Artificial intelligence’s next home: your eyes

In more recent days, it’s Mark Zuckerberg who has been saying that AI glasses are really the next platform for computing and “the genuine interface of the future". He sees AI-powered glasses as seamless, always-available AI assistants providing real-time contextual information, virtual assistance, and augmented reality experiences without the need for other devices like smartphones. This will mean that AI will be deeply integrated into everyday life. And it’s very much begun.

Zuckerberg poured investments into AI glasses through Meta. And now, the market for these is set to grow significantly. In the first half of 2025, global AI glasses shipments doubled. Counterpoint Research expects a CAGR of over 60% between 2024 and 2029. It’s still going to be a niche segment for now. But like AI itself, wearable AI is descending on us before we’re anywhere near ready to deal with the changes to life that it will bring.

Currently, Meta’s Ray Ban glasses are dominant. These were created with the smart idea of correcting Google's mistake. These glasses, in several models with different capabilities, look good, and so people don’t hesitate to wear them. As a mobile technology innovator, Qualcomm has taken the lead early on and invested in becoming the backbone of the smart glasses industry.

Qualcomm, too, sees smart glasses as the next computing platform and even demoed technology showing how glasses can work without smartphones. The company is making processors like the Snapdragon AR1 and AR1+ Gen 1 specifically designed for smart eyewear.

Qualcomm, in fact, supplies the technology behind products like Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses and Xiaomi’s AI Glasses, enabling features such as voice assistants, live-streaming, and real-time translation. Its partnerships with eyewear brands like Lenskart are bringing smart glasses to diverse markets, including India.

Trying out one of the Ray Ban Meta Wayfarer AI glasses, I found them comfortable enough, though a bit large for my face. Luckily, customisation is possible, including by using powered lenses. As soon as I put on the glasses, I felt a different consciousness. What will it be like to have AI glasses on all the time? I felt as if the glasses were ‘on hold’ waiting for me to do something, ask a question, be a proper user. At first, I even took them off in alarm.

Everyday integration

To begin with, smart glasses like the Meta ones can take photos, small videos, and broadcast live. However, if you’ve ever had your photograph shot surreptitiously and found out later, you’ll know how disconcerting that is.

You can take calls, listen to messages, dictate answers, and listen to music and podcasts. The Ray Ban glasses use bone conduction to have you listen, so it’s not full-bodied head-filling sound, but if you’re not looking for deep immersion while wearing these glasses, it’ll do.

Other things you can do are interact with Meta.ai, get reminders and notifications, ask for directions, identify places and things, get information and so on. The most powerful advantage, in my opinion, is the fact that anyone with a visual disability can get some assistance navigating around and getting information on what they can’t see.

Interaction with the Ray Ban glasses, considering they’re readily available in India, is through voice commands and the little touch pad and capture button on the device. But more sophisticated glasses with a wider range of capabilities are soon going to be available, too. That means we need to think of a few important considerations.

If we are already beginning to outsource our thinking to AI assistants on the phone, what will it be like when the pathway is shorter and easier because the AI sees what you do? If AI glasses become ubiquitous, what will human-to-human interaction be like? After all, part of your brain is simultaneously interacting with AI.

Privacy and security are also obvious and very major concerns. There probably has been no technology that humans haven’t misused. One can only imagine the risks involved with an always-on device that becomes an extension of yourself.

Wearable AI is a revolution within a revolution. But before it floods our lives, we urgently need to put guardrails in place before the clever technology we invented changes who we are.

The New Normal: The world is at an inflexion point. Artificial intelligence (AI) is set to be as massive a revolution as the Internet has been. The option to just stay away from AI will not be available to most people, as all the tech we use takes the AI route. This column series introduces AI to the non-techie in an easy and relatable way, aiming to demystify and help a user to actually put the technology to good use in everyday life.

Mala Bhargava is most often described as a ‘veteran’ writer who has contributed to several publications in India since 1995. Her domain is personal tech, and she writes to simplify and demystify technology for a non-techie audience.