Kylie Jenner is serving as a human poster child for meta’s AI glasses, but pop star Lorde doesn’t approve.
During his set at the Mad Cool Festival in Madrid last week, Lorde had some choice words about this new technology that many security experts consider a privacy nightmare.
“In our world, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to know what’s true,” Lord told the audience. “I don’t know if someone’s wearing sunglasses or those damn things (AI glasses). Just to be clear, wear glasses. No glasses. It’s not sexy.”
Lorde previously wrote about throwing her phone into the ocean, but this was next level.
The singer was probably moved to comment on the latest trends in technology, as festival sponsor Ray-Ban has partnered with Meta to manufacture AI glasses. Lorde also performed just before singer Jenny, who is an ambassador for Ray-Ban Meta’s smart glasses line.
Lord is not alone in expressing concern. Smart glasses equipped with cameras and AI capabilities are being used as harassment and extortion tools. Meta, the most popular smart glasses maker, says it values privacy and incorporates safety devices like visible recording lights, but the company faces numerous investigations and lawsuits alleging privacy violations. One lawsuit alleges that a Kenyan contract worker was made to watch graphic videos obtained through glasses to help train Meta’s AI. (Meta has not released details of its response to that specific claim.)
None of this prevents this product from selling well. Ray-Ban manufacturer EssilorLuxottica announced that it sold more than 7 million Meta AI glasses in 2025. This is more than three times the approximately 2 million units sold in 2023 and 2024. Ray-Ban Meta glasses are extremely popular in the smart glasses category, and Courageous Meta continues to expand their lineup.
But if privacy doesn’t make people think twice about glasses, perhaps vanity will. Lorde puts it very succinctly with her declaration that they are simply “not sexy.”
Here and now, she added, it’s “sexy.”
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