Inside the coming war over face cameras
Several trends are now converging that threaten to pit tech companies against tech users. Miniaturization has finally enabled companies to build AI glasses that look and function like normal glasses, but with microphones and cameras. People are increasingly talking to AI, rather than typing. And multimodal input, especially video, is on the rise. Put all of these trends together and you get a nascent industry pushing toward all-day, everyday AI glasses with cameras — and a worried public already pushing back at the idea. Let’s look at how we got here. Meta started it with a surprise hit: its second-generation Ray-Ban Meta glasses, which later gained multimodal AI capability. Its Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses add one in-lens screen — but both versions of the glasses have cameras. (The company is working on a third generation that will probably ship next year.) Google provides the AI and software platform through Android XR and Gemini, partnering with hardware makers to put its AI on o