China’s Sensible Glasses Are Already Leaving Ray-Bans within the Mud

Meta’s Ray-Ban sensible glasses is perhaps main the pack in America, however in China, they’re beginning to look just a little bit behind. Arguably, the hardest competitors is coming from Alibaba, which simply announced an update for its Qwen AI Glasses S1 that expands the sensible glasses’ AI options and widens its lead over Meta AI.

The greatest addition is the inclusion of proactive AI, which is designed to floor reminders and different helpful info primarily based on elements just like the climate, your location, calendar objects, or, ultimately, latest buy historical past. That means, for instance, that the Qwen AI Glasses S1 would possibly inform you to carry an umbrella earlier than leaving the home if rain is predicted, or it’d remind you to appropriate your posture when you’re working.

Alibaba even says that future updates would possibly use info like your latest buy historical past to inform you to drink water in case you’ve consumed an excessive amount of caffeine and even assess site visitors in real-time to inform you in case you ought to depart from work early to keep away from getting caught.

To be sincere, it appears like quite a lot of stuff that the Apple Watch already does or may do, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a step additional than the Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses, which set reminders however aren’t built-in with GPS, climate, or calendars in the identical method.

If proactive AI doesn’t do it for you, Alibaba says it’s additionally integrating different capabilities from its Qwen App, together with ride-hailing, meals supply, journey planning, evaluation searches, and film ticket purchases. I’m notably intrigued by the ride-hailing half and meals supply options, which remind me of comparable voice-based options rolled out in Amazon’s Alexa+, although cramming these options into sensible glasses, versus a sensible speaker or an app in your telephone, would possibly make them really feel extra helpful.

How properly any of those options work continues to be an open query since I haven’t had an opportunity to check the Qwen AI Glasses S1 for myself, however on paper, they make a extra compelling case for the “AI” a part of AI glasses than most AI options that I’ve utilized in Meta’s Ray-Bans.