Nearly 20% of Facebook employees are working on AR, VR: Report

Nearly 10,000 Facebook employees are working on AR and VR devices.

This is a significant increase from a separate report by UploadVR back in 2017 wherein the publication said that a little over five percent of the Facebook employees were working on VR. (REUTERS)

Facebook is betting big on augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Off lately, we have seen the company actively developing features for its VR headsets. Now, a new report gives us a glimpse into how big Facebook's AR and VR plans really are.

As per a report by The Information (via The Verge), nearly 10,000 Facebook employees are working on developing AR and VR powered devices. Interestingly, this number represents one-fifth of the company's global workforce, based on the internal organisational data seen by the publication.

This is a significant increase from a separate report by UploadVR back in 2017 wherein the publication said that a little over five percent of the Facebook employees were working on VR. The number stood at a little over 1,000 when Facebook's total headcount was 18,770.

Separately, Facebook, CEO Mark Zuckerberg in an interview with The Information talked about the company's AR and VR ambition. The Facebook founder said that it makes sense for Facebook to invest in something it believes will be the next major computing platform. “I think it really makes sense for us to invest deeply to help shape what I think is going to be the next major computing platform, this combination of augmented and virtual reality, to make sure that it develops in this way that is fundamentally about people being present with each other and coming together,” he said.

In the same interview, he also said that someday, smart glasses will allow people to teleport in the future. “Obviously, there are going to keep on being cars and planes and all that. But the more that we can teleport around, not only are we personally eliminating commutes and stuff that's kind of a drag for us individually, but I think that's better for society and for the planet overall, too," he had said.