Ray-Bans and Meta have added a landmark-identifying feature to their AI-powered sunglasses. The new feature identifies landmarks in various locations, serving as a virtual tour guide for travelers, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth recently said. Last year, Ray-Ban’s Meta sunglasses introduced AI-powered visual search features showcasing both impressive and potentially concerning capabilities.
How does it work? Tourists can find out when the pyramids were built, for example, just by catching sight of the landmark, which triggers written text — or audio — that explains the history and facts about it, according to Engadget. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg showcased the new feature on Instagram through videos captured in Montana where the glasses used audio to provide verbal descriptions of landmarks.
Meta previously previewed this feature at its Connect event, highlighting it as part of the new “multimodal” capabilities enabling access to real-time information for the glasses, powered in part by Bing Search.
This landmark identification feature is part of Meta’s broader Google lens-like functionality, allowing users to “show” what they see through the glasses and ask AI questions about it. While currently available to those in Meta's early access program — which remains limited in numbers — Bosworth mentioned the possibility of expanding access in the future, encouraging interested users to join the waitlist for updates.