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AI glasses face their first major government crackdown
Norway wants time to write permanent rules for glasses that can record bystanders.
Norway has become the first major country to propose a temporary ban on the use of AI glasses in selected public places amid growing privacy concerns over wearable technology.
The rich Scandinavian country’s center-left government said on Monday that it would introduce a law to parliament soon on a temporary ban for places such as parks, beaches, schools, and kindergartens. It will also set up an expert group to propose permanent national rules.
“I am concerned about the introduction of powerful new technology where people risk being photographed, filmed, or recorded without their knowledge,” said Torgeir Micaelsen, Norway’s digitalization minister. A temporary ban “will give us time to conduct a thorough assessment and hold an informed debate that can lay the foundation for permanent regulation,” he said.
Governments around the world are grappling with how to regulate AI glasses—including those from Facebook owner Meta and cheaper copycat devices—amid worries that they are being used to film people without their consent, including children and women in settings such as changing rooms.
Parts of Norwegian society have already reacted with their own bans, including schools in the capital Oslo and the country’s biggest company, oil and gas major Equinor, which has banned them from its offices and offshore facilities.
Australia is considering a ban on smart glasses in certain public spaces, while courtrooms in several countries have issued bans as the use of wearable technology increases.
Norway’s government said it did not want to propose a total ban. It said that appropriate use could be where there was no risk of filming people without their consent.
It added that the proposed ban was a “high priority” and that a draft law would soon be presented to parliament.
“We do not want a society where people are concerned about hidden audio recordings, photography, and filming in places and situations where they are used to being without being monitored. Such a society can be experienced as unsafe and cause us to withdraw,” said Micaelsen.
US tech companies such as Meta, Google, and OpenAI believe wearable technology, like smart glasses, has the potential to replace mobile phones as our main gateway to AI. They believe that talking to AI—which will listen to people’s conversations and daily life—is easier than opening an app and typing in queries. Analysts at Counterpoint Research estimate consumers will spend more than $1 trillion between 2026 and 2032 on wearable devices.
But that has raised widespread privacy concerns about what such smart glasses could see or hear, and led to them being dubbed “pervert technology” by some campaigners.
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