Solos has unveiled its AirGo Vision smart glasses, a rival to the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses that leverage OpenAI’s GPT-4o model to identify objects and people, and respond to voice prompts, providing a ChatGPT-powered visual assistant.
Key features and functionality: The AirGo Vision smart glasses incorporate a camera and AI capabilities to enhance the user experience:
- The built-in camera and support for GPT-4o allow the glasses to recognize objects and people in the user’s field of view.
- Users can ask questions like “what am I looking at?” or give specific requests such as “give me directions to the Eiffel Tower” to receive relevant information.
- The glasses feature a modular frame design, enabling users to swap components like the camera or lenses to adapt to different situations.
- In addition to the AI assistant, the camera can be used to take photos, and the built-in speakers can play music or provide audio responses to queries.
Pricing and availability: While the full version of the AirGo Visions with the camera does not yet have an official price or release date, Solos plans to launch a camera-less version in July:
- The camera-less AirGo Visions will be priced at $249 (around £200 / AU$375).
- Given this pricing, the camera-equipped version is expected to cost at least as much as the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, which retail for $299 / £299 / AU$449.
Evaluating the potential of AI-powered smart glasses: Early experiences with AI assistants on smart glasses suggest that the technology is still a work in progress:
- TechRadar’s Senior Staff Writer Hamish Hector tested the Meta AI’s ‘Look and Ask’ feature on Ray-Ban smart glasses and found it to be handy when it worked but not 100% perfect due to camera limitations and information overload.
- The AI struggled with some tasks like identifying trees but proved useful in quickly summarizing complex information, such as parking restriction signs.
- As with any AI-generated responses, users should corroborate the answers to filter out errors and hallucinations.
The future of AI-enhanced wearables: Despite the current limitations, AI-powered smart glasses show potential for various applications:
- The integration of OpenAI’s latest GPT-4o model in the Solos AirGo Visions could lead to an interesting comparison with the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses once the camera-equipped version is released.
- AI-assisted smart glasses could be particularly beneficial for travelers or visually impaired individuals, providing real-time information about their surroundings.
- As the technology continues to evolve, AI-enhanced wearables may become increasingly capable and reliable, transforming how we interact with the world around us.
These new AI smart glasses are like getting a second pair of ChatGPT-powered eyes