Meta partners with Be My Eyes for accessible Ray-Ban glasses upgrade

The Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses are entering a new market, as the company announces a new collaboration with accessibility service provider Be My Eyes that will help wearers get the assistance they need.

Be My Eyes provides free human and AI support for users who are blind or have low vision, pairing them with sighted volunteer helpers who can describe a visual field or object, read text, navigate a space, or answer questions in real time.

With a brand new integration of the accessibility app and the tech giant's wearable, Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses owners can now use the Be My Eyes “Call a Volunteer” experience entirely using voice commands. All they need to do is say out loud, “Hey Meta, Call a Volunteer on Be My Eyes” to be paired with multilingual audio or video support.

Users can toggle between their glasses and smartphone cameras, as well, allowing volunteer and user to communicate in a variety of ways.

The Meta and Be My Eyes collaboration is a big first for the company, as it's tech wasn't previously compatible with smart glasses or other hands-free devices.

"Our collaboration with Meta launches an experience that addresses something that our community of blind and low-vision users has been requesting for a long time, namely hands-free access to our services." wrote Be My Eyes CEO Mike Buckley. "The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have enabled that, and with our integration we have now opened a gateway to unprecedented levels of accessibility, unlocking new opportunities for those navigating their daily lives. And this is just the beginning."

In the past, Be My Eyes has partnered with companies like Google and Microsoft to expand their reach, and have grown in popularity over the last several years — the app now has more than 7 million volunteers. In 2023, the company announced an entirely new venture to support the demand: generative AI. In partnership with OpenAI and ChatGPT, Be My Eyes launched its AI-powered virtual volunteer to provide instant chat-based support.

Meta is sprucing up its Ray-Ban smart glasses in other ways, too, including a complete suite of new AI features and collaborations. Users will be able to ask the Meta AI what they're looking at in more detail, ask for help finding where their car is parked, send messages, and translate speech in real-time. And those who get their music or audiobook fixes on Spotify, Amazon Music, Audible, and iHeart can more easily find and play their favorite content.

"Call a Volunteer" on Ray-Ban glasses will be available soon, rolling out first to users in the U.S., Canada, UK, Ireland, and Australia.