I've used my Ray-Ban Meta display glasses for a lot of things like shopping and watching the Bad Bunny halftime show earlier this year. I think they are great, except for one problem: I'm locked into Meta AI.
And while that's not necessarily a bad thing — after all, Meta AI was built specifically for the glasses and can use their camera to answer questions about whatever I'm looking at. But ChatGPT is the AI assistant I use far more often, so I started wondering what would happen if I could give ChatGPT the same view.
And this experiment may offer a glimpse at where ChatGPT is headed anyway. OpenAI is already working with former Apple design chief Jony Ive on a new generation of AI hardware. Its first device is reportedly a portable, screenless assistant equipped with cameras and sensors that can understand what's happening around it, with several more devices said to be in development.
We don't know whether smart glasses will be one of them yet, but the direction highlights that OpenAI is thinking about a future where using ChatGPT doesn't necessarily mean pulling out your phone and opening an app.
I didn't want to wait for that, and with a rumored $300 price tag, I figured I might as well use what I already have: my Ray-Ban Meta glasses.
How I got ChatGPT Vision on my Ray-Bans
To be clear, I didn't jailbreak my Ray-Bans or somehow replace Meta AI. Instead, I used my iPhone as a bridge between the camera on my glasses and ChatGPT.
The result was essentially ChatGPT with a pair of eyes. There are really two parts to making this work: voice and vision. For obvious reasons, voice is the easier half, and my main reason for wanting to do this experiment. I prefer the new ChatGPT Voice.
Ray-Ban Meta glasses connect to an iPhone over Bluetooth and can already handle audio from calls, music and other apps. That means I can run ChatGPT on my iPhone while using the glasses to hear its responses.
Vision takes a little more work. Meta's Wearables Device Access Toolkit gives developers access to features on compatible Meta glasses, including their first-person camera. That creates a way for an iPhone app to receive images from the glasses rather than relying on the iPhone's own camera.
My iPhone effectively became the middleman.
The setup looked something like this:
Ray-Ban camera > iPhone > ChatGPT > Ray-Ban speakers
When I wanted ChatGPT to see something, the app could capture an image from the glasses' point of view and send it along with my question to ChatGPT. ChatGPT could then analyze what I was looking at and respond through the glasses. It's slower, no doubt, and the iPhone is doing a lot of work behind the scenes, but it gets the job done.
Let me be extra clear here: I didn't install ChatGPT directly on the Ray-Bans, and saying "Hey Meta" doesn't suddenly summon ChatGPT. But once the phone was back in my pocket, it started to feel surprisingly close to having ChatGPT glasses.
I asked the same questions to both AIs
Using ChatGPT on a phone requires a deliberate action. I have to take out my phone, open the app and point the camera at something before I can ask about it.
With glasses, the camera is already looking wherever I'm looking. Instead of taking a picture of something I didn't recognize, I could simply look at it and ask about it. I could look at a product and ask ChatGPT what it thought. I could have it read something in front of me and then ask a follow-up question.
1. The grocery store test
My first test was something I've done before with Ray-Ban Meta glasses and ChatGPT seperately, but putting them together was interesting. I started by taking two similar products (Pringles and Cape Cod Potato Chips) and asking both AIs to help me choose between them.
I've used the Meta Ray-Bans with food before, but I wanted to see what ChatGPT could do. They both gave me the same answer but with slightly different presentation. Meta added "if you want..." while ChatGPT was more definitive. If I'm asking for advice, I want a response with clear direction.
2. The 'what am I looking at?' test
This test really showed the difference between Meta AI and ChatGPT in an unexpected way. I showed both AIs my chonky orange tabby cat, but ChatGPT already knew his name, Jolly. Because of ChatGPT Memory already locked in from hundreds of queries, ChatGPT knows more about me than Meta AI.
3. The reading test
ChatGPT's voice and responses are much more friendlier and feel like I'm talking to someone who actually knows me. Meta typically gets straight to the point and offers zero fluff within the conversation.
That's a personal preference, for sure. But for me, I much prefer ChatGPT for even the most boring tasks.
Meta AI has one enormous advantage
There's no getting around this: Meta AI belongs on these glasses. The integration is cleaner because Meta controls everything.
The camera, microphones, speakers, wake word and AI were designed to work together. I can say "Hey Meta," ask something about what I'm seeing and get an answer without thinking about what is happening behind the scenes.
My ChatGPT setup has an iPhone sitting invisibly in the middle of the process.
That introduces more steps and more opportunities for something to go wrong. There can be latency issues and the connection can be finicky. There are things Meta can do with its own hardware that my experiment simply can't reproduce.
If all I cared about was getting the fastest possible answer to "What am I looking at?", Meta AI would be very difficult to beat.
But that's not really why I wanted ChatGPT on my glasses. ChatGPT gave me something different with an overall friendlier vibe. Have ChatGPT as a wearable and not on my phone was a game changer to the point I wish I had tried this much sooner.
The real takeaway
The bottom line for me with this experiment is that I finally got to experience what glasses with a different AI felt like. We're moving toward a world filled with AI hardware: glasses, earbuds, watches, pins and entirely new categories of devices.
OpenAI's work with Jony Ive suggests it is thinking seriously about what ChatGPT looks like when it escapes the screen. Meta is already there with Ray-Ban Meta.
But there's another question I think is going to become important: Why should buying a piece of hardware determine which AI assistant I have to use? I'd love to open the settings for my glasses someday and be able to default to any given AI assistant. I'd even like to see Alexa+ on glasses!
And while that's not how Ray-Ban Meta works today, and my setup isn't nearly as seamless as choosing ChatGPT from a menu, having a choice at all feels like the next step.
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