Smart glasses will help you hear, not see. But will you trust your AI eyewear with your ears?

“I don’t know what this thing in front of me is, but I’ll research!”

Next time you’re in front of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, you may say what (more than) most of the people say upon laying their eyes on that building:

"That’s really weird."

Or, you could say something else. Something like:



Nice one, huh? And you don’t have to take courses in architecture.

You just need your (smart) glasses on.

By the way, here’s the aforementioned Walt Disney Concert Hall:

Why glasses?

I have no idea how closely you follow the tech world, but you may have missed the recent mutation of “IoT” into “AIoT”.

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the network of physical objects – “things” – that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over the Internet. These devices range from ordinary household items to sophisticated industrial tools. A good example of IoT are devices like smart thermostats, security cameras, and lighting systems that can be automated or controlled remotely.

AIoT is when AI is thrown into the mix, potentially elevating IoT to previously unthinkable levels of productivity and diverse applications.

As to why we’re dealing with glasses – well, that’s because Apple launched the $3,499 Vision Pro headset. Yup, those recent TikTok and YouTube videos of people walking (driving, dining, lounging) around with high-tech scuba diving masks on their faces you’ve been watching are all featuring the Vision Pro. Yup, smart glasses were a thing years before the Vision Pro was even announced, but in this case, I believe that this chicken came before the egg precisely because we all know the egg was coming and that it was going to smell like apples.



Good old Apple. Nothing sparks hype like a new Apple product. And this time, Apple started a whole new product category. Before you proceed with the lynching, let me assure you that I’m aware the Vision Pro headset can’t be defined as “smart glasses” and it’s a spatial computer.

But there’s a proverb: In a fire, both green and dry wood burn.

As $3,499 might be too much for too many, it’s only natural to see the state of the $300-$400 smart tech that we can put extremely close to our eyeballs. Enter the smart glasses – lightweight, affordable, and full of compromises!

And no, we’re not taking VR headsets into account. These Mandalorian-wannabe helmets are hooked to your console or computer and are more of a houseplant, compared to the smart glasses – let’s talk about something that you can take out in the world. That is if you do go out on a regular basis. If you don’t – don’t worry, there are plenty of smart glass applications for in-house use.

What do they do?

We can’t talk about smart glasses and not start with the Ray-Ban/Meta collaboration. The Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, formerly known as Ray-Ban Stories, got a major upgrade in the Fall of 2023, packing a Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1 Gen1 processor, better 12 MP cameras, better audio, options for live streaming to Facebook and Instagram, and Meta AI.

Recently, there was a Version 2 update that brought image quality improvements, global volume control and security enhancements.

Better image quality and greater stability are always welcome, but what’s really interesting about the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses is the Meta AI, of course.

Saying “Hey Meta, look at this” to your glasses summons Zuck’s AI powers – the cameras become the AI’s eyes. After the artificial intelligence model analyzes the picture of whatever is in front of you – a shovel, if you’re out in the country – the smart device on your face could say something like: “This is a shovel – a tool used for digging, lifting, and moving bulk materials, such as soil, coal, gravel, snow, sand, or ore”. If you can trick your AI into thinking it's a Scorsese character, you could get a somewhat different definition of a shovel and what it could be used for.

Or the smart glasses could help you outshine your architecture friends upon visiting Barcelona and inspecting Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia, as suggested at the start.

The thing is, Meta has not yet rolled out the “Look at this” feature to everybody out there – a limited number of users are getting it, testing it and reporting what’s going on. The Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses is what the discontinued Google Glass dreamed of becoming.