You are being filmed without knowing it
There are some phenomena and occurrences that are like catnip to almost all guys.
The dream of a really good apocalypse, for example. Or the thought of being forced to survive alone in the wilderness. Men really love that kind of daydreaming.
Wearing a pair of tough glasses that can analyze the outside world in real time — and make them feel like Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Terminator” — seems to be another.
Therefore, it has not been very difficult for the tech companies to sell the idea of so-called smart AI glasses to male consumers. But how are they going to get women to catch on to the trend? Fashion is the answer, of course. All girls like fashion – and the tech giants know it.
In the middle of In June, the social media company Snapchat announced its latest AR glasses model “”Specs”, which is said to be so powerful that it can be equated with a computer.
To make the launch truly female-friendly, supermodels Kaia Gerber and Jung Ho-yeon fronted the campaign, which was shot in tasteful black and white by iconic fashion photographer Steven Meisel.
Unfortunately, the glossy campaign was overshadowed by the fact that the company’s CEO Evan Spiegel decided to show off the glasses himself in an interview with CNBC. In the viral clip, the glasses appear to have been bought at the nearest joke shop – earning them the nickname ‘The Internet’s Ugliest Glasses’ and causing parent company Snap Inc’s stock to plummet.
Just a few days after Snap Inc’s farcical launch, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta ended its successful collaboration with Ray Ban to sell designer AI glasses under its own brand.
Meta’s model is the market leader, and this is a natural next step – even if it continues to produce together with the eyewear giant Essilor-Luxottica, which owns Ray Ban.
Zuckerberg’s team had also gone big to attract the female consumers with FASHION, this time by letting the Kardashian sister Kylie Jenner guest design an own glasses model named Starfire.
“Kylie is such a fashion icon,” Zuckerberg chirped during the presentation – a claim that can certainly be debated.
The Starfire glasses look like any trendy frame, but can do everything a smartphone can. For example, count steps, track movements, record conversations or film what you see. Several of the eyewear manufacturers have also announced plans to integrate facial recognition into their products in the coming years. The idea is to get information about the people you meet in real time.
The question is, who – apart from guys with Terminator dreams – needs that kind of thing?
It’s not Kylie Jenner or other women, but the tech companies themselves – as well as pervs and crazies.
The last time both Swedish and foreign media have reported on how women are stalked and filmed by men wearing smart AI glasses.
One of them is Swedish athletics star Maja Åskagwhich was surreptitiously filmed by an American influencer whose account of “ragging tips” has over a million followers on Instagram.
At the same time it reports the Swedish police that air tags have become an increasing problem in the work against deadly violence against women. And the newspaper ETC reports on young girls who are filmed against their will in Stockholm’s nightlife.
That Mark ZuckerbergEvan Spiegel and the rest of Silicon Valley don’t seem to get is that women give a shit about how these glasses look, or who designed them.
For us, smart AI glasses are not part of a futuristic action fantasy.
They are a threat to our security.
Emily Dahl is a fashion scientist, journalist and presenter – you can see her in “Modeinferno” on SVT Play.
