Baidu follows Meta with launch of AI glasses

China’s tech giant Baidu has unveiled artificial intelligence-powered smart glasses that will go on sale in the first half of 2025.

Xiaodu smart glasses were presented at Baidu’s keynote event in Shanghai on Tuesday (November 12th), where the company promoted them as the “world’s first native AI glasses powered by a Chinese large language model.”

The glasses run on Baidu’s large language model Ernie and will work as a “private assistant,” Li Ying, the head of the company’s Xiaodu hardware unit, said at the event.

The device will enable users to track calories, ask questions, play music, and shoot videos, among other functionalities, according to Technode, which covers China’s technology market.

Baidu’s AI-powered smart glasses will launch early next year and will initially be sold only in China. It could eventually challenge American rivals like Meta if it enters the international market.

Meta unveiled its smart glasses last year and priced them up to $379. A collaboration with Ray-Ban – which is owned by a European group EssilorLuxottica – has proved an early success and ignited a global race in the sector.

Mark Zuckerberg-owned Meta is not allowed to sell its smart glasses in China, where local tech companies are jostling for a share of a growing AI market, with Baidu the first large player to announce the launch of smart glasses.

The integration of Ernie Bot will allow Baidu to further expand its AI technology in China. According to Baidu’s founder Robin Li, who was also speaking at the event in Shanghai, the daily use volume of the company’s foundational model has exceeded 1.5 billion calls.

This is 7.5 times more than 200 million calls the company recorded less than six months ago in May. Baidu said that Ernie Bot now has 430 million users. In comparison, OpenAI reported in August that ChatGPT has 200 million weekly users.

The technical specs of Baidu’s glasses include a 16MP ultra-wide camera with AI-powered “anti-shake” feature, four microphones, and open-design sound leakage prevention speakers, according to Technode. The device can also recognize the direction of the sound source.

Weighing 45 grams, the glasses can be charged in 30 minutes and offer over 5 hours of continuous use – and up to 56 hours on standby.

Baidu, previously dubbed as China’s answer to Google, is now the country’s leading AI company. Its other innovations include a fully driverless robotaxi service, a household robot, and a quantum computer.