// THE VERGE — INTELLIGENZA ARTIFICIALE
I don’t miss the camera on the Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses
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It’s harder to be a perv in these audio-only glasses, but removing the ick does make them less ‘useful.’
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The other day I whizzed past several people while running in the park, my playlist blasting at full volume. The next morning, I smiled at a barista while ordering a caramel apple-flavored matcha latte. Afterward, I sat on a park bench reading a book, called up a pal to chat about her recent trip to Prague, and then asked my Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses what meetings were coming up on my calendar. The chipper AI voice said I hadn’t connected my Google Calendar yet (I had) and asked if I would like help connecting. I sighed and then asked it to play an upbeat song. It picked Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.”
These past few days, dozens of people have seen or interacted with me while wearing smart glasses. Not a single person noticed. Probably because these audio-only versions look just like normal glasses. They come in a retro Clubmaster look — like the ones pictured in this review — or a more Wayfarer-esque Burbank style. Honestly, people usually don’t notice when I wear camera glasses either. But for once, I didn’t feel like a creep.
The audio-only Ray-Bans aren’t a novel concept. Seven years ago, I strutted around Manhattan taking calls and listening to tunes in the Bose Frames, which also combined Bluetooth audio with stylish sunglasses. Nobody noticed me in the Bose back then, either. What makes this pair notable is that it’s 2026, they’re made by Meta, and, well, there’s been vigorous discourse about whether smart glasses are a form of spyware.
Let’s get privacy out of the way. During setup, all the privacy and data opt-out disclosures were much more prominent than when I’ve previously tested Meta glasses. A screen explained how visual data from AI experiences is handled. (You can opt out of Meta using that data to improve AI; voice data, however, is still used.) There’s no visual data from these glasses — this is simply the new messaging for any pair of Meta glasses. You can also opt out of sharing “additional data” with Meta as well, which is enumerated in a separate document online. This is a good thing, though it doesn’t address what makes people uncomfortable about smart glasses: the uneasy feeling that someone else is recording you.