r/worldnews • u/koakzion • 7h ago
The eyes have it: Reform politician’s ‘smart glasses’ prompt calls for ban in Westminster
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/oct/14/smart-glasses-ai-technology-reform-senedd-westminster-ban39
u/Different_Syrup_6944 5h ago
I'm keen for smart glasses that don't have a camera. It gives you a head's up display that could be great for reading, possibly working, and also possibly while exercising. I'd love to have my cycling stats available in my field of vision easily.
It would be useful in many applications to have a camera for AR purposes, but recording, tracking people though AI, and other uses makes this rather more problematic
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u/AgUnityDD 41m ago
Without the camera how would they sync what's on the heads up display with what you are seeing? Are you thinking that the display would just be static, like a smart watch display?
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u/mjconver 6h ago
If you're not a skilled surgeon in an operating room using them to overlay a 3D image of the patient's recent MRI to assist you...
Then you're a pervert
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u/Proud-Season-5105 5h ago
I use them when welding at work, they overlay a pattern showing me where it's ok to weld and where it's not. It's very helpful for avoiding costly mistakes.
And yes, I'm a pervert.
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u/torolf_212 2h ago
My old man was a fitter welder, he was a pervert, so it might just be a welder thing too
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u/unlikemike123 3h ago
1 week in a welding training centre taught me that all welders are perverts, I felt right at home
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u/Normal-Height-8577 5h ago
There are some genuinely good disability-related uses for them. Chris McCausland did an interesting programme last year exploring potential tech solutions for visual impairment, and one of the things he tried out was a smart glasses app that describes your surroundings and helps you navigate.
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u/Dwanyelle 5h ago
I would absolutely love a pair of glasses that captions the speech of those I'm talking to, it would help a ton with my hearing.
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u/Murky_Macropod 4h ago
It would be cool, but without control over the backend we shouldn’t have the right to record and upload video/audio of strangers to private companies which can be used to track them/ingest their data etc.
There should be some disability-related versions that use open source models and don’t keep data, but I don’t see it happening in an affordable way
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u/beetrox8 3h ago
If you’re not a skilled surgeon should you even be in the operating room?
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u/torolf_212 2h ago
That awkward moment when the patient needs to study and practice medicine for a decade to get their appendix removed
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u/silasmoeckel 5h ago
How about hard of hearing and they put captions under the people talking so you have context to who is speaking?
augmented reality has a lot of possibilities for people living with disabilities.
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u/One-Replacement9269 5h ago
There not all perverts!!!!
Some are just being really really annoying to people and then posting it on instagram with a gambling add attached!
There are so many good use cases!
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u/Aroshard 6h ago
Bro, many people who watched Iron man and other sci-fi movies have wanted this for a long time. Why are you saying it is only for surgeons and perverts? It is a cool and useful gadget, though probably pricey.
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u/mjconver 6h ago
Did I stutter?
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u/Nefariax 6h ago edited 3h ago
Stutter? As in typing? Careful with all those edges, you might cut yourself, and what a tragedy that would be.
Edit:Oh this guy's post history is a piece of work. My god what an idiot, gold mine.
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u/lNFORMATlVE 6h ago
I suppose they could be considered slightly more ergonomic gopros. But why would you ever wear them to do anything you’d use a gopro for lol (like sports).
Conclusion: yup, only surgeons and perverts.
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u/huffleshuffle 6h ago
Hard to imagine Tony Stark using his suit to argue some 20mph roads should be changed to 30mph though
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u/binaryfireball 6h ago
Yea having a hidden camera is pretty bad and yes I consider glasses even if they have a pretty obvious camera on them to be "hidden"
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u/Aroshard 5h ago
It depends on where you are wearing it. It can help do a lot of things more easily in various fields. Imagine having a digital check list that monitors your progress and checks off steps as you do experiments and gives warnings on when something is out of place. Imagine using it to improve bat swing in cricket. There are so many ways it can be useful.
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u/GodzillaUK 5h ago
And 90% of it's use will be some kind of perversion. Iron Man is a futurist, thinking of raising up humanity. The rest of us are collectively dumb.
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u/Aroshard 5h ago
Not really. Internet is used for both great purposes as well as perversions. Does not mean it is predominantly a bad thing.
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u/lNFORMATlVE 6h ago
Lol I like the pun.
I had a major brainfart for half my life where I misinterpreted BBC footage of parliament votes and thought they were saying:
“Eyes to the right, nose to the left. The eyes have it!”
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u/OneNormalBloke 7h ago
Maybe they think that wearing smart-glasses will make them smart but they might be in for a shock.
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u/silverbolt2000 6h ago edited 6h ago
I’m of 2 minds about this.
Government debates are fully public and recorded anyway. The Senedd in this case is primarily made of glass to emphasise the importance of transparency. So I don’t see an issue with them recording what goes on in the council chambers.
But failing to disclose that they were smart glasses somewhat goes against the principle of transparency, and seems ignorant to not consider how people would react.
Tl;dr - is it a problem using recording devices in an environment that is already public and being recorded?
EDIT: Just realised the issue isn't about the speaker recording anything. So what is the issue then? Would it also be an issue if the speaker was reading prompts off an iPad?
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u/LordJebusVII 6h ago
They weren't being used as a recording device, but as a teleprompter so he could pass off a pre-written speech as improvised.
They could also be used to write responses to questions in real time. Parliamentary debates between two Chat-GPTs. That's not a healthy way to run a country
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u/Rumpullpus 5h ago
Debates? In government? Why don't you just shut down government for 75% of the year like the rest of us.
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u/Thelmara 6h ago
Tl;dr - is it a problem using recording devices in an environment that is already public and being recorded?
TLDR: If you'd read the article, you'd know this wasn't about that at all.
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u/CleverInternetName8c 6h ago
On the other hand, anyone who buys or wears these should probably be punched many times in the face
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u/fairiestoldmeto 6h ago
I think when you muddy the sources of potential recordings, you open the way for ai generated video and doubt. It just isn’t needed and adds nothing.,
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u/AnomalyNexus 4h ago
These glasses need to happen so that the Zuck can stream ads directly into eyeballs 24/7...and ads targeted at whatever you're doing is even better so has to have a camera.
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u/steve_ample 5h ago
"Hey Meta, deposit the Russian cash in my Savings account. Mark it under 'Consulting Fee'"
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