Critical reflections on wearable AI — a complete archive of field notes.
Between May and July 2026 I wore AI glasses as part of everyday life and wrote up what happened: what the technology actually did, how other people responded to it, and what it suggests about privacy, surveillance, consent, and the future of learning. The project has now concluded, and the field notes have been synthesised into a longer paper.
The posts below are kept here in full, in reverse order.
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#017 Some downtime!
I have stepped back from the blog recently, mainly to work on synthesising my field notes into a full paper, reflect on the experience, and summarise my findings. A first draft of that full paper is available on the preprint server Zenodo, here. What I…
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#016 – Blinking lights aren’t consent.
Yesterday Meta announced that they would be turning off the camera function if any attempt is made to interfere with the LED light. This includes lens covers, which I have posted about before and even procured a pair on Amazon to try. Meta states that…
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#015 Hands-Free Photos and Black Mirrors
I have now noticed when doomscrolling on Instagram that there is sometimes a little label on the clips saying ‘Shot with Ray-Ban Meta’. I have also found, on the Meta AI app, something called ‘Vibes’, which is basically Instagram videos but they are entirely AI-generated…
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#014 Monsters and Faceless Men.
A recent post on BlueSky went viral, describing AI as a ‘monster in the forest’. I love this metaphorical story and the way it’s written. The old-timey writing, the mythological, fantasy-genre setting, and the accuracy of the story. AI tells you what you want to…
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#013 – Meta Release New, Cheaper AI Glasses. Surveillance becomes mass market?
I’m postponing my regular field-notes update until later in the week, so that I can quickly comment on this news. 19 hours ago, Meta published “We’re Partnering With EssilorLuxottica to Launch Meta Glasses“ This is a huge moment. I want to set that against another…
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#012 What would Foucault think?
It’s time to write a bit more about privacy and surveillance. This is without a doubt the topic that people have found the most interesting and concerning – in my daily conversations, in my online discussions on LinkedIn with other academics, and also, in the…
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#011 – How am I using AI in this blog?
Even though this blog is my own writing, it’s not published, and I’m not beholden to any publisher rules, I don’t really enjoy having AI write for me. I find the writing, no matter how advanced the models get, to be too plain, too perfect,…
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#010 – Never really anywhere.
My AI assistant is not what I hoped for, but is what I expected. Perhaps it was never expected that these glasses be worn in the way I am wearing them – all day, every day. Or maybe notifications are not supposed to be on…
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#09 – Return of the Glasshole?
Twelve years ago, there was a piece published in the Guardian titled “Google Glass Advice: How to avoid being a glasshole.” Q: What was a glasshole?A: It was/is the derogatory name for the early wearers of Google’s first wearable tech – Google Glass. Q: What…
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#08 – My AI glasses faked an Amazon order, and I believed them.
Today has been a frustrating day, and I’ve almost broken my rules. (If you’re new to the blog, they are in the first post, here). Specifically, the rule I have almost broken is “wear the glasses”, because I am considering throwing them in a lake…