[Jessi] This might be the future of computing.

This is what the world could look like with Magic Leap,

a new technology which stands to up-end the way we work,

communicate, and play.

We've created a digital lightfield signal

that mimics how the world, the visual part of the world,

really interfaces or talks to your brain.

[Jessi] Rony Abovitz is CEO of Magic Leap,

the secretive startup making synthetic digital images

like this, that merge with real spaces.

The company isn't in Silicon Valley, New York,

or even Austin.

It's in Southern Florida.

That's why heavy-hitters from tech, entertainment,

and the arts regularly make the pilgrimage

to their Fort Lauderdale offices

to be wowed by the Magic Leap experience.

But you probably don't really get it until

you actually do it.

[Jessi] Google has invested.

CEO Sundar Pichai sits on the board.

And earlier this year, Ali Baba led

a 794 million dollar investment,

part of possibly the largest seed round in history.

All that, and we still don't know

that much about Magic Leap.

But Wired has an exclusive early peek.

You've heard of VR, you've heard of AR.

Well Rony is working on something that he calls MR,

mixed reality.

That's a way of tricking the brain

to think that digital light signals

made in Magic Leap goggles are as real

as the world around us.

So how does Magic Leap do it?

Your brain is like a graphics processor,

and we basically tried to clone what that signal is.

We made a digital version of that.

And we talked to the GPU of the brain.

[Jessi] Wired tried it, and it is amazing.

Mountains appear to grow out of tables,

and schools of jellyfish float

on ceilings, but Magic Leap wouldn't

let us show you any more than this.

Inside their Florida offices, robots

are calibrating optics.

So we can move it around you.

[Jessi] Engineers are brainstorming games

...all around you.

[Jessi] And deals with studioses are being hammered out.

Talking about demonstrating live sports.

[Jessi] All to bring Rony's vision to reality,

and to the rest of us.

At the heart of the technology is this photonics chip.

Whatever you do, don't call it a lens.

Magic Leap won't, and it says it won't disclose

what the final goggles will look like,

or even if they're goggles.

It's a three-dimensional wafer-like component

that has very small structures in it,

and they manage the flow of photons,

that ultimately create a digital lightfield signal.

[Jessi] Sounds complicated, doesn't it?

Even the people building this technology

have a hard time explaining what it is,

and what it's like to experience it.

(Laughs)

This might sound a little bit strange,

but I think it's like dreaming with your eyes open.

You're just so convinced that what you're seeing

in front of you that you know is sort of unreal,

that it just feels so real.

[TV voice] Everest conquered, the New Zealander

Edmund Hillary got his first mail

and congratulatory telegram...

I think of the metal and chrome that we make

is awesome, right?

It reflects photons into your retina

or it does all these crazy, crazy awesome things.

But the most important thing, the most important thing,

is what happens when you put it on.

Right.

(game sounds)

[Jessi] Magic Leap's potential

for gaming and entertainment is obvious.

But Rony is already thinking about how it might replace all

of our other screens too.

[Rony] So I can conjur a tablet, I can conjur

mini televisions, I can conjur a home theater.

[Jessi] But it could be a while before Magic Leap

conjures up its first product, a wearable.

The company won't commit to a release date.

And there's competition.

Like Meta and Microsoft's Hollow Lens,

which are already shipping developer kits.

Rony doesn't mind.

He's willing to wait until Magic Leap is perfect.

Then, he says, Computing and space will feel

completely natural.

That, to me, is the real Magic Leap.

You've crossed through the looking glass,

you're on the other side, and there's talking white rabbits

and Alice is there, and it's pretty cool.

[Jessi] Or maybe, it's jellyfish pulsing

across the ceiling.

For now, you'll have to take a Magic Leap of faith.

(instrumental music)