New AI glasses — better than Ray-Bans?
Frames, from Brilliant Labs, work a lot like Ray-Ban Meta glasses, but with a screen built into one lens.
While early buyers and reviewers post YouTube videos of Apple Vision Pro stunts — wearing the goggles around Manhattan, in the pool, skiing, driving and flying — the real face-computer revolution continues elsewhere.
As I said in my Computerworld opinion column recently, 2024 is the Year of AI Glasses because, as I predicted, “AI glasses will emerge as the most important gadget category in tech.”
If you haven’t heard of the “AI glasses” category of technology, it’s because that phrase hasn’t really caught on yet. AI glasses are eyeglasses that primarily give you quick access to generative AI agents, assistants and tools.
By the end of the year, a vastly higher number of people will be wearing AI glasses than Apple Vision Pros, or any other expensive, big, bulky, indoor-only headset, for that matter.
The reasons AI glasses will matter more is that they’re affordable. They’re wearable, because people already wear glasses. And, unlike Apple Vision Pro, it will be perfectly acceptable, safe and legal to wear them around Manhattan, in the pool, skiing, driving and flying.
The newest entry into the AI glasses category comes from Brilliant Labs, the company that brought us that funky “Monocle” product I told you about last year. (I told you about it because someone customized it by adding ChatGPT functionality.) The product, called Frames, weigh 39 grams, which is an average weight even for ordinary prescription glasses.
Like Ray-Ban Meta glasses, Frames cost less than $400 — in this case, $349 — and also support prescription lenses. But unlike Ray-Ban Metas, these have a see-through screen interface visible to the wearer in the right frame only. Unlike Apple Vision Pro, where visual objects appear to be anchored in the real world, Frame glasses are heads-up displays like Google Glass, where the visual objects move with the head.
Augmented reality glasses like Xreal Air 2 can act as a screen for TV, video games and smartphones. This is different.
Frames show you AI content — specifically enabling interaction with the Perplexity genAI product I told you about in the last issue of Mike’s List. They give you “AI superpowers,” according to the company.
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