Mark Zuckerberg says anyone not wearing AI glasses in the future will be at a disadvantage
Fortune
Meta Q2 2025 earnings call
“I think in the future, if you don’t have glasses that have AI or some way to interact with AI, I think you’re kind of similarly probably be at a pretty significant cognitive disadvantage compared to other people who you’re working with, or competing against.”
Mark Zuckerberg30 July 2025- What you'll lose2/5
Buy the glasses or fall behind.
- Condescension4/5
Everyone without his product, at a 'cognitive disadvantage'.
- Tone-deafness4/5
Said on an earnings call, about a product he sells.
- Doom1/5
A future of the bespectacled and the left behind.
- Hypocrisy0/5
None.
Full time11 pitchforksof a possible 25
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The occasion
Meta Q2 2025 earnings call, 30 July 2025.
Context
Answering an analyst's question on smart glasses as the next computing platform, Zuckerberg first said that without his corrected vision (he wears contact lenses) he would be "sort of at a cognitive disadvantage going through the world", then made the comparison to AI glasses. Wording follows UploadVR's full transcript of the answer; Fortune prints the middle as "you’re kind of similarly, probably [going to] be at a pretty significant cognitive disadvantage compared to other people and who you’re working with".
Crowd reaction
Critical commentary
PC Gamer mocked the claim in its headline as "something the guy who wants you to buy his AI glasses would say" and called it "an investor-facing marketing pitch", noting there is little today that would make glasses wearers cognitively advantaged. The other outlets reported it neutrally, so this is sarcastic commentary rather than a mass outcry.
- Fortune: Mark Zuckerberg says anyone not wearing AI glasses in the future will be at a disadvantage
- TechCrunch: Zuckerberg says people without AI glasses will be at a disadvantage in the future
- UploadVR: Zuckerberg: People Without Smart Glasses Will Be At "Cognitive Disadvantage"
- PC Gamer: Zuckerberg thinks those without AI glasses will be 'at a pretty significant cognitive disadvantage,' which sounds like something the guy who wants you to buy his AI glasses would say
- Where the exact words are printed