1. Headline & intro
Mark Zuckerberg has a new prophecy. After betting tens of billions on the metaverse and losing the narrative, he now insists it’s “hard to imagine” a future where most glasses aren’t AI-powered. This isn’t just another product pitch; it’s Meta trying to secure the next computing platform before Apple or Google do.
In this piece, we’ll cut through the hype: what Meta actually said, why Big Tech suddenly cares so much about your face, how realistic Zuckerberg’s vision is, and what this arms race around AI wearables means for users, regulators and European markets.
2. The news in brief
According to TechCrunch, Mark Zuckerberg used Meta’s Q4 2025 earnings call to push a bold narrative: smart glasses, powered by AI, are the next mass-market device. Meta has shifted significant Reality Labs investment away from the VR-heavy metaverse towards AI wearables and its own AI models.
Zuckerberg argued that billions already wear glasses or contacts, drawing a parallel with the era when flip phones inevitably gave way to smartphones. He suggested that within a few years, most glasses people wear will be “AI glasses”. Meta claims sales of its smart glasses have tripled in the last year, calling them among the fastest-growing consumer gadgets ever.
TechCrunch notes Meta currently leads on consumer smart glasses, but rivals are moving fast. Google is reportedly preparing glasses via a $150 million partnership with Warby Parker, Apple is reallocating staff from Vision Pro to its own glasses project, Snap is spinning out its Spectacles, and even OpenAI is exploring AI wearables like pins or earbuds.
3. Why this matters
Zuckerberg isn’t just selling glasses; he’s selling a new default interface for AI. Today we talk to large language models through screens and keyboards. Smart glasses turn AI into an ambient, always-there assistant that sees (and hears) what you see. Whoever owns that layer owns the context — and likely the user relationship.
The winners, if this vision lands, are the companies that combine three things: strong AI models, consumer hardware know‑how and distribution into mainstream fashion. Right now, that realistically means Meta, Apple and maybe Google. Everyone else — including smartphone manufacturers and traditional eyewear brands — risks becoming a dumb hardware shell for someone else’s AI.
The losers could be users’ privacy and regulators’ sanity. A world full of camera‑equipped, networked glasses turns every street, classroom and office into a potential recording zone. The social backlash that killed Google Glass in 2013 (“Glasshole” culture) will resurface, but this time with far more capable AI that can identify people, summarize conversations and extract sensitive context in real time.
In the near term, though, AI glasses will stay a niche. Fitness-focused Oakley models, creator-oriented cameras and accessibility use cases (live transcription, object recognition) are the most convincing scenarios today. Zuckerberg’s “most glasses will be AI glasses in several years” line is more wishful investor storytelling than realistic adoption curve.
Still, direction matters more than exact timing. The industry has clearly decided that the next wave of AI will live on your face and in your ears, not just in the cloud.
4. The bigger picture
This pivot to AI glasses fits into a broader retreat from the fully immersive metaverse towards lighter, more practical “spatial computing”. Apple’s Vision Pro quietly set the tone: mixed reality as an extension of your existing devices, not a replacement for reality. Glasses are the logical continuation of that: no bulky headset, just an overlay of intelligence on everyday life.
Historically, we’ve been here before. Google Glass tried to leap straight to face‑mounted computing in 2013 and ran headfirst into battery limits, poor design and a social privacy revolt. Snap’s Spectacles found some traction with creators but never broke out of the toy category. The difference now is AI: glasses no longer need holographic UIs to be useful. Good microphones, cameras and on‑device assistants can deliver value through audio and subtle visuals.
At the same time, AI hardware experiments like the Humane AI Pin show the danger of chasing “screenless computing” without a clear use case. Consumers have very little patience for expensive, awkward devices that don’t fit into existing habits.
Compared to this, glasses have two big advantages: they’re already socially accepted, and billions of people need them anyway. That’s the bet Meta and its competitors are making: attach AI to the thing you already wear, rather than asking you to strap on something new.
The strategic game is similar to the early smartphone wars. Apple wants tight vertical integration (its own silicon, OS and services), Google will treat glasses as yet another Android‑like platform, Meta is desperate to escape dependence on Apple’s and Google’s app stores, and OpenAI is searching for any hardware foothold where its models are the star.
5. The European angle
For Europe, AI glasses are not just another gadget cycle; they’re a regulatory stress test. The EU’s GDPR, the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the upcoming AI Act together create the strictest environment in the world for anything that continuously captures and processes personal data.
Always‑on microphones and cameras in public spaces raise immediate GDPR questions: who is the data controller, what legal basis exists for capturing bystanders, and how can consent or objection be expressed in real time? The AI Act will likely classify many capabilities — like biometric identification or emotion inference — as high‑risk or outright prohibited in public.
Culturally, Europeans are more privacy‑sensitive than US consumers, and Meta in particular starts with a deep trust deficit after years of scandals and record fines from Brussels and national regulators. That gives Apple and Google an opening: they can lean on their (relatively) better privacy narratives, on-device processing and integration with existing ecosystems iPhone/Android users already trust.
There is also an opportunity for European optical giants and retailers to become gatekeepers. Local brands and chains could control which tech partnerships actually reach high street opticians in Berlin, Madrid or Ljubljana. If Meta’s first‑generation designs feel too intrusive or too obviously “Meta‑branded”, Europe may become the market where quieter, more privacy‑preserving designs from Apple or even smaller European OEMs succeed.
6. Looking ahead
In the next two to three years, expect AI glasses to grow, but not explode. We’ll see:
- Niche dominance first: sports, logistics, field service, accessibility and content creation. Anywhere hands‑free AI assistance gives an obvious productivity or safety boost.
- Design wars: success will depend more on fashion and comfort than on raw specs. If they don’t look like ordinary eyewear, they’ll stay a geek toy.
- Regulatory flashpoints: first high‑profile bans in schools, government buildings and some workplaces; test cases before data protection authorities about recording bystanders.
- On‑device AI as a must‑have: streaming raw camera feeds to the cloud is a non‑starter in privacy‑conscious regions. Efficient, local models will be a key differentiator.
Zuckerberg’s “several years” timeline for mass adoption is optimistic. A more realistic horizon for mainstream acceptance — where seeing AI glasses on the street is unremarkable — is closer to the late 2020s or early 2030s, assuming no catastrophic privacy scandal derails the category.
The biggest open questions: Will users accept being seen with these devices after the Google Glass stigma? Can any company guarantee that what the glasses see stays under user control? And will regulators allow real‑time identification features at all? The answers will decide whether AI glasses become the next smartphone — or the next metaverse.
7. The bottom line
Zuckerberg is likely right about the direction but wrong about the speed. AI will move from our phones to our faces, and smart glasses will become a meaningful computing category. But turning “most glasses” into AI devices within a few years underestimates social resistance and regulatory friction, especially in Europe.
For now, treat AI glasses as an experiment worth watching, not an inevitability. The real question isn’t whether Meta can ship them — it’s whether you’ll actually want to be seen wearing them.
