LONDON – As she jogs past the iconic Buckingham Palace, Tilly Dowler is on the verge of achieving a dream she once thought was unattainable.
Living with Stargardt disease, which leaves her with only about 10% of her vision, Dowler took up running just last year. She began her journey with a couch to 5K program and has since progressed to marathon distances. Currently, she is gearing up to participate in the London Marathon, accompanied by her boyfriend who will serve as her guide. To aid her in this endeavor, she utilizes Oakley Meta Vanguard smart glasses, equipped with AI technology to assist with navigation and tracking her performance.
“These glasses are AI assisted,” Dowler explained. “During my runs, I can request live updates, like identifying nearby landmarks or tracking my distance covered.”
The smart glasses enhance her experience by merging audio feedback with real-time guidance from her running partner.
“I can enjoy my music while still hearing my guide runner,” she shared.
Dowler isn’t aiming for a record-breaking pace; her goal is all about the journey and reaching the finish line.
“My mission was to inspire other people with sight loss and people going through something really tough and inspire them to believe in themselves,” she said.
Dowler is among a growing number of visually impaired runners using AI enabled smart glasses. These wearable devices combine standard consumer products with cameras, microphones and open ear speakers. They can be controlled with your voice, buttons or some simple gestures and use artificial intelligence to interpret surroundings and provide audio feedback.
The most well known smart glasses are from tech company Meta, which makes them in partnership with Ray-Ban and Oakley. More than 7 million pairs of Meta Ray-Bans were sold last year, underscoring their growing popularity. But they’ve also stirred privacy worries, including being used to film people without their knowledge as well as concerns that Meta was sending the video to human reviewers for AI training.
For Sha Khan, who lost around 90 percent of his vision in 2021 due to retinitis pigmentosa and Stargardt disease, the technology has become part of daily life as well as training.
“It’s like literally a part of me now,” he said. “If I step out the front door, I wouldn’t do that without my glasses on.”
Khan also relies on his guide dog, Moby, in his day to day life, using him for navigation outside of running.
He said the hands free nature of the glasses is especially useful because it allows him to stay focused on working with Moby without needing to handle a phone.
Khan began running in 2022 after a volunteer from Guide Dogs UK, a charity that provides guide dogs and mobility support for people with vision loss, encouraged him to try it after his sudden loss of sight loss and the impact that it had on his mental health.
While training with guide runners, he uses voice commands to interact with the glasses.
“If they say that’s Big Ben ahead of us I can just say ‘hey Meta take a picture,’” he said.
He said the hands free nature of the device is important.
“I don’t need to be worrying about fumbling with a mobile phone,” he said.
Smart glasses use a front facing camera to capture visual input and artificial intelligence to analyze it, converting the information into audio delivered through speakers built into the frame.
Chris Lewis, a technology analyst who is visually impaired and has used smart glasses while skiing, said the system provides an additional layer of awareness.
“The AI is taking the images coming in, analyzing it and giving you the information about what’s in front of you, what might be moving and what might be changing,” he said.
He said this allows users to receive information in real time without losing awareness of their surroundings, which is important for activities such as running.
However, Lewis said events like marathons can pose additional challenges, with large crowds putting pressure on mobile networks and potentially weakening signal, which in turn can affect how reliably the glasses deliver real time information.
Guide Dogs UK, which also provides other services to help people live independently, says the technology should be used alongside existing support systems rather than replacing them.
“These glasses can really support and enhance somebody’s independence but they’re not there to be relied upon or replace core independent skills,” said Tommy Dean, a technology specialist at the charity.
He said guide dogs, mobility training and human support remain essential, particularly in complex environments.
Ben Hatton, an analyst at CCS Insight who studies emerging consumer technologies, said reliability remains a key challenge.
“If you’re going to allow visually impaired people to walk down the street or cross busy roads with the technology then it has to be perfectly reliable every single time,” he said.
He said factors such as accuracy, connectivity and cost will determine how widely the technology can be adopted.
Despite those limitations, experts say advances in artificial intelligence are enabling mainstream devices to play a growing role in accessibility.
“The fact that consumer technology can enhance the experience of someone with a sight problem adds to the potential to be more and more independent,” Lewis said.
More than 59,000 runners are expected to take part in the London Marathon on Sunday, according to organizers, following a 26.2 mile route through the capital that starts in Greenwich and finishes near Buckingham Palace.
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