Discussion keeps the world.
You're listening to Roundtable.
I'm Steve.
Today with Yushan and Yushun.
Coming up, we've all been told the future is located on our face.
But with a new wave of AI glasses hitting the market, we have to ask if the technology is finally smart enough to live up to the hype.
The answer might just change how you literally see the world.
That's just ahead.
And after that, if your Monday needs a little kick in the pants, so to speak, you have come to the right place.
Motivational Monday is on the way.
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Forget the phone in your pocket.
That's old news.
The hottest gadget now is perched right upon your nose.
Or is it?
We're talking about AI smart glasses today.
And scenes from around the world have shown people wearing these sleek new frames to translate menus or identify museum artifacts, or just snap that perfect hands-free moment.
But hold on.
We've been here before, have we not, with these so-called smart glasses.
So what's up now?
What's so impressive these days?
Can they really evolve from a cool camera and a voice assistant into something that will really replace our phone?
Well, there was a time when our phones replaced the watches on our wrists and we thought, maybe that would never happen, but it did.
We're going to explore the explosive rise of AI glasses.
And we'll also find out if this is the next big thing in tech.
It's been a long time, AI glasses.
And it's been a long time for them to fail on the market.
Yeah, people have always been discussing good or bad about how they feel after wearing it.
And I think the latest discussion thrived during the National Day holiday in early October when, let's say, a lot of people just travel around wearing their AI glasses and feeling like it's a new generation of portable AI entry point or something like a new generation personal smart device.
Yeah, let me rephrase actually, because that wasn't necessarily fair a long time for them to fail, because I think the tech has always been impressive.
But when I said fail, what I meant was um, never really caught on as mainstream yeah, or for most of the consumers?
Right, because every if we compare to smartphones, everybody's got a smartphone, but not everybody has a pair of ai glasses, but we might see that changing soon.
I think you're referring to some of these smart glasses, and one very famous one was the google glass right about more than 10 years ago.
A lot of people think it is kind of a failure because it was not that popular and it was quite expensive and not very comfortable to wear them, and then finally, they cut this project.
But back then people really got shocked by the whole project of this thing and it's probably going to be a glimpse of this kind of generation of these technologies.
I mean even the meta prototype from about what 11 months or so ago.
That was just a prototype that wasn't really ready for the market, but I'll talk about that a little bit later, because I watched an interesting video about that.
But for now, let's get into it and let's find out what's new, what's so exciting about these AI glasses now.
A lot of domestic brands are getting into this market.
Major players like Xiaomi, Renew Rokit and Huawei, along with some emerging brands, are crowding in and also intensifying competition that now centers on product performance and also innovation.
And data is showing that by the second half of last year, at least 36 manufacturers had publicly invested entered this AI glasses market with over 50 products expected.
Yeah, and this is on the heels of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, which is quite successful.
They sold over a million units in three quarters.
So maybe it is time now for the AI glasses to become mainstream.
What kind of functions are we talking about?
The most popular one when speaking of function has to be, as some given by as the feedback is given by many consumers who's used it before is that the photo and video capturing function, and it's very kind of like high quality or very convenient for people who wear those ai glasses And those models equipped with cameras, such as Xiaomi and Ray Neo V3.
They significantly outperform audio-only products in sales.
And to be honest, I'm not really surprised at how this market is thriving nowadays.
It's because We've talked quite a huge amount of such topics like human robots, human exoskeleton, human AI, human computer interaction.
It's indeed, like you said Steve, a new trend that people are becoming more aware, more opened up and more, let's say, accepting towards these ideas of turning objects such as glasses to something that's AI, integrated and can, let's say, help you to translate a menu in Japanese, from Japanese to Chinese.
Yeah.
How about that?
Not just that.
I was watching another video.
I watched a bunch of videos earlier today.
And one of the things that stood out to me was the almost real-time translation of speech to text on your HUD when someone was speaking a different language.
Because the glasses of the example that I was watching, they have a built-in microphone.
I think a lot of them do.
And so it's able to pick up the voice, and then, right in front of your eye, it puts the translation on the screen.
I mean, that's pretty amazing.
Translation, also object recognition.
Let's say, when you're visiting a museum, they can totally just capture what is in front of you and explain it to you the history, everything and you can get a thorough understanding of all of these things.
There are times when that would be really useful, in times where it would not be so useful.
I was watching another video where the person had the glasses on and they were sitting in front of a wooden coffee table and on the screen and the glass it said wooden table.
Thank you for telling me that.
Not every object needs identifying.
Within table, beware.
It's my point.
But we're seeing people around China that are using these glasses now.
In fact, in some of the popular tourist locations.
Yeah, and in Great Wall, apparently some tourists use their AI glasses to capture the hard-won view from their spot in China.
Let me tell you, if you ever visit the Great Wall before, it's hard to get one of those very popular spots to take a picture.
And with that, AI glasses.
As long as you're tall enough, you can basically get them wherever you want.
And then yeah, like you said, in museums visitors, they are asking their glasses to tell them the historical background of the item.
And also, I heard that market-wise, such AI glasses are... are also experiencing a cost reduction.
So the prices they are dropping making these products more accessible as a tech toy to many who dares to try it.
Globally, the average price now ranges from 2,000 to 3,000 yuan.
That's roughly 280 to 400 US dollars.
While the value for money depends on individual needs, overall these glasses they are much more affordable than the previous model that cost over 10 000.
Yeah yeah, so that model that i was looking, or the prototype that i was talking about before um, the meta orion ar glasses or orion ar glasses, i think they were called The materials alone in the glasses apparently cost 10000.
And that was just 11 months or so ago.
But now, fast forward to today, they have a finished product with a relatively reasonable price tag.
I think the Ray-Ban ones are somewhere around 800, which is, you know, obviously still very expensive.
But compared to the previous prices, it's a totally different ballgame now.
So why are they more popular now?
What are some of the features?
We touched on a couple already, but I'm thinking that maybe the most popular one or the most convenient one would be for video recording or photography.
It is the most popular and also sought after feature function, as we mentioned it before, and especially outdoor enthusiasts.
They are using these functions to record a moment that quickly and conveniently, without stopping to pull out a phone, or just at that moment you can get, that is a success.
We say some of the time, when you do photographing, it is not that you can take it good, but that it's about you can take it.
Yeah.
This is hands-free now.
We no longer have to dig in our pocket to pull out our phone.
Oh, yeah.
Some of these sensors got really, really good.
You can just use your hands.
You don't need to wear anything even.
Sometimes you need to wear something.
But sometimes some of these models allow you to not wearing anything.
You can just use your gestures of your hand.
A pinch, a movement can be fairly detected and control your image in front of you.
Will we see more people sitting there wearing one of these glasses and just being very active on themselves, like making hand gestures in front of their own faces while there's nobody else sitting on the opposite side?
It's a lot more subtle.
Now to change the volume.
For example, you can pinch your fingers together as if you were actually grabbing a volume knob and then twist left or right to turn it up or down, to scroll up or scroll down.
With some not all models, I'm not talking about that but your index finger becomes the mouse pad and your thumb becomes the mouse, so you can scroll up or scroll down.
And there's a bunch of different gestures, but apparently they're pretty easy to memorize.
Yeah, some of these very cool functions that really caught my eye include We're transitioning color.
We're changing color in less than three seconds.
And that's adapting instantly between indoor lights and outdoor sunlight protection.
So imagine just one glasses, but fit in all scenarios, indoor and outdoor.
And also there's health monitoring for these glasses too.
They're taking the job away from the smart watches.
So one of these glasses.
They include sensors in the temple arm to monitor heart rate in real time with high accuracy.
And also there is the innovative interaction where Meta introduced the Meta Ray-Ban display with an embedded high resolution head up display and uh complementary metaneural band emg wristband.
Yeah, the wristband, that's pretty cool.
Yeah, so the wristband itself.
It measures um, the electrical impulses going through your arm and that's how it, how it knows which gestures you are making.
It's pretty amazing, isn't it?
Yeah, it's unbelievable.
So who's buying these who's who's?
Who's putting these glasses to use?
A lot of them are outdoor sports and fitness enthusiasts, right.
They can use them very conveniently and take videos or pictures whenever they want or when the battery is on.
And also technology enthusiasts and early adopters.
It is quite a niche kind of product, I would say.
So some of these enthusiasts will buy them and try them on to see the experience of having that kind of so-called next generation essentials.
And also high-end business users, let's say, some of the brands like Huawei.
They are targeting this segment, focusing on features like accurate simultaneous interpretation and also health monitoring for those who travel and attend meetings very frequently.
Yeah, that's what I saw before.
Sorry to interrupt.
The simultaneous interpretation.
It's pretty amazing.
I mean, this could revolutionize the travel industry.
If you're a person who travels to different countries a lot during a year, having these would take the all the stress out of that.
We did that story on Roundtable not so long ago about one of the reasons that Americans don't want to travel.
Not all, just part of the study was because of language barriers.
If you had these glasses, well, your language barrier is now zero.
So this was the question that I posed in the beginning.
Really?
Are we ready now?
Are we ready to embrace this?
Is everybody going to get a pair?
I would doubt so.
I believe that Yushun is a firm believer of such tech products, let's say, whenever there's an upgrading point to that.
But here I would see it, as like many others will do, as additional physical equipment that perhaps will not suit to the necessary day-to-day process of mind that well, or that the functions it has is just something that's not really used on an everyday basis.
For example, Many current AI features of these classes, such as translation and meeting records.
They occur in lower frequency scenarios.
Of course, people get meetings every day.
There are people like that, but let's say, for a lot of the folks out there, it's not how we work and live.
So many users, they tend to try it out for the fun part, for the tech savvy part of themselves.
And after that's satisfied, there seems to be a high return rate for some of these products.
And a report from Tech Media, Tech Planet, shows that on platforms like Douyin, the industry average return rate is between 40 and 50.
That's high.
Yeah, that's not what you're shooting for for a product, that's for sure.
This is something too, that goes on your face yes right, this isn't something that goes in your pocket or on your wrist.
And therefore there's two points there.
Number one they have to be at least a little bit fashionable, right?
You remember the google glass?
Yeah, that was not fashionable at all.
Actually, I thought it was quite cool.
Did you think it was cool?
Yeah, quite tacky.
I thought you looked like a police officer from the year 4000.
So the Xiaomi ones, for example, or the Rayneo V3 ones, those weigh about 40 grams.
Now, that's about 10 grams more or 20 grams more than your regular pair of glasses.
So that might be, you know, if you try it on in a shop, you might think, oh, that's not a big deal.
If you're wearing those all day, They'll start to feel heavy on your face.
So that might be an issue as well.
But that being said, you know, the tech is amazing.
We can't disagree with that.
And if now is not the time, they are definitely getting closer.
But it seems I'm thinking the time is now.
And I'm thinking as the costs go down a little bit more.
We're going to start seeing these on everybody's faces.
I'd get a pair.
Would you get a pair?
Yushan, you wouldn't get a pair?
I'll see what you guys have to comment after you guys get them first.
Yushan would get three pairs in three different colors, wouldn't you?
No.
You're listening to Roundtable.
Please do stay with us.
We've got Motivational Monday coming up next.
Motivational Monday.
Time for Motivational Monday.
And Yushan, you're going to share first today.
Yeah.
Last week I had the honor and the pleasure to be the journalist who went on the Global Leaders Meeting on Women, which was held in Beijing.
And it's a very important conference, a gathering time for the global delegation from all around the world, female leaders from the entire world together here in Beijing.
And just talk about women empowerment and how are we meeting the gap to better women welfare in China and around the globe as well?
And my mission, as I was told before I leave, was to record some of the suggestions these female delegations, these female representatives of their own country, have to say to all the younger women and girls out there for the, let's say, next generations.
And here's what they tell me.
So the ladies I interviewed are from just several countries South Africa Kyrgyzstan, and also one Chinese lady and just from all around the world.
A few of their keynote advice would be first, to educate yourself to be yourself at whichever phase of life you're experiencing, and make enough friends and stay united with other girls or men.
Stay united with men is also important and also be brave and ambitious and never shy away from leadership, because you've got that power and you just need to stay confident and believe in yourself and finally, always look within.
That's something that I feel so inspiring, because hearing, or rather reading from say, books or online posts is one thing, but speaking to them and seeing where they come from, that they would offer such advice to younger girls, is very important.
For example, several African delegates.
They all mentioned education is key.
You need to be at where you're expected to be at a young age and get yourself, educate yourself, educate yourself and educate yourself.
Everything else will come at a time.
It will all come at a time.
And then, for the Chinese lady, she will put more emphasis on just be yourself because Yeah, even if you become a mother, you're still you.
Even if you become a mother-in-law, you have grandchildren, you're still you.
The very important part is how you navigate your own life, not that how you frame yourself into a certain cage that's labeled by your age.
Or expectations from society.
Yes.
So that's one, say, huge lesson I want to share with everybody.
Maybe primarily on the girls, but yeah, I'm sure guys can learn a bit from that too.
Yeah, also, absolutely, boys can learn for their whole lifetime and it is a project for everybody.
Yeah, and it's interesting too, how you got to meet women from different parts of the world who, depending on their experiences when they were growing up, that had an influence on the message that they wanted to share.
True yes, and you hear all of those messages from all of those different women.
Yeah, and you get this one giant powerful, motivational message.
Lucky me, it's pretty awesome.
Yeah, lucky you for sure.
All right, that'll do it for today's roundtable.
Thank you so much for being with us today.
Thank you to you, shouldn't thank you to you sean, and thank you to you, of course, as always, i'm steve.
Come back again next time.
