Facebook高管访谈：增强现实、虚拟现实和未来趋势

当Facebook的首席执行官马克·扎克伯格决定认真看待增强现实和虚拟现实的那一刻，他找到了他最信任的高管、昵称为“博兹”的安德鲁·博斯沃思。

博斯沃思曾经带领Facebook实现过一些重大突破。他在Facebook核心的移动广告策略及商业招牌News Feed的面世上扮演了关键角色。作为扎克伯格在哈佛大学时的助教，博斯沃思如今负责提高增强现实和虚拟现实对普通用户的吸引力，他从2018年8月起开始执掌这个部门。

博斯沃思的团队主管Oculus虚拟现实头盔、Portal视频会议中心和智能手机的增强现实滤镜等产品。他们还在开发增强现实眼镜等长期产品，计划用其实现打电话和直播视频等功能。此外，该团队还在研究可以让用户利用脑电波控制设备的未来主义技术。

迄今为止，这个项目还没能产生太大收益。公司透露2018年的硬件销售额为8.25亿美元，其中包括支付和其他费用。这在公司整体558亿美元的销售额中显得微不足道。

但无论如何，Facebook仍然在继续向博斯沃思的团队投入大量资金。团队在旧金山湾区至少有4,000名员工，还有一些员工分布在全球各地。

博斯沃思认为，如果Facebook不利用这些新技术领路，就会错失为Facebook用户开发量身打造的新一代硬件的良机。

以下内容因篇幅或清晰度原因有所删改。

《财富》：您调入增强现实/虚拟现实部门背后有什么故事？

博斯沃思：两年前的7月，我在休第二个孩子的陪产假。马克当时在我家里，抱着我三四周大的女儿。他突然说：“你应该去做增强现实/虚拟现实。”我说：“首先你得把我女儿放下，这个人质太重要了。”

我有些怀疑论者的特质。这些是很艰难的挑战，要花费很长时间。我说：“好吧，我会考虑的。”他说：“我猜你可以考虑一下。”

是什么让你下定了决心？

我在休陪产假前负责的那支团队已经运转良好。另一个原因就是马克对投资水平十分重视，所以我们就去做了。

当时，公司在这个方向甚至都没有一整支团队，而是由不同队伍拼凑成的杂牌军。我在接下这一角色后，开始着手整合它们。我们有点像在倒退，从我认为这些技术在投资方面的重点所在开始。我们开发的虚拟现实不应该仅为游戏服务，而必须让人们展开合作，重新定义人们的体验和沟通方式。马克同意我的看法。

考虑到Facebook在用户隐私上的不良记录，你认为公司向消费者销售增强现实/虚拟现实产品时会不会更加困难？

作为一家机构，Facebook必须赢得人们的信赖。我们知道这点。不过整个行业都需要赢得人们的信赖。你要把产品放在人们的脸上。整个行业必须帮助人们理解这些（设备）拥有感应器。

在推广新硬件上，你面临的最大挑战是什么？

最大的挑战是让消费者的反馈回路运转起来——知道哪些对他们有用，哪些对他们没用。你如果通过网页和移动设备推出了软件，几乎立刻就能够看到人们的使用情况。你可以迅速行动起来改善技术，让它成为消费者想要的样子。但在硬件领域，这个回路要慢得多。

你在增强现实/虚拟现实技术上与马克的合作有多密切？

每天联系，我确实有自主权。他对这项工作热情很高，所以我们其实是在合作。我一周和他汇报几次。各阶段的理念和产品塑造都有他的功劳。他是团队的成员之一。他不是以首席执行官的身份加入的。你得尊敬马克的直觉，它在很长时间里都是一盏相当高效的指路明灯。

你对竞争有什么看法？

针对增强现实和虚拟现实的投资极多。技术专家越多，有人找到结合特色与软件的途径，为消费者创生价值的可能性就越高。有了这些平台，我们就有空间促进人类的进一步交流。竞争也能够让我们从其他人的错误和成功中吸取经验，反之亦然。

对于Facebook在增强现实/虚拟现实方面的努力感到怀疑的人，你有什么想说的？

我们可以用正在开展的工作向他们表明这项技术是真实的。人们或许不记得Facebook曾经做出过调整，以适应技术变革，最著名的一次是2012年向移动端的转型。我们曾经是一家网页公司。如今我们成功地利用移动平台将人们联系在一起。（增强现实/虚拟现实）是另一次……平台变革。Facebook在改变消费者观念上一贯表现出色。

对于增强现实眼镜这类新型硬件产品，公司的投入有多少？

我们做了很大的努力。一直以来，马克考虑周到的一点在于他会组建一支足够规模的团队来完成目标。如果人手不足，你只是在浪费每个人的时间。我们在这个愿景上密切协作，试图打造一支规模合适的团队来实现这个项目。

对于未来，人们应该知道些什么？

我们的抱负比表面看起来更加宏大。我们以Portal和Oculus为豪，但它们只是我们目标中的一小部分，我们希望努力开创以人类沟通为核心的新一代平台。（财富中文网）

译者：严匡正

When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg got serious about augmented and virtual reality, he turned to one of his most trusted executives, Andrew “Boz” Bosworth.

Bosworth had already led some of Facebook’s biggest developments. He played pivotal roles in debuting the company’s core News Feed, its mobile ad strategy, and its commerce tab. Now Bosworth, formerly Zuckerberg’s teaching assistant at Harvard, is tasked with making AR and VR appealing to average consumers. He took charge of the unit in August 2018.

Bosworth’s team oversees products including Oculus virtual reality headsets, Portal video conferencing hubs, and augmented reality filters for smartphones. The unit is also working on longer-term projects like AR glasses that, when introduced, are supposed to do things like make phone calls and live stream what user’s see. It’s also working on futuristic technology that would let users control devices using brain signals.

For now, the push isn't bringing in much money. In 2018, the company said it had $825 million in revenue from hardware sales, along with payments and other fees. That only represents a sliver of Facebook’s overall $55.8 billion in sales.

Regardless, Facebook continues to fork out a lot of money for Bosworth’s team. At least 4,000 people work for it in the Bay Area, plus more elsewhere around the world.

Bosworth argues that if Facebook didn’t lead the way with these new technologies, it would miss its chance to create a new generation of hardware specifically designed for Facebook users.

The following has been edited for length and clarity:

Fortune: What’s the backstory to your move to the AR/VR unit?

Bosworth: Two years ago in July, I was on paternity leave with my second child. Mark was over at the house holding my daughter, who at that point was three or four weeks old. Kind of out of the blue he said, “You should come work on AR/VR.” I said, “First, you have to give my daughter back. That’s too much leverage.”

I was a bit of a skeptic. These are hard challenges, and it’s going to take a long time. I said, “Well, I’ll think about it.” And he said, “I guess you can think about it.”

What convinced you?

The team I had in place while I was on paternity leave was executing really well. The second was Mark was really serious about the investment level, and so we went for it.

At the time, there wasn’t a single team. It was a collection of different teams. When I took the role, we consolidated the pieces into one. We kind of worked backward from what I thought was important about these technologies to get to the scope of the investment. This can’t be VR only for gaming. It has to be for people to collaborate, to remap how people feel and connect. Mark agreed with me.

Do you think it will be harder for Facebook to sell consumers AR/VR products given its spotty history with user privacy?

As an organization, Facebook has to earn people’s trust. We know that. But the entire category has to earn people’s trust. You’re putting a thing on someone’s face. The entire category has to do this work to help people understand that these [devices] have sensors.

What are your greatest challenges as it relates to introducing new hardware?

The hardest challenge is getting a consumer feedback loop going—knowing what’s working and not working for them. Coming from web and mobile, you put software out and get to see people use it almost immediately. You could move so quickly in advancing the technology and making it what consumers want it to be. In hardware, that flip is much slower.

How closely do you work with Mark on AR/VR?

Day to day, I do have autonomy. He is enthusiastic about this work, so we really are partnering. I’m talking to him multiple times a week. He’s at every stage helping shape the ideas, shape the products. He’s a member of the team. He’s not coming in as the CEO. You respect Mark’s intuition. It has been a pretty effective guiding light for a long time.

What’s your take on the competition?

There’s a tremendous amount of investment in augmented reality and virtual reality. The more technologists, the more likely it is someone will find the combination of features and software and form factor that unlocks the value for consumers. Once these platforms exist, that’s room for us to foster greater human connection. It also allows us to learn from others’ mistakes and successes, as they will from ours.

What do you say to skeptics of the progress of Facebook’s AR/VR efforts?

It’s on us to show them with the work we’re doing that the tech is real. People forget that Facebook has adapted to technological change, most famously in 2012 with the shift to mobile. We were a website company. Now we’re successfully using the mobile platform to connect people. [AR/VR] is another … platform shift. Facebook has a good track record of changing the consumer landscape.

How much investment is going into new hardware products like AR glasses?

It’s a big effort. One of the things that Mark has always been thoughtful about is putting together a large enough team to accomplish the goal. If there are not enough people, you’re just wasting everyone’s time. We work close together on the vision and try to build a team that’s the right size to accomplish that.

What should people know about the future?

The scope of our ambition is so much bigger than what’s on the surface. We’re proud of Portal and Oculus, but those represent only a portion of what we’re trying to accomplish, which is to pioneer a generation of platforms that put human connection at the center.