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Jan 2, 2026
Nitish Pahwa, a staff writer at Slate focused on business and technology, dives into the controversial rise of AI technologies in everyday life. He discusses the privacy issues surrounding AI-enabled sunglasses, and why companies are revisiting smart glasses despite past failures. Nitish also critiques the ethics of simulated companions and erotic chatbots, warning about their impact on social relationships. Finally, he reflects on the contrasting consumer skepticism and industry enthusiasm for AI, pondering the future of this tech bubble.
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AI Sunglasses Normalize Hidden Surveillance
- AI sunglasses embed generative models into ordinary objects and can record unseen data about strangers.
- Nitish Pahwa warns this makes pervasive, hard-to-detect surveillance socially normal.
Glasses As Mini Computers
- Modern AI glasses are essentially mini computers with cameras, speakers, and LLM interfaces.
- Pahwa notes improved design and affordability make them more likely to be widely adopted than earlier smart-glass attempts.
Bike Rides Versus Always-On Updates
- Nitish Pahwa describes preferring screen-free bike rides and doubts usefulness of real-time trivial updates.
- He contrasts personal enjoyment of outdoors with ads showing bikers asking glasses trivial questions.