Pop musician Lorde has added her voice to the debate over AI-powered smart glasses — and she is not a fan.
According to The Verge, Lorde paused during her set at the Real Cool Festival in Madrid on Thursday to speak out against AI glasses, calling them "not sexy." The Verge notes that she did not name any brands specifically, though the outlet suggests she was likely referring to the Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses.
The comment lands amid a broader wave of mixed reactions to the devices, which pair the familiar Ray-Ban frame with Meta's AI features and a built-in camera. A high-profile performer knocking the look — rather than the technology's privacy or utility questions — reframes the conversation around something harder for a company to engineer away: whether people actually want to be seen wearing them.
Based on the available reporting, Lorde's remarks were brief and delivered as an aside during a live performance, not a formal review or endorsement deal. The Verge's coverage centers on the "not sexy" line itself, and does not detail any further critique she may have offered.
Style has always been part of the pitch for camera-equipped eyewear. Earlier generations of face computers struggled less with capability than with the perception that wearers looked awkward or intrusive. Meta's partnership with Ray-Ban was meant to solve exactly that by leaning on an iconic fashion brand.
Why it matters: When a cultural tastemaker publicly dismisses a gadget as uncool on stage, it signals that the biggest obstacle for AI wearables may be social acceptance, not silicon.