Demonstration of glasses powered by artificial intelligence in Amsterdam raised concerns about the end of privacy

A simple experiment by Dutch technology journalist Alexander Kloping achieved what hundreds of reports failed to do: he demonstrated how fragile our anonymity has become. In a popular television show, Kloping demonstrated smart glasses powered by artificial intelligence. He simply walked around the bustling business district of Amsterdam and demonstrated how the device instantly recognized passers-by.

Without access to police databases or classified government documents, the glasses scanned people's faces and extracted their names, positions and even LinkedIn profiles in seconds. All this, using only publicly available internet data and commercially available artificial intelligence technology. The journalist stopped unsuspecting people and shocked them by addressing them by name, as if they were old acquaintances.

“This is a turning point for me,” wrote Pascal Born, an expert on privacy and artificial intelligence, in a post on social media X on December 5. His words resonated: “We have officially erased the line between just seeing people and knowing everything about them. The line between being public domain and being completely open.”

The market is evolving, fears are growing

Kloping's demonstration came at a critical moment. Tech giants are rushing to flood the market with similar devices. Meta has already introduced its Ray-Ban glasses with a display at a price of $799 in September 2025, adding a bracelet for gesture control. Chinese giant Alibaba is not lagging behind after launching its Quark AI glasses in November, with even more affordable models starting at $268.

According to Born, however, attempts to regulate this wave may already be too late. “You can ban them, write rules, install flashing red lights... but as soon as the technology appears, someone will inevitably find a way to use it,” he believes.

The EU's Artificial Intelligence Act, which partially came into force in February 2025, generally prohibits real-time biometric identification in public places, but loopholes and gray areas remain.

Despite all the legal barriers, experts remain skeptical. Technologies are evolving much faster than the police and courts can react. “When every person turns into just a set of data, how will we preserve the meaning of human existence?”