AI Glasses Record and Analyze Everything Around You—What's the Catch?
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Glasses that listen to and analyze everything and project helpful information directly into your field of vision? It sounds like the future or sci-fi, but with the Halo X, it's almost a reality. Smart AI meets everyday design, but many questions lurk behind this practical gadget.
Where does the new "super memory" come from?
With the Halo X, Ardayfio and Nguyen are launching their latest project on the market: always-on glasses that are designed as a smart everyday companion and are available for US$249. But the two founders are no strangers to the market, having previously attracted attention with provocative ideas. Namely, with I-XRAY, an app that combines smart glasses with facial recognition technology. They impressively demonstrated how easily personal data can be misused.
Technology suitable for everyday use
The design of the Halo X is deliberately inconspicuous, which should make it comfortable to wear in everyday life. However, the inconspicuous design also means that there is no signal or small light to indicate that the glasses are currently being worn. Inside is a waveguide display that projects information in green text directly into the field of vision without significantly impairing vision.
The display is designed so that only you can see it; everything remains secret from others. Speakers are also built into the glasses. A runtime of 8 hours on a single charge promises that they will last a full workday.
The Halo AI listens in throughout the day and proactively provides you with answers, insights, and assistance directly via the display. For audio processing, the glasses continuously record speech and transcribe it in real time. The actual evaluation is not done locally, but via a companion app, which accesses the AI engines Google Gemini and Perplexity.
According to the developers, audio recordings are deleted immediately after transcription. Soniox is also used for speech recognition. Those who need prescription lenses can also have them customized.
The Halo X is already available to pre-order, and deliveries will begin in the first quarter of 2026, according to the website.
Inexpensive to buy, expensive for privacy
The Halo X looks like conventional glasses from the outside and therefore does not show when a recording is in progress. This creates a legal gray area, especially in Germany, where Section 201a of the German Criminal Code prohibits the secret recording of conversations. In parts of the USA and France, it is also illegal to record conversations without the consent of the person being recorded. Data protectionists are already warning that the normalization of such devices could massively endanger the privacy of others.
Although the developers say that no data will be used to train the AI or sold, this still leaves some questions unanswered. In terms of using the glasses conscientiously without violating the privacy of others, they are relying on their customers and their capacity to classify this.
In technical terms, the Halo X is an exciting piece of hardware: lightweight and cleverly networked with the latest AI infrastructure. As a "second brain", it promises to make knowledge available at all times, in conversation, at work, or in everyday life. However, whether it will be able to establish itself will be less a question of technology than of how society and the law deal with a gadget that is constantly listening.
