Updated
Updated · Yahoo Lifestyle UK · Aug 3
Meta AI Glasses Draw Surveillance Backlash as EssilorLuxottica Profit Jumps 15%
Updated
Updated · Yahoo Lifestyle UK · Aug 3

Meta AI Glasses Draw Surveillance Backlash as EssilorLuxottica Profit Jumps 15%

3 articles · Updated · Yahoo Lifestyle UK · Aug 3

Summary

  • £359 Meta glasses promoted by Kylie Jenner have triggered a fresh online backlash, with critics branding them tools for covert recording and non-consensual surveillance.
  • More than 20-language translation and hands-free photo capture sit at the center of the criticism, as users warn the devices let wearers record others in plain sight.
  • €2.75 billion in first-half adjusted operating profit helped EssilorLuxottica beat forecasts, with Reuters reporting strong demand for AI-enabled Ray-Ban and Oakley glasses drove growth.
  • Meta and its partners are still finding buyers despite the outrage, underscoring a split between privacy fears and consumer appetite for wearable AI.
  • Mark Zuckerberg has framed AI glasses as a future necessity, suggesting people without them could face a cognitive disadvantage as the technology spreads.

Insights

Could trendy smart glasses endorsed by celebrities secretly be building a massive, unregulated database of our faces and private conversations?
When everyday eyewear becomes a covert surveillance tool, how can you ever be sure you aren't being secretly recorded by strangers?