#001 – Hello, world (again)

Graham’s number is the name for a number so large that it cannot be represented in the observable universe. Apparently, Rayo’s number is even larger than this. Jasper’s number, which I invented just now, is the specific number of blogs a millenial has started and then given up on.

My Jasper’s number is 3 – but maybe this one will work out.

I’ve started writing this blog to document an experiment, which I’ve been brewing for a few years now.

In 2023, Meta (Facebook) released their first “Smart Glasses” and I was keen – glasses with an inbuilt AI assistant sounded incredible. The problem was, I didn’t really have the money. Or more specifically, I didn’t want to spend the money. They weren’t cheap, and I’d just got new glasses, after my old ones were knocked away by a rogue wave, moments after I’d said “don’t worry, the waves aren’t big enough to knock my glasses off.”

So I let the idea slide. Until now.

It’s early spring, 2026, in Durham, Northeast of England (not North Carolina). On a side note, I only learned when moving here about 16 months ago that the original Washington is just down the road. This is my second spring after a decade of living abroad in Southeast Asia, working as an academic.

I’m walking down a deserted nature reserve near my house.

Me: “So what do you think of this idea to write a blog about my experience with a wearable AI assistant?”

Friend: “That sounds like a killer topic — wearable AI is right there at the edge of sci-fi becoming real life. Let’s jam on this a bit and see where it could go:”

Me: “Sure, but wait a minute, let’s take a photo of this cherry blossom first”

The camera clicks

“I just took a photo for you…”

An elderly couple walks by with their labrador. I notice the side eyed look they’re giving me. Because (you probably guessed it) I’m not talking to somebody – I’m talking to something. And this thing is in my glasses.

No one’s real friends are that supportive of discussing their project ideas.

I’m wearing Meta Raybans. These are really the first mainstream glasses that have an AI built in. I can talk to them (almost) conversationally, ask questions, get it to take photos, play music, or generate and edit an image. It’s connected to my phone, and logs all of the interactions. All that I need to do is say ‘Hey Meta’, and then whatever I want to ask next.

I decided not to relay all of this information to the old couple and their dog. Instead, I stop my slow, thoughtful nodding and smile at them. I say good morning, and then the glasses reply ‘good morning’ back. I say ‘stop’. The old couple are noticeably confused, as to them it looks like I’ve just said good morning and then told them to stop, which is a bit off. At this point I decide the best thing to do is just keep walking.

Moments like these are the cost of my experiment. I have decided, for better or worse, to wear these things for 3 months. I’m a glasses wearer, so they are going to replace my daily frames. I have been able to order them with prescription lenses, and so apart from a very few select situations I will be wearing them all the time. They will be the first thing I put on in the morning, and the last thing I take off at night.

I’m going to be spending the next 3 months (or maybe longer, who knows) recording my experiences, reflections, and challenges using the glasses. This is really about exploration, and not just a product review. So just to be clear, I’m receiving no commission on these things, and I didn’t get my glasses  as a freebie from Meta. I’m not critiquing Meta specifically, and I’d prefer not to get my Facebook account banned. 

I’m interested not in what I can do with the technology, but what the technology does to me,  and what might this mean for life in the next few years. At the time of writing, it feels like we’re at the beginning of the wearable AI wave.

There have been a few false starts, and a few wearable AI’s that have tried and failed. The Humane Pin is the best example, and one that I’ll talk about in detail at some stage.

In the coming months, a lot more of these AI glasses will be on the market, with some of the big tech names (think Apple, Google, and Samsung) rumored to have pairs being released in the later half of this year. (While writing this post, Google even confirmed these are on the way).

Another reason I’m pursuing this angle of self-experimentation is because I can’t really think of a workable research project that could take place yet with other participants. I think in order to get an answer what AI can do when we wear it 24/7, and its attached to our face, a self-experiment is probably the simplest choice to start with.

To that end, and in the name of (social) science, I’m doing something called an autoethnographic approach.

This means quite literally, that I will be using my own experience as a data source. I will be considering my own experiences, reflections, narratives, and thoughts – looking at myself as a reflection of the culture, time, and place in which I’m living.

The more realistic summary is that I’m going to write down what happens when you wear AI on your face for 3 months. In order to make this go a bit more smoothly, I’ve come up with some ground rules.

Ground Rules

1. Wear the glasses every day, in every situation in which you would normally wear glasses. This one is easy, because if I don’t wear them I can’t really see anything.

2. Don’t hide the glasses, and don’t explain them away. Don’t tell people you’re wearing them unless its necessary, but let them notice by themselves. I don’t want it to be a defining feature of my interactions unless it becomes one naturally.

3. No half-measures. If you want to really experience what life is like with a wearable AI assistant, you have to lean into it. Use every feature, ask as many questions as you can, push the limits of the functionality. Record video, change voices, take pictures, run the battery into the ground every day. Use them.

4. Write every day. Even if it’s just to say you did nothing all day and didn’t interact with them at all. Just write something. 

5. Be ethical. Don’t photograph people without consent, keep interactions confidential.

These are the basics, but I’m sure some more rules of thumb will emerge. Keep them charged is probably a good one, too, and try not to ask anything that might get you in trouble. I don’t actually know who’s listening to these conversations.