Google's First Gemini Glasses Go on Preorder at $395, Betting That Privacy Limits Will Sell an AI Camera on Your Face
Google opened preorders on November 12 for Intelligent Eyewear, screenless glasses built with Samsung, Warby Parker and Gentle Monster that put Gemini in the frame via voice, a 12-megapixel camera and open-ear speakers. Warby Parker frames start at $395 and Gentle Monster's at $449, before prescription lenses, with sales from December 10 for Google accounts in the US and South Korea. Google says camera visuals are not saved to Gemini history or used for training or ads and that bystanders' faces are blurred before processing; Ars Technica notes voice chats get no such guarantee and data is not encrypted on Google's servers.
Google's answer to the problem that sank Google Glass is a list of rules about what its new glasses will not do. Its first Gemini-powered frames went on preorder on November 12, and the launch post spends as much space on privacy limits as on features. Whether that is enough depends on Gemini being reliable without a screen to check it.
What is on sale#
Intelligent Eyewear comes in two collections. Warby Parker's three styles, Alden, Reid and Wren, start at $395; Gentle Monster's six start at $449. Samsung supplies the computing hardware and Google the software, Ars Technica reported. Starting prices exclude prescription lenses, which will raise the final cost. Preorders are open online and in Warby Parker and Gentle Monster stores, and the glasses go on sale on December 10. They work only with Google accounts from the United States and South Korea, and require an 18+ account.
There is no display. Users say "Hey Gemini" or tap the frame to ask questions, get Google Maps directions in their ear, translate speech across more than 70 languages, or point the 12-megapixel camera at something, such as an event poster to check their calendar. Google says the frames weigh about 41 grams and the battery lasts up to nine hours, with a case that recharges them up to seven times. They pair with iPhone 13 Pro and later, Pixel 7 and later, and recent Samsung Galaxy S and Z models; some features, including the Guided Vision accessibility mode, need an Android phone at launch.
The privacy pitch, and its edges#
Google says camera visuals sent to Gemini are not saved in Gemini history and are not used to train models or target ads, and that bystanders' faces are automatically blurred before Gemini processes them. A light shows when the camera records, and the glasses are designed to stop recording if it is covered. Every pair has an off switch. Ars Technica adds that Google will not allow apps to live-stream from the glasses, has ruled out real-time facial recognition, and may remotely disable glasses whose owners break its recording rules.
The guarantees are narrower than the headline. Ars Technica notes that voice conversations with Gemini on the glasses do not get the same protection as camera images, and that data is encrypted on the glasses and in transit but not on Google's servers; Google says it is working to bring its Private AI Compute system to the glasses. The format follows Meta's Ray-Ban glasses, which Ars Technica says have been on sale for a few years and which Meta plans to upgrade with its Muse assistant, while governments are already weighing limits on camera glasses, as in Norway's proposed temporary ban on AI glasses in some public places.
Limits#
- Battery life, weight and privacy behaviour are Google's claims; independent reviews of shipping units are not yet available.
- Ars Technica's reviewer says Gemini still makes simple mistakes in his testing on other devices; that is one reviewer's experience, not a measured error rate.
- Full prices with prescription lenses have not been published.