This article was published on April 19, 2017

Facebook’s ideas for futuristic AI-powered glasses, in a handy list


Facebook’s ideas for futuristic AI-powered glasses, in a handy list

If you’ve been following the technology around augmented reality in the past couple of years, it’s pretty obvious that lightweight glasses or contact lenses with embedded displays are the ultimate goal for the technology (well, except for maybe brain implants). But what will we actually do with AR once it’s been fully realized?

Though Facebook didn’t have any actual AR tech to show off on Day 2 of F8, it at least had plenty of ideas, so we figured we’d just go ahead and recap them here. Once the tech is convenient and accessible enough to be socially acceptable in public places, Facebook envisions a future where AR glasses will allow you to:

  • See more clearly in low light
  • Virtually visit people on the other side of the world
  • Enhance vision for patients with macular degeneration
  • View important statistics during a business meeting
  • Translate signs on the fly
  • Tell you the name of that person you met but can’t remember
  • Share a whiteboard with a co-worker in locally cafe, or all the way in another city
  • Work in a virtual workspace in “complete privacy” on a plane
  • Find out calorie information about foods
  • Detect fevers
  • Mute random background noises to enhance conversation

These were just a few of the ideas Facebook presented; it also mentioned doing everything Facebook is already doing on smartphones with its new AR platform, including creating private artwork, playing AR games, and applying painting-like effects to the real world.

Of course, the technology already exists to do some of these things, but Facebook envisions a future where AR glasses replace our smartphones, allowing us to turn on any of these functionalities the way we use apps. It’s just up to you to decide whether you want to drool at the conveniences of the future or be terrified as humanity inextricably marches onwards towards the singularity.

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