Norway wants AI glasses out of parks, beaches, schools, and kindergartens, at least for now.
The country's center-left government announced Monday that it will send a bill to parliament proposing a temporary ban on using AI glasses in specific public places. Digitalization minister Torgeir Micaelsen framed the concern around people being photographed, filmed, or recorded without their knowledge. The government also plans to form an expert group to study the issue and recommend permanent rules. For now, the goal is to buy time rather than settle the question outright.
That makes Norway the first major country to move on AI glasses specifically, rather than smart glasses in general or cameras writ large. Other governments have fumbled with facial-recognition rules and camera bans in schools, but AI glasses combine a camera, a microphone, and often a live AI model that can identify people or transcribe conversations in real time, all built into something that looks like ordinary eyewear. That is a harder thing to spot, and a harder thing to regulate after the fact.
A temporary ban is an admission that regulators are behind the technology, not ahead of it. Expect this fight to repeat everywhere these glasses sell well, with Norway's stopgap law serving as the first draft other countries borrow from.