One of the most important elements of Mark Zuckerberg’s mid-life glow up has been the addition of a pair of thick-framed Ray-Ban spectacles. A decade on from Google’s Glass debacle, Meta’s stylish smart glasses are the surprise hit of 2025. The fandom is a broad church. I have a pair of the sunglasses. So does Nigel Farage. No one has yet called me a glasshole (not out loud).

Getting the aesthetic right seems to have soothed the privacy concerns that scuppered Google Glass. Early adopters (aka the glassholes) were accused of being creeps because they could record people without their knowledge. Meta’s $299 Ray-Bans are artificial intelligence-powered and their capabilities are comparable. Give a “Hey Meta” prompt and they can take photos, record videos, answer queries and identify objects. Yet because they look like regular Wayfarers instead of weird sci-fi gadgets no one seems to mind. What the glasses can’t yet do is identify people. But that doesn’t mean they won’t.

Meta has been floating the idea of adding facial recognition to smart glasses since 2021. Andrew Bosworth, then head of hardware and since promoted to chief technology officer, once described it as one of many “nice use cases”. Then it was deemed too difficult. But San Francisco-based news site The Information reports that the company has renewed work on the idea.