At one point in time, smart glasses were seen as a futuristic novelty. Something unattainable, unusable, or only affordable for a small section. While that all is still true, smart glasses are not exactly a budget gadget; they have come a long way from their initial launch and are becoming commonplace.
There are numerous lists about the many ‘uses’ of these smart glasses, usually made just so that people with FOMO would open their pockets to buy them; however, in the midst of that, some unexpected benefits of them have come up.
Apparently, smart glasses can also now be agents of accountability, medical innovation, and compassionate care. The recent incident in Gurugram, where wearable tech captured a bribery incident, has shed light on how this gadget can have some interesting side effects.
Surveillance That Helped Catch Bribery
On August 25, 2025, Yamato/Kaito, a Japanese tourist, was stopped by three Gurugram traffic police officers while he was riding a motorcycle with a female friend. As per reports, while his friend was wearing a helmet, Yamato was not, which is suspected to be the reason for their being stopped.
However, the suspicious part came in when the police officers demanded an on-the-spot fine of Rs 1,000.
A report by The Indian Express revealed that the officers kept insisting on cash payment only and refused any card or digital payment, giving the reason that their point-of-sale (PoS) machine was not working. They also did not give any receipt for this fine or the payment made.
The content creator also pointed out how, at the same time, several other two-wheelers had people not wearing helmets; however, none of them were stopped.
At the time, the tourist paid the officers, who noted down the woman’s phone number and let them go. This might have never come out, but luckily, the whole thing was recorded by the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses that the tourist was wearing, who then posted it on social media.
The tourist posted a video of this incident on his X/Twitter page, @yamato_rwf, writing in Japanese about what happened.
The auto-translated caption reads, “While riding a bike without a helmet in India, I got fined 1000 rupees (1700 yen) Local people don’t get in trouble for no helmet, but me as a foreigner and the Northeast Indian gal didn’t look local, so we probably got targeted Even when I asked to pay by card or for a ticket, they said it’s impossible, so according to the Indian gal, it was apparently the police making some pocket money.”
インドでノーヘルでバイク乗ってたら、1000ルピー(1700円)の罰金取られた
現地人はノーヘルでもお咎めなしなのに、外国人の自分と北東インドギャルは現地人っぽくないので標的にされたっぽい
カード払いもチケットくれと言っても無理と言われたので、インドギャル曰く警察のお小遣い稼ぎだったらしい pic.twitter.com/VHPxwHD9ag
— ヤマト (@yamato_rwf) August 25, 2025
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Doctor Used Google Glass To Perform Surgery
In January 2014, Orthopaedic surgeon Selen G Parekh used the Google Glass, or Glass, the smart glasses developed by Google’s X Development (formerly Google X), to perform a successful foot and ankle surgery.
During the procedure, the surgeon used the glasses to glance at X-rays or MRI scans without looking away from the patient, and communicate with colleagues and the patient’s family, significantly enhancing precision and reducing infection risks.
This was also said to help new doctors understand and witness surgical procedures without risking a cameraman in the operating room and doctors having to move and make space for them, increasing risks.
Although Google Glass was eventually discontinued in 2015 due to a number of reasons, smart glasses in the healthcare sector are being seen as something extremely helpful.
Using them to streamline workflows, enabling the use of EMRs, AI diagnostic tools, live consultations, and hands-free operation, as well as being helpful in remote regions, are some ways that smart glasses in healthcare are helping.
Assist Dementia Patients
Another interesting use could be the MedaCareLLM system, an AI-powered large language model integrated into smart glasses, that provides real-time help to individuals with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, launched in 2024 by CareYaya Health Technologies.
According to the company, this could be helpful for patients who are suffering from memory loss, confusion, and other effects of their illness, and not have them be dependent on family and friends for everything.
In some cases, the patients might not even be able to articulate what is wrong with them, which is where this system could help.
The glasses can do a range of things, including identifying familiar faces, delivering audio prompts through a hearing aid or bone-conduction device, thus helping them recognise who they are speaking with.
It can also read medication labels on pill bottles and issue a reminder for the patient’s next dose, along with dosage guidelines and other important instructions.
Neal K Shah, CEO and co-founder of CareYaya Health Technologies, also stated that “We want to address the significant gap in dementia research, particularly with Black older adults, who are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s compared to White populations but are currently underrepresented in clinical trials and research studies.”
Shah added, “MedaCareLLM will aid us in our mission to level the playing field for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias research and eventually provide pharmaceutical companies with a more diverse dataset to advance Alzheimer’s treatment research.”
Potential Future Uses Of Smart Glasses
While smart glasses still have some ways to go before they are a common use item, there are already theories and ideas being thought out about what the potential uses of this gadget can be.
Smart glasses still remain a luxury item due to their high price point and maintenance issues. They haven’t infiltrated the mass market as of yet, with only a few being able to afford it or even have use of it yet.
But social media is abuzz with what other potential benefits could come out of this wearable tech, one of which includes being similar to a dashcam. Online conversations believe that smart glasses could help a person capture a real-time recording if they get into an accident, thus becoming proof during insurance claims or even a police investigation.
It could also be used to record road rage incidents and help authorities figure out what happened.
In a Reddit post titled ‘Do we really require Smart Glasses?’ from January 2025 for r/augmentedreality, user AR_MR_XR also mentioned that these could be helpful when doing grocery shopping.
They commented, “When I go groceries shopping, I often need a shopping list. I use my phone for that and I need 1 hand to handle that. The other hand is for the shopping cart/basket. When I grab items from the shelf, I have to put the phone away or put the basket on the floor to free one hand. It’s easier with a shopping cart because I don’t need to hold it when I grab items. But then I also need a scanner to scan the bar codes because I don’t want to do that at the checkstand. I can use a dedicated scanner from the store which means that I have to handle that and my phone and the basket/cart and the items. Or I use my phone to scan the bar codes but then I have to switch between the scan app and the shopping list app. Now, I could use a watch for the shopping list instead of the phone. But with glasses I could – theoretically – have the shopping list always in sight and I don’t have to turn my wrist and look down. And I could also use it to scan the barcodes. The question is if it’s easy to do both. Or even 3 things: additionally, show me a list of items that I need that are on sale.”
They also mentioned that smart glasses could help someone get transport information much more readily, like having “train info in sight (departure and arrival time, interchange stations, exit gates, etc).”
For individuals with visual impairments, AI-powered smart glasses that could read text aloud from books or street signs, describe objects, and identify faces can be quite helpful.
Tourists could use them to instantly translate something like a food menu, a signpost, or important rules and regulations if they are unfamiliar with the local language, instead of having to take out their phone, take a photo, or position it correctly for the software to translate.
A 2023 LinkedIn post by Hakim H. Y. Bey also mentioned how smart glasses can be useful in education. Bey mentioned that smart glasses can help with “Viewing instructions and reference materials overlaid onto the actual equipment, object, or situation facilitates learning in context.”
Bey also wrote how “Wearing AR smart glasses allows students and teachers to visualize each other’s perspectives. For example, a teacher could look ‘through the eyes’ of a student attempting a task and provide real-time guidance.”
In a Reddit post on r/SmartGlasses titled “What’s the point of smart glasses?” people were asked about what they use their smart glasses for. User 3DRpi mentioned that, “As someone with severe hearing loss, they’re a big help, especially on loud environments with captions. Can’t say how much they’ve helped me get normal conversations back, where before I’d have to piece together what’s being said over the course of a whole conversation.”
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: The Indian Express, TechCrunch, Business Standard
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: Smart Glasses, Smart Glasses benefits, Smart Glasses help, Smart Glasses police, Smart Glasses record, Smart Glasses police bribery, Smart Glasses unexpected benefits, Smart Glasses unintentional help
Disclaimer: We do not hold any rights or copyright over any of the images used; these have been taken from Google. In case of credits or removal, the owner may kindly email us.
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