Smart glasses are causing privacy harms in India, as seen when a protest attendee was secretly recorded by a Meta smart glasses user, leading to viral abuse and transphobic memes. Experts warn such incidents will rise as the devices spread, especially given India’s existing issues with covert recording and non-consensual image sharing. Beyond personal targeting, smart glasses are increasingly used for police surveillance, creating new threats to anonymity and civil liberties.

Meanwhile, AI’s economic impact hinges on massive investments by hyperscalers, with AI data center spending projected to reach nearly $1.1 trillion by 2027. Finance professor Jessica Wachter analyzed whether these investments will pay off, finding that AI firms must achieve extraordinary productivity gains by 2030 just to break even. The analysis underscores the high stakes of AI’s current expansion, where financial returns depend on unprecedented efficiency gains rather than mere adoption.

This story is part of MIT Technology Review’s Narrated podcast, available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.