Meta Pushes Smart Glasses as the Next AI Platform
Meta is betting that AI-enabled smart glasses will become the primary way people interact with artificial intelligence, leveraging a partnership with EssilorLuxottica and a growing lineup of Ray-Ban devices to lead a race that also includes OpenAI, Apple, and others.
Meta is positioning smart glasses as the next major platform for artificial intelligence, betting that wearable devices will eventually replace smartphones as the primary way people access AI. The company recently demonstrated its expanding family of AI-enabled glasses at a private event at its Menlo Park, California, headquarters, showing off a lineup that includes camera-equipped Ray-Ban Wayfarers with nine-hour battery life, display glasses with a neural wristband, audio-only frames, and prototypes like the Orion augmented reality glasses.
The push reflects a broader race across Silicon Valley to create hardware in new, AI-friendly form factors. OpenAI, Apple, and reportedly SpaceX are all developing devices, while numerous startups are also working on wearables. At stake is control over how billions of people interact with AI, regardless of whose models are the most capable. Meta's AI models generally lag behind rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic, but the company has established a clear lead in AI-enabled glasses, growing sales threefold last year. EssilorLuxottica, Ray-Ban's parent company, says it sold 7 million pairs of AI-enabled glasses in 2025.
Meta's advantage stems partly from an early bet on the category and a decision to prioritize fashion over pure technology. Alex Himel, Meta's vice president of wearables, said customers use the smart features only about 10% of the time, making it critical that people want the glasses for their look and weight. EssilorLuxottica held Meta to 50 grams or below for most models. «We're able to keep adding this stuff into something that you're already wearing for other reasons,» Himel said.
The company is also introducing new capabilities, including agentic AI powered by its latest Muse Spark model, which allows the glasses to execute multistep routines like managing schedules and scanning emails. A new hologram feature scans a user's face and records expressions to produce a 3D animated simulacrum, which appears on a friend's screen during WhatsApp calls. Meta also announced a new pair of virtual reality glasses weighing only 100 grams, with capabilities for cinema display, gaming, and spatial computing, set to ship in the spring for $1,299.
Pricing for the smart glasses varies: the Ray-Ban Display glasses start at $799, the third-generation flagship camera-enabled Ray-Bans cost $449, and the new audio-only glasses start at $349 in two styles, the Ray-Ban Clubmaster and Burbank. The technology still has rough edges. During a demonstration, the glasses did not always respond to thumb swipes and sometimes lagged after voice commands. Meta's AI also occasionally struggled to identify objects cleanly, such as when calculating calories in a tray of food. The company noted that there is a natural learning curve and that the technology usually works without issue for most people.
Privacy remains the most significant concern. Meta has already had to respond to users disabling the LED light that alerts bystanders when the camera is recording. The company recently created a policy to deactivate recording if the LED has been tampered with, and it will delete the accounts of anyone who uses a modified device and posts harassing content. But stopping bad actors is only part of the challenge. The most compelling features of AI devices rely on the ability to make sense of the surrounding world, creating inherent tension with privacy norms. Apple's recently announced Siri Recap feature, which listens to conversations and provides AI-generated summaries, has raised similar concerns about consent, and OpenAI's forthcoming device could face comparable eavesdropping questions. Meta's own privacy record remains a hurdle as it seeks to convince consumers that always-on, sensor-laden glasses are the future.
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