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Door staff@engadget.com (Filipe Espósito) - 02 Nov 2026
But there's something more important than weight or battery life, and that's privacy. It's not illegal to wear AI glasses in public, but the list of places that have been banning such devices continues to grow. For example, Courts in England and Wales have banned Meta glasses from courtrooms, and New York followed suit in July. Many schools around the world have also been banning their students from wearing AI glasses during class. When your smart glasses are your only option for seeing properly, not being able to wear them becomes a huge problem.
There have also been many reports of AI glasses being banned from corporate environments. Usually, the camera is the main concern, but even if you don't turn it on, audio can be a problem, too. A simple real-time translation feature could end up uploading confidential conversations to a third-party server. Meta, for example, has been facing scrutiny for allowing outsourced workers to access intimate images and videos captured by its AI smart glasses. The company claims that the content is sometimes reviewed by humans for the purpose of improving the product experience.
Then there's the social aspect, which has led some people to decide to stop wearing AI glasses in public — the Meta Glasses backlash is changing how people use them. With so many negative stories about them, users have become afraid of being labeled as stalkers or weirdos. So while you can definitely get AI glasses with prescription lenses, they're not yet the best option for your everyday glasses.
There have also been many reports of AI glasses being banned from corporate environments. Usually, the camera is the main concern, but even if you don't turn it on, audio can be a problem, too. A simple real-time translation feature could end up uploading confidential conversations to a third-party server. Meta, for example, has been facing scrutiny for allowing outsourced workers to access intimate images and videos captured by its AI smart glasses. The company claims that the content is sometimes reviewed by humans for the purpose of improving the product experience.
Then there's the social aspect, which has led some people to decide to stop wearing AI glasses in public — the Meta Glasses backlash is changing how people use them. With so many negative stories about them, users have become afraid of being labeled as stalkers or weirdos. So while you can definitely get AI glasses with prescription lenses, they're not yet the best option for your everyday glasses.