VR and AI glasses are just bridges: The secret star is augmented reality

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While virtual reality has been making its way through waves of media euphoria and technological dampeners for decades, augmented reality seems to be casually but consistently making its way into everyday life. The difference? AR does not want to abduct, but rather accompany – and this is precisely what makes it probably the most future-proof type of immersive technology.

Mixed reality and smart glasses as intermediate stages

A look at current devices such as Apple Vision Pro or Meta Quest 3 shows: What is being sold today as mixed reality is actually a temporary alliance of convenience between VR and AR. The headsets are still a long way from replacing normal glasses – too heavy, too conspicuous, too exclusive in price. But they do serve a purpose: they prepare us for what is to come.

These devices are not the goal, but the bridge. Manufacturers such as Meta, Apple, Samsung and Google are using them to prepare ecosystems and gradually introduce us to new forms of interaction: Gestures instead of a mouse, voice instead of a touchscreen, context instead of menu navigation. The goal is suitability for everyday use.

Smart glasses with AI support, such as the Ray-Ban Meta Glasses, are moving in precisely this direction. They rely on voice control, AI assistance, audio output and camera-based context analysis. Visual projections in the field of vision are also already being tested. This looks less like science fiction, but (usually) works reliably and unobtrusively. It is these intermediate solutions that provide the necessary experience, be it in the miniaturization of hardware, energy management or the interaction between man, machine and environment.

AR as a functional everyday layer

However, the real paradigm shift is not in the hardware, but in the concept. Virtual reality locks us out of the real world – with all its advantages and disadvantages. Augmented reality, on the other hand, does exactly the opposite: it keeps us in reality and complements it. It takes familiar functions to a new level and makes them more practical. This ranges from simple navigation overlays to complex assistance systems in healthcare or industry.

As the technology becomes increasingly available, the possible applications will expand even further. Developer Stijn Spanhove, for example, has programmed a kind of adblocker for the real world with the help of Snap Spectacles and an AI app. Posters in public spaces are "hidden" and the field of vision is personalized. Technically rudimentary, but conceptually groundbreaking: AR becomes not just a display platform, but a filter – and thus an interface for what we want to see – or not. A personalized view of reality.

These developments show that AR does not need to be a spectacle to be relevant, it needs to be supportive. And that makes it suitable for everyday life – unlike VR, which shows its strengths where reality plays no role: in simulations, training or games. Virtual reality remains a fascinating medium, but one with a clear application profile. Augmented reality, on the other hand, has the potential to overlay everyday life like an operating system. Not because it is spectacular, but because it is useful. Not because it takes us away, but because it accompanies us.

The mainstream comes through the side door

It's no secret that AR glasses are still struggling with limitations – be it in terms of field of vision, weight or battery –. But the direction is clear: mixed reality devices and AI glasses are taking on the role of icebreakers, solving technical problems in the field and getting us used to new forms of information processing. Tech companies are testing how much (or little) display we can accept, how much camera we can tolerate and how much assistance we need before it becomes too much. Data protection, energy consumption and social acceptance are not negotiated in the lab, but in everyday life.

In retrospect, this phase will probably be seen as a transitional period – a kind of operating system update for reality. Only without a big pop-up window. The actual AR glasses will simply be there at some point. Small, light, integrated. And we will wonder how we were able to live without context-sensitive information in the field of vision before. Because that is perhaps the greatest strength of augmented reality: it doesn't impose itself on – it sneaks in. And it changes the way we move around in the world without us even realizing it. Provided the field of vision does not become an advertising pillar. But that's another story.

(joe)