AI smart glasses are the latest gadget gold rush for Chinese tech firms

Xiaomi-backed Superhexa is the latest to join the fray with US$100 AI-equipped frames that undercut the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses

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Xiaomi-backed Superhexa has launched its Jiehuan smart glasses in China for just 699 yuan amid rising demand for gadgets that allow people to talk to generative AI. Photo: Superhexa

Published: 7:00am, 22 Aug 2024

Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered eyewear has become the latest smart gadget trend for Chinese tech firms rushing to profit from consumer excitement around combining generative AI with wearables following Ray-Ban’s release of the Meta smart glasses.

One of the latest companies to enter the market is Xiaomi-backed start-up Superhexa, which this month launched its AI audio glasses Jiehuan.

Compared with overseas offerings, the Jiehuan frames are competitively priced at 699 yuan (US$98). Functionally, though, they are similar to competing products by offering quick access to large language models (LLMs) – the technology underpinning intelligent chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT – through the use of built-in speakers and microphones.

“It took millions of years for humans to evolve and develop two hands; it’s a waste to have one hand holding a smartphone,” Superhexa founder and CEO Xia Yongfeng recently quipped to local news outlet tmtpost.com.

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The rapid development of generative AI over the past couple of years has given smart glasses a massive intelligence upgrade, helping to boost interest in the wearables by allowing users to instantly query LLMs about their surroundings or have conversations translated in real time.