AI smart glasses, ambient computing, and the public sphere: a mini review of media governance challenges
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fhumd.2026.1695869/full
Publish Date: 2026-03-10 03:32:00
Source Domain: www.frontiersin.org
Abstract
AI-powered smart glasses are increasingly positioned as central interfaces within the paradigm of ambient computing, signaling a transition from smartphone-centric interaction toward continuous, context-aware mediation embedded in everyday environments. Drawing on peer-reviewed research published between 2022 and 2025, alongside selected regulatory, market, and technical sources, this article examines how AI smart glasses reconfigure visibility, datafication, and communicative power in public and semi-public spaces. Grounded in critical media theory—including remediation, the attention economy, surveillance capitalism, data colonialism, and critical algorithm studies—the review conceptualizes smart glasses as ambient media infrastructures rather than neutral consumer devices. The analysis demonstrates that these technologies intensify long-standing media governance challenges by relocating mediation from screens to first-person perceptual layers, raising urgent questions about privacy, consent, algorithmic bias, data sovereignty, and democratic participation. By situating AI smart glasses within debates on platform power and the public sphere, the article argues for proactive, participatory, and infrastructure-level governance frameworks capable of addressing the societal implications of ambient AI-mediated perception.
1 Introduction
The smartphone has functioned as the dominant interface of digital media for more than a decade; however, recent advances in wearable and spatial technologies suggest that ambient computing is emerging as a new organizing paradigm for human–media interaction (Weiser, 1991). AI-powered smart glasses exemplify this shift by embedding sensors, network connectivity, and artificial intelligence into head-mounted displays that overlay digital information directly onto the physical world. Unlike smartphones, which demand episodic and intentional engagement, smart glasses integrate mediation into perception itself, enabling…
