*By Alisha Haridasani*
Facebook’s new Oculus Go headset was designed to make virtual reality a shared experience, said Hugo Barra, the social media company's vice president of VR.
“We’re making three, strong, distinct bets in social entertainment with Oculus Go,” Barra said in an interview Wednesday with Cheddar’s Alex Heath at Facebook’s annual F8 developers’ conference.
Those three wagers include Oculus TV, Oculus Rooms, and Oculus Venues.
For Oculus TV, Facebook has partnered with ESPN, Netflix, Hulu, and Showtime to provide users on-demand and live content. The subscription service also lets users host virtual "watch parties."
Oculus Rooms is a virtual "hang out" where users can play board games like Monopoly and Boggle through a partnership with Hasbro, Barra said.
Oculus Venues is a way to join “public gatherings of people,” for concerts, comedy nights, and sporting events.
Virtual reality has been a niche technology, used mostly by hardcore video gamers since around 2012. The Oculus Rift, the company's first VR headset for the high-end user, was designed with gaming in mind. It offered such intense graphics that it needed to be plugged into a PC for computing power. Not so with the Oculus Go.
By making its new headset more affordable, eliminating the need for additional hardware, and introducing new user-oriented services, Facebook is trying to make VR appealing to less tech-savvy consumers.
"Part of what we wanted to do here was get it to the point where more people are going to try it and feel how cool it is so that they can start telling other people," Barra said.
As Facebook is working to [scale virtual reality](https://cheddar.com/videos/oculus-go-aims-to-be-facebooks-vr-gateway-for-the-masses) with the Oculus Go, the company isn’t abandoning investment in Rift. Barra said continued investment in the high-end headset will help enhance the mid-range consumer products.
He compared the Rift with a Formula 1 car equipped with cutting-edge technology.
“You’ll learn a ton from that and then you can pick and choose which technologies to bring down to your luxury sedan and eventually your mainstream car,” he said.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/facebooks-hugo-barra-on-making-vr-the-most-immersive-platform-possible).
Spain's government has fined Airbnb 64 million euros or $75 million for advertising unlicensed tourist rentals. The consumer rights ministry announced the fine on Monday. The ministry stated that many listings lacked proper license numbers or included incorrect information. The move is part of Spain's ongoing efforts to regulate short-term rental companies amid a housing affordability crisis especially in popular urban areas. The ministry ordered Airbnb in May to remove around 65,000 listings for similar violations. The government's consumer rights minister emphasized the impact on families struggling with housing. Airbnb said it plans to challenge the fine in court.
The Islamic State group and other militant organizations are experimenting with artificial intelligence as a tool to boost recruitment and refine their operations. National security experts say that just as businesses, governments and individuals have embraced AI, extremist groups also will look to harness the power of AI. That means aiming to improve their cyberattacks, breaking into sensitive networks and creating deepfakes that spread confusion and fear. Leaders in Washington have responded with calls to investigate how militant groups are using AI and seek ways to encourage tech companies to share more about how their products are being potentially misused.
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to block states from regulating artificial intelligence. He argues that heavy regulations could stifle the industry, especially given competition from China. Trump says the U.S. needs a unified approach to AI regulation to avoid complications from state-by-state rules. The order directs the administration to draw up a list of problematic regulations for the Attorney General to challenge. States with laws could lose access to broadband funding, according to the text of the order. Some states have already passed AI laws focusing on transparency and limiting data collection.
Waymo's self-driving taxis have been in the spotlight for both negative and positive reasons. This week, the automated ride-hailing taxis went viral after a San Francisco woman gave birth inside a Waymo taxi while on her way to the hospital. A Waymo spokesperson on Wednesday confirmed the unusual delivery. It said the company's rider support team detected unusual activity inside the vehicle and alerted 911. The taxi arrived safely at the hospital before emergency services. Waymo's popularity is growing despite heightened scrutiny following an illegal U-turn and the death of a San Francisco cat. The company, owned by Alphabet, says it is proud to serve riders of all ages.
OpenAI has appointed Slack CEO Denise Dresser as its first chief of revenue. Dresser will oversee global revenue strategy and help businesses integrate AI into daily operations. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently emphasized improving ChatGPT, which now has over 800 million weekly users. Despite its success, OpenAI faces competition from companies like Google and concerns about profitability. The company earns money from premium ChatGPT subscriptions but hasn't ventured into advertising. Altman had recently announced delays in developing new products like AI agents and a personal assistant.
President Donald Trump says he will allow Nvidia to sell its H200 computer chip used in the development of artificial intelligence to “approved customers” in China. Trump said Monday on his social media site that he had informed China’s leader Xi Jinping and “President Xi responded positively!” There had been concerns about allowing advanced computer chips into China as it could help them to compete against the U.S. in building out AI capabilities. But there has also been a desire to develop the AI ecosystem with American companies such as chipmaker Nvidia.
