7th and runs through March 15th, in Austin Texas. Founded in 1987 as a music festival, it has since evolved into a major film festival, and now includes a conference with famous speakers like Michelle Obama, an XR exhibition, technology, games, poster art, and comedy. The author of this column, Charlie Fink, is slated to have a fireside chat with Light Field Labs CEO Jon Karafin (founder of Lytro) about his development of naked-eye holograms, which presents 3D figures and objects made purely of light.
This column is also a podcast hosted by its author, Charlie Fink, Ted Schilowitz, former studio executive and co-founder of Red Camera, and Rony Abovitz, founder of Magic Leap. This week our guests are SXSW Programmers Blake Kammerdiner (XR Track and exhibition) & Katie McCall (AI track). We can be found on Spotify, iTunes, and YouTube.
What We’re Reading
Does anyone care about VR anymore? It still doesn’t have that “killer” app (Zak Storey/TechRadar)
