The 2014 Google Glass debacle stigmatized smart glasses, but the devices may be poised for a comeback.

Despite Google Glass's flaming failure, Meta and Google appear to be all in on the next generation of smart glasses that combine fashion, functionality, and generative AI into a compelling form factor, maintained Gene Munster, managing partner of Deepwater Asset Management, a venture capital firm in Minneapolis.

Writing on the firm’s website Friday, Munster noted, “I believe the reason for their optimism is a combination of recognizing consumers gravitate to easy-to-use tech along with greater confidence in what generative AI can add to the equation.”

“Gen AI is paving the way toward complex wearable ambient computing,” he wrote. “In other words, the current goal is making glasses that look and feel like ‘normal glasses,’ but with generative AI access via voice activation, cameras, and sensors.”

“This means,” he continued, “your glasses will understand the physical world around you, ready to provide you any information about it, like ‘what kind of plant am I looking at?’ or ‘Did you see where I left my keys?'”

Munster predicted that the annual market for smart glasses will reach hundreds of millions of units over the next decade, leading Apple to refocus its spatial computing initiatives to be more in line with Meta and Google wearables.