Meta is learning a lesson about camera glasses that Google learned more than 10 years ago

Meta's Ray-Ban AI glasses have been controversial.

Christoph Schmidt/picture alliance via Getty Images Wearing a camera is controversial.

Google figured this out the hard way with its infamous Google Glass.

Over 10 years later, Meta is learning the same lesson.

Meta is now reportedly working on camera-free AI glasses.

It's a good idea, but it's hard to put the genie back in the bottle.

Meta is cooking up camera-free glasses, according to a new report .

And why shouldn't they? After all, wearing a camera on your face has always been a tough sell — just ask Google.

Remember when Sergey Brin jumped out of a plane wearing Google Glass, recording grainy video of his sky dive? That was way back in 2012, and the bizarre-looking camera glasses flopped soon after.

Google cofounder Sergey Brin wearing a Google Glass headset in 2012 for a demo.

Google The public did not take kindly to the idea of being filmed (even though, yes, smartphones with cameras had long existed).

A former colleague of mine was even assaulted in a San Francisco bar while wearing them.

Meta has been re-testing the waters with its AI smart glasses.

Meta's have proved far more popular than Google Glass thanks to AI, their more traditional look, and list of genuinely useful features. (Meta's ad that aired during the US Open — where a woman records the back-and-forth of a tennis rally by moving her head, while the crowd around her films on their phones — was particularly effective at pointing out how they can help you stay in the moment.) But Meta is still hitting the same wall of uneasiness that Google experienced more than a decade ago.