Around Meta’s Menlo Park campus, cameras were focused on me. I don’t mean the security cameras or the digital SLR cameras of my fellow journalists. I’m not even talking about smartphones. I’m referring to Ray-Ban and Meta’s smart glasses, which Meta wants us all to wear – someday, in some form.
I attended this year’s Connect conference and visited Meta. Almost all the hardware products at the conference involved cameras. They include software-updated Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, the new Quest 3S virtual reality headset, and Meta’s prototype Orion AR glasses. Orion is what Meta calls a “time machine”: a fully functional example of what mature AR could look like, years before consumers are ready.
But at least on Meta’s campus, Ray-Ban glasses are everywhere. It’s a different kind of time machine: a glimpse into CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s future world, where glasses are the new cellphones.
I’m conflicted about this.
Meta really wants to put the camera in your face. As Zuckerberg said, the glasses follow the 2021 Ray-Ban story, and progress is clearly being made on that front. edge Sales are “very good”. They are not full-fledged AR glasses because they do not have screens to display information, although their artificial intelligence capabilities have become more powerful. But they fit perfectly into the foundation of the entire Meta empire: encouraging people to share their lives online.
These glasses come in a variety of classic Ray-Ban styles, but for now, it’s clear that users don’t just wear glasses. As I walked around campus, I spotted telltale signs on one person after another: two distinct circular cutouts on the rim of their glasses, one for the 12MP ultra-wide-angle camera and the other for the indicator light.
The light flashes when users take photos and videos and is typically visible even in sunlight. In theory, this should reassure me: If the lights weren’t on, I could trust that no one would film me eating lunch before the meeting.
But I’m always a little nervous when I talk to people around campus. I found myself acutely aware of the circles, checking to see if anyone was filming me when I wasn’t looking. The potential of recording alone would distract me from the conversation, inserting a low hum of background anxiety.
That changed when I put a pair on myself
Then, when I put a pair on myself, that suddenly changed. I’ve always been hesitant as a potential recording target, worried that I might be photographed or filmed for making polite eye contact. However, I wear glasses on my face, so I think I should record it more. The experience of having the camera right at your eye level is truly mesmerizing. By simply pressing a button on my glasses, I can take a photo or video of whatever I’m seeing at the angle I’m looking at it. No fumbling around pulling out your phone and wishing the moment would last. There is probably no better way to share my reality with others.
Meta’s smart glasses have been around for several years, and I’m not the first, or even the first edge ——Impressed with them. But this is the first time I’ve seen these glasses not as early adopter technology, but as ubiquitous as a phone or smartwatch. I got a hint of how this kind of seamless recording could work at scale, and the prospect was both exciting and scary.
The camera phone was a revolution in its own right, and we’re still grappling with its social impact. Now, just about anyone can document police brutality or capture a fleeting moment of fun, but it’s also possible to take candid photos and post them online, or (to be clear, a lesser offense) in Annoying people at concerts. What happens when even the smallest friction of pulling out a phone disappears and billions of people can instantly film anything they see?
Personally, I can see how useful this would be for taking candid photos of my new baby, who has started to recognize when the phone is taking a picture of her. But it’s not hard to imagine more nefarious uses. Sure, you’d think we’d all be used to everyone filming everything with their phone cameras, but I’m not so sure that’s a good thing; I don’t like the idea that just because I step out of the house, I’m potentially walking into something. TikTok for people. (The rise of sophisticated facial recognition technology makes the stakes even greater.) With glasses-equipped cameras becoming ubiquitous, I think there’s a chance my face could be showing up somewhere on the Internet without my permission. Sex is greater.
For many, there are also obvious risks associated with integrating a video camera into an undisputed vision aid. If you already wear glasses and switch to prescription smart glasses, you either have to carry a low-tech backup or accept that they’ll be left in some potentially very awkward places, like public bathrooms. The current crop of Ray-Ban Meta glasses are primarily sunglasses, so they may not be most people’s primary pair of glasses. But you can buy clear lenses and transitional lenses, and I bet Meta prefers to market them as everyday specs.
Of course, there’s no guarantee that most people will buy them. Ray-Ban Meta glasses are pretty cool gadgets now, but I previewed the Meta hardware for Meta events for Meta employees at Meta’s on-campus meeting. It’s no surprise that Meta’s latest hardware is common, and it doesn’t necessarily tell us much about what people in the outside world want.
Camera glasses have been around for years. Remember how amazing it is to take pictures of what’s right in front of you? My former colleague Sean O’Kane recounted an almost identical experience with Snap Spectacles Back in 2016.
But Meta was the first company to make a credible effort for mainstream acceptance. They’re funny – that’s what scares me a little bit.
