A look at the race for wearable AI as Meta adds multimodal AI to its Ray-Ban glasses and a source says OpenAI discussed adding GPT-4 with Vision to Snap devices
Next year's artificial intelligence battle is coming into focus—and it's all about glasses.
The InformationErin Woo
Context & Ripple Effects
This report captures an early competitive fork in AI hardware: Meta had already put photo-aware Meta AI into a U.S. beta for Ray-Ban glasses, creating a live test of whether vision models fit a familiar wearable form factor. Meta’s initial U.S. multimodal beta made the glasses more than a camera accessory.
The reported OpenAI-Snap discussions matter because they suggest the race could be decided by pairing capable models with devices people already recognize, rather than by launching wholly new AI gadgets. Later coverage of Meta’s object identification, translation, and caption-writing rollout shows the practical tasks being prioritized.
First-order effects
Meta gains immediate real-world usage and feedback for multimodal queries on Ray-Ban glasses, while users can test a voice-and-camera interface for questions about what they see.
OpenAI’s reported talks with Snap put an existing camera-device ecosystem into the wearable-AI conversation, but the discussion does not establish a product commitment or launch.
Second-order effects
Meta’s early beta raises the bar for rival wearable platforms: they need to connect vision models to useful, repeatable tasks, not merely add cameras or voice controls.
If an OpenAI-Snap integration moved forward, model providers and consumer-device makers would have a stronger incentive to form distribution partnerships rather than build every layer of wearable hardware themselves.
Third-order effects
The category is moving toward ambient AI delivered through socially familiar devices, where distribution, interface reliability, and day-to-day usefulness may matter as much as model branding.
The later expansion of AI glasses into additional fashion and sports brands points to a broader segmentation of the form factor; whether that becomes durable depends on sustained utility, not early-access novelty.
The trend: Wearable AI is becoming a contest to place multimodal assistants into established consumer hardware and distribution channels.
Amazon entered the smart glasses race with their own Alexa enabled glasses. A big missing piece (vs Meta's smart glasses) is you cannot take images or record videos with it. The casualty from current generation of smart glasses is likely AirPods. …
A trend has been going on with the Ray Ban Meta smart glasses the past two weeks on TikTok. One video has 123 million views — many others have millions It's unclear if it organically happened amongst those with large followings after one person's video went crazy, or if there's..…
Imagine employees/customers in stores just looking at a product and knowing it's price. Imagine getting directions/search while driving. Imagine the possibilities for blind people. we're getting there.
@MKBHD trying out our feature. We put in extra effort to comprehend characters and text, glad to see it recognized. More improvements around the corner, join the Early Access Program!
Basic right now, but it feels like a new paradigm. Something that is always on vs you taking out your phone, opening chatgpt feels way different... There is something big here for sure.
Is there a use case for these glasses @MKBHD for someone who is blind and might get instructions navigating the road or even “sight seeing”? Obviously the battery will have to be solid to allow for this?
Everyone's losing their mind over the “new” Meta “Multimodal AI Glasses”. I'm here to say it's already been out and round for 3 years. We, @LetsEnvision have been building an AI-powered glasses for blind & low vision people since 2020. Check this profile by @BusinessInsider [vide…
Next year's artificial intelligence battle is coming into focus—and it's all about wearable AI devices. Even Amazon is getting in on the fun. Earlier this year, the Alexa team discussed building a new device capable of running multimodal AI https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
I have been testing the Ray-Ban Meta Glasses for a while and I have to say that they are quite impressive. This feature to get Meta AI to answer questions about what you can see is going to be a game changer. I tried them in a park and wanted so badly to tell me which species of.…
The next AI battleground? Wearables. Here's what all the major players are doing when it comes to building AI-powered glasses, pins and headsets. https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
I've been trying Meta smart glasses' new multimodal AI - while it's pretty basic right now, it's still sick to see it combine what it sees from the camera with the language model to describe what it's seeing! Already solid for accessibility Full episode: https://www.youtube.com/.…
Shout out to @mkbhd who shares an early look at the early access multimodal Meta AI assistant on the Ray-Ban Meta glasses here: https://www.youtube.com/.... We are working on answer length and making the trigger more conversational lol. In the meantime, I had to run my own very..…