The chatbot lived in your phone. You opened it, typed a thing, closed it. That was always the trial version. The permanent version sits on your face, watches what you watch, hears what you hear, and has a sponsor.
Vogue Business reports that Meta, Google, Apple, Samsung, Snap, Huawei, and Nothing are all racing to release AI smart glasses and earbuds. Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses are already on shelves. Google just announced what it calls "intelligent eyewear" built around Gemini, and partnered with fashion brand Gentle Monster specifically because, as one analyst put it, fashion makes "cameras, microphones, and AI infrastructure sitting on the face" feel like a lifestyle choice.
The real product is ambient data. If you glance at a bag, pause outside a restaurant, or ask the glasses where to shop, that is commercial data: purchase intent, captured live, before you have decided you want something. Analysts are already predicting specific prompts: "That skirt you tried on yesterday is now 20% off at a store a short subway ride away." The AI noticed. It was watching.
The consent questions are already in court. A class action against Perplexity alleges it shared users' private conversations with Meta and Google for ad targeting, including users who thought they were browsing in incognito mode. "The richer and the more real-time the signal, the deeper the consent problem attached to it," says Shermin Lakha, founder of Lvlup Legal. We already know AI can feel like company. The glasses are just the part where it also watches.
Read the rest at Vogue Business →
