Lorde says AI glasses are “not sexy”

While Kylie Jenner serves as a human billboard for Meta’s AI glasses, pop star Lorde isn’t buying it.

During a set at the Mad Cool Festival in Madrid last week, Lorde had some nice words about the new technology, which many security experts consider a privacy nightmare.

“In our world it’s getting harder and harder to know what’s real,” Lorde told the audience. “You don’t know if someone’s wearing sunglasses or if they’re wearing f–ed up, f–ing [AI glasses]. Can I just say for the record: the glasses. Don’t take the glasses. Not sexy.”

Lorde has written about it before throwing her phone into the oceanbut this was next level.

Lorde may have been moved to comment on the latest trends in technology because Ray-Ban, a sponsor of the festival, is working with Meta to make AI glasses. Lorde also performed just before the singer Jennie, who had a ambassador for the Ray-Ban x Meta smart glasses line.

Lorde isn’t the only one expressing his concerns. Smart glasses, which come with cameras and AI features, have been used as a tool intimidation And extortion. Meta, the most popular smart glasses maker, has said it is taking privacy seriously and building in safeguards such as a visible recording light, but the company is facing many problems. to research And lawsuits for violation of privacy. A court case claims that Kenyan contract workers were forced to watch graphic videos obtained with the glasses to help train Meta’s AI. (Meta has not publicly detailed its response to that specific claim.)

None of this has held the product back strong sales. EssilorLuxottica, the maker of Ray-Ban, said it will sell more than 7 million Meta AI glasses in 2025 – more than triple the roughly 2 million units sold in 2023 and 2024 combined. Ray-Ban Meta glasses are such a hit in the smart glasses category that an emboldened Meta continues to expand the range.

But hey, if privacy doesn’t make people reconsider the glasses, maybe vanity will. Lorde sums it up quite succinctly with her statement that they are simply “not sexy.”

The here and now, she added, is “sexy.”