I tested AI glasses in Paris. Here’s what they got wrong

Wearable AI can help travellers navigate cities, translate menus and fundamentally transform travel. But a weekend in Paris showed me the trade-offs behind the convenience.

In Paris, I find myself standing beneath the Eiffel Tower having an argument with my glasses about how tall it is.

The first time I ask, the answer comes back as 330m. A few minutes later, I try again. This time, the glasses confidently tell me, through a tiny speaker near my ear, that it is 324m tall. This is not the kind of discussion I had expected to be having during weekend testing Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses as a travel companion.

This small discrepancy in height – the official Eiffel Tower website lists it as 1,083ft, or 330m – throws up some big questions for me. If I can't trust the glasses to tell me the correct answer to something easily verifiable, what can I trust them with?

Why wearable AI is becoming mainstream

Launched in late 2023 by Meta and EssilorLuxottica, the parent company of Ray-Ban, the glasses are part of a fast-growing category of AI wearables that is moving from novelty to mainstream use. More than seven million Meta smart glasses were reportedly sold in 2025, and rival products from companies like Google and Samsung are now in development. Apple is also widely reported to be working on smart glasses of its own.

The promise for travellers is immediately appealing: live translation, help with directions, hands-free photography and quick answers about restaurants, landmarks, menus and whatever else happens to be in front of you. In theory, they combine the functions of a guidebook, translation app, smartphone and audio guide in a single wearable device.

As someone who spends too much time in new places navigating with Google Maps and staring at her phone, I am excited to see whether they make me feel a little less like an awkward lost tourist as I wander around Paris.

But I am also uneasy. Camera-equipped smart glasses have attracted growing criticism for the way they can be used to film and photograph people without their consent. I wonder whether this particular type of travel tech will help me connect more deeply with the city, or mark me out for all the wrong reasons. 

A travel guide for your ears

The Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses I packed for my weekend trip to Paris are chunky and black-framed. They look like a standard pair of glasses but I find speaking to thin air a little strange, so I hide my mouth behind my hand, as if I am about to cough, before asking a question.

Unlike augmented-reality headsets, the glasses do not project information across the lenses. Instead, they use cameras, microphones, speakers and voice AI to create a kind of audio-first layer between you and the world around you. Wearers can make phone calls, take photos, record videos, listen to music and podcasts, translate text and speech, ask questions about what they are seeing, set reminders and request recommendations. 

I begin by asking the glasses to give me directions as I walk with my travel companion from the Gare du Nord through Le Marais and down to the Seine. They quickly send the route to the maps function on my phone and alert me to open it. I suppose it's technically what I asked for, but it means I have my head down, staring at my phone, instead of looking around and enjoying the........

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