A person sitting in a restaurant raises their head towards the menu and asks their glasses to read it aloud. Elsewhere, somebody uses the same kind of glasses to check the label on a tin, find out what is in front of them or call a volunteer who can see through the built-in camera.

These are not distant ideas from a demonstration of future technology. They are things people are already doing with Meta’s AI glasses.

Most conversations about smart glasses begin with privacy. The cameras are discreet, the recording light has been criticised and it is reasonable to question how comfortable the public will be around people wearing them. What tends to get lost is that the same hardware is also becoming a useful accessibility tool.

For blind and low-vision users, the camera can describe a room or read printed text. For people with limited hand movement, voice controls provide a way to take photographs, make calls and send messages without holding a phone. Some people with hearing loss are using conversation-enhancement and captioning features, although those are still much less consistent.

None of these capabilities works perfectly, nor will every feature suit every disabled person. Even so, they give smart glasses a practical purpose which goes well beyond taking videos or asking an AI assistant for the weather.

A more immediate way to understand the world

Meta AI can be asked to look at something and describe it. Depending on the question, it might read a letter, identify an object, describe an outfit or explain what is nearby. The wearer can then ask follow-up questions to get more detail.

Blind filmmaker James Rath has used the glasses to check camera settings and backgrounds, as well as to find out what his guide dog is doing. Meta has also introduced the glasses in US Department of Veterans Affairs rehabilitation centres, where blind and low-vision veterans have been shown how to use them for tasks such as reading documents and making calls. Several of these experiences are included in Meta’s account of its accessibility work.

The American Foundation for the Blind found plenty to like when it examined the glasses. Reading menus, packaging and documents worked well enough to be useful, particularly when the wearer was specific about what they wanted. Asking the glasses to read every word, for example, could produce a better result than simply asking what a document said.

There are still good reasons to be cautious. AI can overlook an object, misread some text or confidently describe something which is not there. Anyone who has used a visual AI tool will recognise the problem, but the consequences are more serious when somebody is relying on that description to understand their surroundings.

The glasses should not be used to decide when it is safe to cross a road, and nobody should view them as a replacement for a white cane or guide dog. Their value lies in the smaller everyday tasks: working out which product is on a shelf, reading a notice or getting a quick sense of an unfamiliar room. An answer can be useful without being reliable enough to trust with someone’s safety.

Calling somebody who can see what you see

When an AI description is not enough, the wearer can ask the glasses to call a volunteer through Be My Eyes.

The volunteer sees a feed from the glasses’ camera and speaks to the wearer through their open-ear speakers. If the view is unclear, the volunteer can ask them to turn their head or look more closely at an object. They can also take a temporary snapshot and zoom in, with Be My Eyes saying that these images are automatically deleted after the call.

Be My Eyes has offered video assistance through smartphones for years, but moving the camera from a phone to a pair of glasses changes the experience. The user may already be holding a cane, carrying shopping or trying to examine the object they are asking about. A head-mounted camera leaves their hands free and naturally follows the direction they are facing.

Researchers working with blind and low-vision technologists described one participant using Aira, a similar visual-assistance service, through Meta glasses while travelling through an airport. With the agent’s help, the participant bought a coffee and found the correct gate. The team behind the WhatsAI research project found that wearing the camera also reduced some of the difficulty involved in framing a useful image.

It is not completely effortless. The glasses need a stable connection, and the volunteer can only work with the view they are given. If the wearer is looking slightly above a sign or away from the object in question, they may need to adjust their position. Even so, it is a more natural interaction than holding a phone in front of everything and hoping its camera is pointing in the right direction.

When hands-free access is more than a convenience

Voice control is one of those features which can seem faintly unnecessary until you consider who might use it.

Noah Currier, a former US Marine with quadriplegia, has spoken about being able to take photographs and videos of his baby through the glasses. Rather than asking somebody else to operate a phone, he could decide for himself when he wanted to capture a moment.

In a series of letters published by The Guardian, a person with muscular dystrophy described using Meta’s glasses for calls, WhatsApp messages, photographs and video calls. Another contributor wrote about using them to read menus and public notices.

Making a WhatsApp call is hardly a technological breakthrough by itself. Being able to make that call without physically operating a phone can be a considerable increase in independence.

The benefits are not limited to people with visual or physical impairments. Meta has highlighted neurodivergent users who find it easier to ask the glasses for information while remaining engaged with their surroundings, instead of repeatedly moving their attention to a phone. Spoken descriptions and landmark identification can also make an unfamiliar place feel easier to understand.

This does not mean one pair of glasses has somehow become accessible to everybody. Disability covers a vast range of needs, and a design which removes a barrier for one person can be awkward for another. However, the technology is making big strides in offering support and changing outcomes for those who need it more than most.

Hearing support remains more mixed

Meta’s work on hearing support gives a good indication of both the potential and the distance still to travel.

Conversation Focus uses directional microphones to make the person in front of the wearer easier to hear. In independent tests carried out by HearAdvisor and reported by HearingTracker, it achieved an overall score of 3.7 out of five.

That could make it useful for somebody who needs a little help during a face-to-face conversation, but its performance in noisy surroundings fell below that of purpose-built hearing technology. It should be viewed as an occasional support feature rather than a substitute for a properly fitted hearing aid.

Live captions on Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses have also shown promise in quiet, one-to-one conversations. As soon as several people begin talking or the background noise rises, recognising the right voice becomes much harder.

A review by Helen Keller Services found further barriers for some DeafBlind users. Features which rely on spoken commands are of limited use to somebody who cannot activate them reliably by voice, while the position of the speakers and restrictions around audio routing can create problems for people with more severe hearing loss.

These shortcomings are important, but they are also a reason to involve disabled people more closely in the development process. Accessibility works best when it shapes a product from the beginning, rather than arriving later as an extra setting.

Why accessibility could help AI glasses become as mainstream as a mobile phone

Specialist assistive technology can be expensive, difficult to find and immediately recognisable as medical equipment. Meta’s glasses are sold by mainstream retailers, resemble familiar Ray-Ban frames and can be fitted with prescription lenses in many configurations.

For some users, being able to buy an accessibility tool which looks like an ordinary pair of sunglasses is a welcome change. They are using the same product that somebody else might buy for music, photography or translation, even if the reasons for wearing it are completely different.

Features developed with accessibility in mind often find a much wider audience too. Captions are useful in a loud room. Voice controls help when someone is carrying bags or cooking. Text recognition is handy when travelling, while spoken descriptions can help anyone identify something unfamiliar.

That crossover may prove important to the future of AI glasses. Photography and novelty can persuade people to try them, but practical uses are what turn a new gadget into something worn every day. Accessibility provides some of the clearest practical uses the category has found.

What the calls for a ban overlook

There are legitimate questions about wearing cameras in public. People should be able to tell when recording is taking place, private venues need rules they can enforce and Meta should be expected to explain clearly how images and other personal data are handled. The problem with a blanket ban, though, is that it assumes every wearer is doing the same thing.

Someone looking towards a restaurant menu may not be recording the people at the next table. They may be asking their glasses to read it. A person speaking to their glasses in a shop could be calling a volunteer to help identify a product. A person watching a performance may simply be using them to assist with hearing.

This does not give smart glasses an automatic right to enter every private or sensitive space, of course. Hospitals, changing rooms, workplaces and entertainment venues may all have good reasons to restrict cameras. There is still room, however, for policies which prohibit recording without treating the glasses themselves as if they exist to secretly record everyone around them. They simply do not, and many enthusiasts are quick to point out how lazy this assumption is.

Just scratching the surface

Meta’s glasses still depend heavily on a connected phone, cloud services and software controlled by the manufacturer. Features can vary by country, while limits and subscriptions may change what the owner is able to use. Battery life and sometimes temperamental operating systems mean that there’s still a long way to go; however, this is a relatively young technology that will advance just as quickly as AI in general. We’re just scratching the surface of a product that can be genuinely life-changing for millions, which is a huge positive.