The AR demo Joe Rogan played used version 1 of Meta's neural interface.

Judge as of 2025-01-10, against the device Joe Rogan used in the Jan 2025 Joe Rogan Experience episode. True: Meta materials or credible reporting show that the demo (Orion AR glasses with the EMG neural wristband) used the first-generation or first-version neural interface, the one Meta describes as its initial EMG wristband. Mostly true: it was an early, first-generation-family prototype, and 'V1' is loose naming but essentially accurate. Mixed: sources conflict, or the device was a pre-production iteration that is not clearly 'version 1'. Mostly false: the demo involved a neural interface, but evidence shows it was a later or second-generation version. False: the demo did not use a neural interface at all, or used a version Meta explicitly identifies as other than the first.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Hands-on with Orion, Meta’s first pair of AR glasses The Verge · 25 September 2024

   “You control the glasses through a combination of eye tracking, hand tracking, voice, and the neural wristband, which loosely resembles a Fitbit without a screen.”

2. E2 I've used the future of device input, and now Meta explains how it works Android Central · 15 January 2025

   “The version of the sEMG band I used was the third generation of its kind and looks substantially sleeker than the first two generations, both of which looked more like a smartwatch than anything else.”

3. E3 Orion: True AR Glasses Have Arrived Meta · 25 September 2024 Own record

   “Orion’s input system seamlessly combines voice, eye gaze, and hand tracking with an EMG wristband that lets you swipe, click, and scroll while keeping your arm resting comfortably by your side”

4. E4 Control Shift: New Reality Labs Research on sEMG Published in ‘Nature’ Meta · 23 July 2025 Own record

   “We successfully prototyped an sEMG wristband with Orion, our first pair of true augmented reality (AR) glasses, but that was just the beginning.”

5. E5 Meta developed a 'neural interface' for its next-gen Orion AR glasses | TechCrunch TechCrunch · 25 September 2024 Own record

   “[Orion is] the first device that is powered by our wrist-based neural interface,”

6. E6 Meta’s Orion prototype offers a glimpse into our AR future - Engadget Engadget · 1 November 2024

   “Meta has been experimenting with wrist-based neural interfaces for years, and Orion's EMG wristband is the result of that work.”

7. E7 I Wore Meta's Orion AR Glasses: A Wireless Taste of a Neural Future - CNET CNET · 25 September 2024

   “The new band design is much smaller, more like an enhanced smartwatch strap.”

None of the evidence describes the device Joe Rogan used on the January 2025 episode. The other sources confirm that Orion used an EMG neural wristband (E1, E3, E6), but none gives that band a version number. TechCrunch quotes Meta calling Orion the first device powered by its wrist-based neural interface (E5), but that is a statement from the subject's own company. CNET describes the Orion band as a new, smaller design than an earlier EMG prototype (E7), and Android Central says a band it tried was the third generation (E2), which points to several iterations without showing which one Rogan used. So the evidence does not settle whether the demo used a 'V1' interface.