How could Meta AI’s glasses help you?

For many people with sight loss, navigating the world independently can be a daily challenge. But, as technology continues to evolve, it’s offering increasingly practical ways to overcome those barriers.

Meta’s AI-powered Ray-Ban glasses are the latest in assistive technology, helping to transform the everyday lives for blind and partially sighted users. 

Martin, a member of the Macular Society team, was born with a sight loss condition, and has been testing the glasses in his personal life to see how they are making every day tasks easier.

He said: “For someone like me who loves technology and uses it every single day of my life, it’s been the first time I’ve gone, this is really interesting and this will save me time or prevent hassle in some way".

The glasses

Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses look like a normal pair of glasses but they have a small camera, speaker, and microphone built in. You can ask them questions such as “What am I looking at?” and they use AI to describe what’s in front of you, read signs or text, or take a photo.

For people with sight loss, they can help with things such as reading bus numbers, bus timetables and even locating street furniture such as bins and other obstacles.

The AI in the glasses can only process still images, not video or real-time footage. Once you instruct it to take a picture, you have to wait for an answer. For things that need quicker help, such as finding something in the supermarket or locating your train platform, you can make a video call through the device. As Martin explained: “If you have somebody who's in your ear and also seeing your point of view, they're able to give you real-time information. It’s almost like they’re there with you.”

Although this is a current limitation of the device, Martin is hopeful the technology will develop quickly to allow for continuous real-time AI assistance.

Helping people with sight loss blend in

For Martin, the best thing about the glasses is that, although it can be used by people with a visual impairment, it hasn’t been designed as an assistive piece of tech, meaning wearing them doesn’t make you stand out.

He said: “You are not having to hold the phone up to your face or having to listen to VoiceOver or TalkBack, you are blending in. It’s just another accessory, like a hat would be or a piece of clothing like anybody else. It doesn’t draw attention to you or make you look vulnerable. Everyone wears glasses and more and more people are using this technology just to record content for social media so you look no different to anybody else.”

Another benefit according to Martin is the price. As they are sold as fashion accessories, not disability tools, the cost remains reasonable compared to other assistive devices on the market.

“It’s mainstream tech, so there’s no assistive technology price tag whacked on it because it’s for blind people,” he said. “It’s just mainstream tech that we can use as well.”

What if you are not tech-savvy and find adapting to new technology difficult?

“Honestly, I think it’s one of the easiest bits of kit to set up and get started with - even from a novice perspective,” Martin said. “They are literally a normal pair of glasses with a camera and microphone embedded in the frame. You can have prescription lenses put in them as well. they’re just like normal glasses.”

He added: “One of the things I always say about technology is, ignore the word ‘technology.’ Don’t think about circuit boards and processors and computer screens. The only thing I always say, especially in the sight loss space, is that at one point the cane was technology. Technology is just innovation of its time.”

Drawbacks 

Despite his enthusiasm for the device, Martin is also realistic about the down sides.  Because the glasses are powered by a major tech company, he said there’s always a chance that support could be withdrawn.

“The fact that the technology is backed by Meta means they can switch off that feature at any point. It's not a tech brand made for disability. They could decide they're not supporting it anymore and just turn off the functionality. We've seen that before with other platforms.”

But, he also pointed out that companies are making similar AI assistive technology, meaning this kind of technology isn’t limited to one brand and that there’s a wider movement in the tech industry to develop AI tools that can help people with sight loss.