Guides · Foundations
What are AI glasses?
The term sounds like science fiction, the matter is simple: glasses that bring artificial intelligence to where you are already looking. An overview of categories, technology and terms.
The three categories
Display, camera or AR – that is the question.
Display glasses (e.g. the Even G2) overlay text and symbols into your view: navigation, translation, notes, teleprompter. Some deliberately go without cameras – information instead of capture.
Camera glasses (e.g. Ray-Ban Meta) record photos, videos and audio and answer questions via voice assistant, but have no display: what the AI answers, you hear instead of see.
AR glasses project spatially anchored content into the environment – technically the most demanding, today still furthest from everyday glasses (weight, battery, price).
Terms
The little glossary.
Head-up display
Display in view without lowering your head – known from cars and aviation.
Waveguide
Guides light into the lens from the side and lets it exit before the eye – the image seems to float.
Binocular
Projection into both lenses – calmer and more natural than one-eyed (monocular) displays.
Micro-LED
Tiny, very bright LEDs – bright enough for daylight, frugal enough for days instead of hours.
Even AI / assistants
Voice assistant in the glasses: questions, notes, translation – the “intelligence” in AI glasses.
Rx / prescription
Glasses with corrective power: decisive if the smart glasses are to replace your everyday pair.
Teleprompt pace
Words per minute – good teleprompters follow your speaking speed automatically.
Camera-free
Deliberate absence of cameras, for privacy and social acceptance in daily life.
Frequently asked questions
In short.
Are AI glasses and smart glasses the same?
The terms overlap. “Smart glasses” is the older umbrella term; “AI glasses” stresses assistant features like translation, transcription and voice AI.
Do AI glasses always need the smartphone?
Mostly yes – the phone provides connectivity and computing power for AI features; the glasses stay light because of it.
Can you tell the display is on?
With waveguide displays like in the Even G2: no, from outside nothing is visible, the image exists only for the wearer.
Theory understood – experience the practice?
The G2’s waveguide display explains itself in seconds.