With AI, tech giants focus anew on smart glasses

More than a decade ago, pricey smart glasses that allowed people to snap photos, text and browse the web generated a lot of buzz but also resistance.

- By QUEENIE WonG

DAVID BECKER Getty Images STEFAN STREIT of TCL Mobile demonstrates augmented reality glasses at a 2023 convention in Las Vegas.

People who wore Google Glass in 2014 faced backlash over fears that the smart glasses, priced at $1,500, would secretly record people or make human interactions socially awkward. Two years later, the company behind the disappearing messaging app Snapchat tried selling sunglasses equipped with a camera in vending machines, but the wearable gadget also flopped.

Today, major tech companies — including Facebook’s parent company Meta, Google and Snap — are racing once again to entice more people to wear a computer on their face, competing to build what they view as the next big computing platform.

‘Apple, the maker of the iPhone, and e-commerce giant Amazon are reportedly working on high-tech glasses too. And ChatGPT maker OpenAI this year teamed up with Jony Ive, a former Apple executive known for designing the iPhone, to build new AI devices that will “completely reimagine what it means to use a computer.”

The race to develop wearable technology that could become as ubiquitous as smartphones is intensifying as AI assistants become increasingly integrated into people’s daily lives. The use of smart glasses, however, is still niche and may take several years to become more mainstream, analysts say.

“We're heading in the right direction. It seems like 2025, 2026, even 2027 will be the years of inflection in the growth trajectory for smart glasses,” said Jitesh Ubrani, a research manager at the International Data Corp. who covers wearables.