Sam Altman says he doesn’t like smart glasses: 'I find it very uncomfortable talking to people with a camera and a light’

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is seen in sunglasses — definitely not smart glasses. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images Mark Zuckerberg doesn't have to worry about Sam Altman coming for his glasses."I find it very uncomfortable talking to people with a camera and a light," the OpenAI CEO told tech journalist Alex Heath during an interview for Heath's "Sources Podcast," which was published on Tuesday.Altman's feelings are becoming quite clear. When reporters asked him on the sidelines of last year's Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference if the sunglasses he was sporting were smart glasses, he was quick to set the record straight."Absolutely not," he said. "I don't like smart glasses."Meta, which has its own competing frontier AI models, is one of the biggest players in the smart glasses space and partners with Ray-Ban to make the devices. EssilorLuxottica, which owns Ray-Ban, said it sold more than 7 million pairs of AI glasses last year.Not everyone is enjoying looking through, or rather into, the glasses.Meta has recently mounted a PR blitz after some venues announced plans to ban patrons from wearing smart eyewear.Instagram has also pledged to crack down on users who use smart glasses to secretly film harassing content, often in the form of prank or pick-up line reaction videos. Business Insider reporter Katie Notopoulos has found the social network still has work to do in this area.The segment remains big business for Meta. While the tech giant doesn't report how much it makes on glasses alone, it has repeatedly said in earnings statements that higher AI-glasses sales are offsetting slower sales of its Quest headsets. In July, Meta reported that Reality Labs, which includes its consumer hardware sales, generated $431 million in revenue in the second quarter of 2026, up $61 million year-over-year.As for OpenAI, Heath tried to get Altman to spill a few more details about the ChatGPT maker's highly anticipated AI-enabled devices that it is developing alongside famed iPhone designer Jony Ive."I think there's something that belongs on a table," Altman said, "there's something that belongs in your pocket, and there's something that belongs on your body, and it'll take us some time to launch all of those things." Read next Brent D. Griffiths Brent Griffiths is a senior reporter at Business Insider who covers AI and tech.Previously, he worked at the Washington Post as a researcher on Power Up and the Finance 202. He started his career at Politico where he worked on the web production team and covered breaking news. His passion for covering politics has only grown since he cut his teeth covering the presidential campaign as a student journalist. He's also contributed to the Almanac of American Politics. Sam Altman