So you paid a few hundred bucks for a neat little gadget and think you’re good to go. But it turns out you’ll need to subscribe to a monthly plan to unlock all its advanced features.
That where AI-powered consumer electronics are increasingly heading, and Meta is the latest to prove it with its smart glasses.
The company now notes in its help pages, first reported by The Verge, that users will need the Meta One Premium Plan to unlock expanded access to some features for their smart glasses, whether it’s the Ray-Ban, Oakley, or Meta-branded version. While you’ll be able to use your AI glasses without a subscription, certain features will be limited.
Specifically, a feature called Conversation Focus, which boosts the audio of the person you’re speaking with so you can hear them better in loud environments. You’ll get three hours per month without a subscription, but if you want to use it more often, then you’ll need to pay up. Though even then, you’re still capped at 15 hours. Subscribing also nets you “Premium Device Support,” where you’ll get faster access to what Meta says are “human experts” trained on the smart glasses’ features, should any problems arise. Guess humans are better at some things after all.
A Meta spokesperson tells WIRED that this is “not an AI rate limit.” Rate limits are common on other AI platforms—users get free access to a feature until they hit a certain cap, then they’ll need to subscribe to use it more until the limit resets at the end of the month. However, the Conversation Focus feature runs on-device, meaning it doesn’t need to head to Meta’s servers for AI processing. There’s no real-time way to monitor how many hours you’ve used Conversation Focus, but you’ll receive a notification when you get near the limit.
“The subscription supports that ongoing work and gives power users expanded access along with premium device support,” the spokesperson says. “We’re going to start testing new optional subscription plans that offer more premium features and advanced capabilities for those who want to unlock more from our apps and AI glasses.”
As more features are added to the smart glasses, you’re likely to see the same treatment. If it’s any consolation, Meta says the vast majority of people will use Conversation Focus without hitting the monthly limit. This data is based on the company’s learnings from its early access program, though Meta says it will listen to feedback and adjust usage rates accordingly.
Chris Harrison, director of the Future Interfaces Group at Carnegie Mellon University, doesn’t think the new subscription is to help pay for Meta’s AI spending. “The industry has made tremendous strides, even in the last six months, but certainly in the last 18 months, improving token generation efficiency—running these models much more efficiently,” Harrison says. “It’s not about recovering AI costs; it’s about monetizing customers.”
As adoption grows, Harrison says, this is a way of “extracting value” from the platform. The company’s glasses are typically sold at cost, like the new $299 Meta-branded glasses that ditch the fancy Ray-Ban branding for an even lower price. Harrison says this helps get the glasses out in the world and increases the user base—then the subscription service grows revenue.
But the danger of introducing subscription tiers is that a competitor comes in and offers all, if not most, of those features without charging users a monthly fee. One of those competitors is around the corner: Google is set to debut its own smart glasses later this year, made in collaboration with Samsung and eyewear brands Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. There are no details on the pricing nor whether there will be a subscription tier, but Harrison says Google has shown just how much more efficient it has become at running its AI models, and it may be better poised to absorb the cost instead of structuring features through pricing tiers.
That’s not to say that Google doesn’t have usage limits. On its Pixel phones, you need a specific tier of the Google One subscription plan to use features like Video Boost, which sends your video footage to Google’s Cloud to improve lighting, color, stabilization, and noise reduction. Google’s Gemini chatbot is free to use, but if you want certain features, like Gemini Spark, you’ll need to subscribe. On the new Google Home Speaker, you need the Google Home Premium subscription to use the more conversational Gemini Live experience.
Apple is also rumored to be working on smart glasses, and the company isn’t immune to usage limits. If you use the new AI photo-editing features coming in iOS 27 too much, you’ll need to subscribe to a higher iCloud+ tier to continue using them.
“All of these will have to deliver value, or people will pick the free version,” Harrison says. And Meta must think that these features provide meaningful value. A feature like Conversation Focus—folks with hearing impediments may find that it could improve their quality of life.
“Is that worth $10 a month? Probably,” he says.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: wired.com
