Ex-Meta Engineer Launches AI Glasses You Can Actually Switch

Imagine your smart glasses learning your coffee order, your calendar habits, and your daily routines, only to lose it all because you want to try a different brand.

Ash Saulsbury spent years building the technology behind smart glasses at Meta and Microsoft. Now he's launching a startup to fix what he sees as Big Tech's biggest trap: AI assistants that hold your personal data hostage.

His company, Awear AI, emerged from stealth in September with a bold promise. Eyewear makers can integrate its platform so your AI assistant's knowledge moves with you, not the brand.

The problem Saulsbury tackles is real. Meta ties its Ray-Ban smart glasses to Meta's AI services. Google partners with eyewear makers using Gemini. As these AI assistants learn your preferences over months or years, they become incredibly useful and nearly impossible to leave behind.

Switching to better glasses means starting over with an assistant that knows nothing about you. It's the digital equivalent of breaking up with someone who knows exactly how you like your morning routine.

Saulsbury brings serious credentials to the challenge. He worked seven years at Apple as a systems architect before joining Meta in 2017. There, he helped incubate the smart glasses technology that eventually became the Ray-Ban partnership, though he left before the products reached consumers.

At Microsoft, he became vice president of architecture for mixed-reality products. His team partnered with Qualcomm to develop chips that could fit inside glasses without overheating or draining batteries in minutes.

He describes Meta's early smart glasses project as an extension of its advertising business. Making content easier to create would drive engagement and generate more ad opportunities.

The Bright Side

Awear takes the opposite approach to data. "We make it extremely difficult for anyone, including ourselves, to access your data," Saulsbury says. The company plans to make money by providing valuable services, not by mining consumer information.

His cofounders share that privacy-first vision. Lila Tretikov served as Microsoft's deputy chief technology officer and led the Wikimedia Foundation as CEO. Jan Eißfeldt ran global trust and safety at Wikimedia. Together, they oversee Awear's privacy architecture.

The startup's first product, Agentic System One, works with glasses powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon AR1+ processor. Eyewear makers can integrate the platform into their products, giving consumers real choice without the penalty of lost data.

Jennifer Van Beek joins as COO, bringing luxury branding experience from agency work with LVMH and other prestige brands. Her presence signals Awear's ambition to work with high-end eyewear makers, not just tech companies.

The technology could reshape how we think about AI assistants. Instead of choosing between Apple's ecosystem or Google's world, consumers could pick the best hardware knowing their AI companion comes along for the ride.

Your smart glasses might finally work for you, not the company that made them.