Photo: Courtesy of Meta Save Story Save this story Save Story Save this story At the center of the privacy backlash against Meta’s AI smart glasses is their in-built camera, which gives wearers a way to covertly film unsuspecting strangers — particularly women — prompting protests against casualized surveillance. It’s fueled the emergence of camera-free smart glasses challenger brands like Even Realities and Lucyd, and made a large part of the population steer clear of the tech altogether. Yet the Meta AI smart glasses’ in-built camera is central to the tech giant’s vision for ‘superintelligent’ AI assistants that can understand the world like we do .
Now, Meta is making a bid for the privacy conscious, by releasing a new pair of AI smart glasses that ditches the camera altogether, and allows wearers to listen hands-free to music and podcasts, take calls that Meta says “capture your voice more clearly than earbuds”, and talk to Meta’s AI assistant. The audio-only glasses’ battery lasts for up to 12 hours on a single charge, and 48 hours more with their included charging case. The new ‘Ray-Ban Meta Audio’ glasses are the lightest smart glasses yet, weighing in at just 43 grams — indistinguishable from ordinary Ray-Ban glasses and available in classic styles — and for the first time, feature no battery, sensors or other technology running through the nose of the glasses.
Asked whether the new audio-only glasses are a response to the heated privacy backlash against smart glasses’ in-built cameras, Meta’s VP of wearables Alex Himel says that the Ray-Ban Meta Audios have been in the works since before the backlash reached fever pitch. He also says that the early adopters of Meta’s smart glasses weren’t buying them chiefly for their camera anyway.
“We’ve been working on them full force for two years, but we’ve been talking about it for longer than that,” Himel says, speaking ahead of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote address at Meta Connect. “The most popular feature among our smart glasses wearers has been audio from day one, so phone calls, music, podcasts. And the feature we’re most excited about long-term is having an AI assistant that’s with you all the time. So the audio glasses deliver on those.”
The new Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses, Meta’s lightest-ever AI smart glasses design. Photo: Courtesy of Meta.
Meta has not disclosed whether audio recording for the glasses is in the works. This makes them currently comparable to the functionalities of a pair of headphones or earbuds, as the in-built Meta AI assistant is comparable to the access consumers have through the smartphone they normally pair with their audio tech. The difference here is that these glasses shrink the two devices normally needed (your smartphone plus the earbuds) down to one — and that’s what Meta is betting will convince consumers they’re worth it. The new audio-only glasses will be available to buy from October 13th for $349, cheaper than the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 with cameras, which range from $379 to $459, and more than the cheapest version of Meta’s own brand AI glasses released in June, which start at $299.
The audio-only glasses were only one part of Zuckerberg’s announcements — elsewhere, Meta seems to be choosing defiance over retreat from AI smart glasses with in-built cameras, despite the cultural backlash.
Zuckerberg also unveiled several new models, styles and features for its Meta AI smart glasses with in-built cameras, representing its biggest expansion of…