New AI glasses — better than Ray-Bans?

The newest entry into the AI glasses category comes from Brilliant Labs, the company that brought us that funky “Monocle” product I told you about last year. (I told you about it because someone customized it by adding ChatGPT functionality.) The product, called Frames, weigh 39 grams, which is an average weight even for ordinary prescription glasses.

Like Ray-Ban Meta glasses, Frames cost less than $400 — in this case, $349 — and also support prescription lenses. But unlike Ray-Ban Metas, these have a see-through screen interface visible to the wearer in the right frame only. Unlike Apple Vision Pro, where visual objects appear to be anchored in the real world, Frame glasses are heads-up displays like Google Glass, where the visual objects move with the head.

Augmented reality glasses like Xreal Air 2 can act as a screen for TV, video games and smartphones. This is different.

Frames show you AI content — specifically enabling interaction with the Perplexity genAI product I told you about in the last issue of Mike’s List. They give you “AI superpowers,” according to the company.