Major domestic and international manufacturers—including Ray-Ban Meta, Rokid Smart AI Glasses, and Xiaomi AI Glasses—are rolling out camera-equipped models one after another.
Camera-Equipped Models Dominate the Smart AI Glasses MarketIn the current smart AI glasses market, camera-equipped models hold an overwhelming majority.
Most of the leading products driving the market—Ray-Ban Meta, Rokid Smart AI Glasses, Xiaomi AI Glasses, and others—feature built-in cameras.
People tend to be relatively tolerant of security cameras and dashcams but harbor strong wariness toward smart glasses worn by unfamiliar individuals.
Between Utility and Risk—How the Market Will MoveThe value that smart AI glasses deliver is immeasurable.
The proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered smart glasses is accelerating, but behind their convenience, social wariness over privacy and portrait rights is rapidly intensifying. Major domestic and international manufacturers—including Ray-Ban Meta, Rokid Smart AI Glasses, and Xiaomi AI Glasses—are rolling out camera-equipped models one after another. A future where AI sees "the same scenery" as the wearer and provides real-time landscape recognition, translation, and voice guidance is becoming tangible. At the same time, concerns are spreading among experts and general consumers alike that the risk of people around the wearer being photographed without consent could become normalized.
Camera-Equipped Models Dominate the Smart AI Glasses Market
In the current smart AI glasses market, camera-equipped models hold an overwhelming majority. Most of the leading products driving the market—Ray-Ban Meta, Rokid Smart AI Glasses, Xiaomi AI Glasses, and others—feature built-in cameras. This is because the camera serves as the AI's "eyes," dramatically expanding the value proposition to include recognition of buildings, products, and text; foreign language translation; video and still image capture; and even navigation functions that overlay information onto the wearer's line of sight.
The author, who purchased four Rokid units for long-term testing, described the device in an ASCII.jp series as "an AI companion that shares the same scenery," noting that its core value lies in the presence of the camera. Recounting an episode where the glasses enabled seamless navigation from Atami Station to a destination without getting lost, the author expressed the view that camera-equipped models will remain mainstream for the foreseeable future.
The Social Acceptance Barrier—Camera-Free Models Present an Alternative
What is intriguing, however, is that models deliberately omitting cameras—such as the Even G2 and Halliday—continue to appear. This is not merely a byproduct of the performance race but evidence that an alternative value system, "social acceptance," exists in the market.
People tend to be relatively tolerant of security cameras and dashcams but harbor strong wariness toward smart glasses worn by unfamiliar individuals. The root of this anxiety lies in the opacity: it is difficult to discern from outward appearance whether recording is taking place or whether footage is being captured. Many camera-equipped models employ a mechanism where an LED on the opposite side illuminates during recording, but the indicator is small and easily overlooked by bystanders.
When Google Glass was launched in 2013, this kind of social discomfort proved to be a greater barrier to adoption than the technical challenges. The ASCII.jp author noted, "As I continued using Rokid, I kept wondering whether smart AI glasses would ever be accepted by society," acknowledging that the balance between utility and social acceptance holds the key to future adoption.
Privacy Expert's Warning—"Risk of Portrait Rights Infringement"
These concerns go beyond vague consumer anxiety. Following Meta's launch of AI-powered smart glasses in Japan in May 2026, attorney Ryoji Mori, an expert on privacy issues, stated clearly in an interview with The Asahi Shimbun that "unauthorized photography of faces, even in public spaces, may constitute an infringement of portrait rights."
Meta's smart glasses look almost indistinguishable from regular eyeglasses, and the LED light that illuminates during recording is inconspicuous. Unlike a smartphone, there is no need to "aim" the device; a natural motion of simply facing someone is enough to record surrounding video and audio. If adoption continues at this pace, the risk of being photographed by someone simply while walking down the street is highly likely to become normalized.
Compounding these concerns is the potential integration of facial recognition capabilities into the cameras. According to reports from overseas media outlets covering this technological development, the identification and tracking of individuals is expected to become significantly easier. Scenarios where anonymity in public spaces is fundamentally threatened are also conceivable.
Between Utility and Risk—How the Market Will Move
The value that smart AI glasses deliver is immeasurable. The experience of AI sharing the wearer's field of view and overlaying information in real time has the potential to transform every aspect of daily life—navigation, translation, information retrieval, and recording. The feature introduced in the Rokid series, where "AI understands the scenery in real time and explains it through voice and text," holds promise for socially significant applications such as assisting the visually impaired and supporting foreign travelers.
However, the dynamic in which the privacy of bystanders is sacrificed as the price of this convenience makes a society-wide debate unavoidable. Attorney Mori's remarks indicate that unauthorized recording can already constitute an illegal act under current legal frameworks. Manufacturers are being called upon to strengthen technical countermeasures—such as more visible recording indicators and audio notifications—and to educate users.
The fact that camera-free models like the Even G2 and Halliday are garnering a certain level of support demonstrates that the market is not monolithic. The existence of a consumer segment that prioritizes privacy could influence the direction of future product development. Unlike smartphones or smartwatches, this is a device worn directly on the human face, which demands a more cautious process for aligning technological evolution with social norms.
With Google and Apple also reportedly considering entry into the smart glasses market, reconciling utility with privacy protection stands as the greatest challenge for this new device category to truly gain mainstream acceptance.
