When I Wore The Future to Work On trust, transparency, and what happens when AI walks into a room before you do.
I did everything right. I disclosed it to the admin. I didn't hide the device. I wore my AI smart glasses openly, in plain sight, the way you'd carry a laptop or a phone — as a tool, not a secret. And yet, the room changed. The administration was wary. Colleagues I'd spoken with naturally for months began to recalibrate how they looked at me — or more precisely, at the small camera sitting where my eyes were. A subtle but unmistakable shift. Not hostility. Something closer to a question mark hanging in the air between us. "Disclosure isn't the same as trust. It just starts the conversation. The asymmetry of the lens There's something particular about a wearable camera versus a phone camera. A phone, held up, announces itself. It is a deliberate, interruptive act — everyone knows a photo is being taken. Smart glasses are different. They sit in the ambient background of interaction, and that is precisely what makes them socially complicated, even when the wearer ...