What Are AI-Powered Contact Lenses? How Does It Work?

Nathan Mckinley
Product Coalition
Published in
5 min readSep 6, 2021

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Artificial intelligence or “AI” is human intelligence possessed by a machine. It needs machine learning and components of AI to work. AI is highly used in many sectors for the management of the work and operating the work more efficiently. AI technology is commonly used in phones, computers, and wearable devices. The application of AI can now be seen in contact lenses. Much research is still going on the development of AI-powered contact lenses. The days aren’t far when everyone will have AI-controlled contact lenses.

Smart contact lens does sound like fiction, but now it has become a reality. There are many exciting developments in the technology field. The demand for high-tech wearables is increasing; as a result, there is a huge interest in smart contact lenses over the years. The demand is due to the production of lightweight wearable, with some fancy technology which can also be beneficial for certain medical conditions.

Some of the contact lenses are in the development process that will provide health information and other helpful information such as weather, navigation, and other things. The main problem in the case of contact lenses is wearability. When the contact lenses came for the first time, they were made from thick plastic. It made the lenses very uncomfortable for the individual to wear. But with time, the technology has advanced, and now they are ready to take the contact lenses to the next level. Many people are curious about the role of AI in contact lenses, so let’s see how AI-powered contact lenses work.

AI-powered contact lenses

Some of the artificial intelligence features are used to optimize the contact lenses. Due to rapid artificial intelligence development, the technology has been used in many devices. The introduction of AI in contact lenses will make a huge impact on smart contact lenses technology. AWS previewed AI-powered contact lenses for the first time, and after eight months, it launched the all-new contact lenses. There are also many artificial intelligence development companies that are very excited and aggressive about bringing AI-powered contact lenses.

How does it work?

The AI-powered contact lenses are just like any normal contact lens. They won’t require surgery, and they can be removed by the user anytime. It is easy to use and place on the eyeball. Some of the advanced smart lenses require a surgical process. The surgery will replace the existing lens with an electronic one.

This will offer the same benefits as the non-surgical ones, but it will be more robust and permanent. The lens will focus the light on the retina that will improve the vision of the eye. They will be comfortable like the normal lens as well.

Which companies are working on the development of AI-powered contact lenses?

There is a race going on in the world among the top tech companies to produce the best wearable. The smart contact lens will see rapid growth in demand, and America is one of the leading regions of the market. There are a number of companies that have announced research on AI-powered contact lenses, such as Samsung, Google, Sony, AWS, Novartis, Sensimed, and many more.

AI-powered contact lenses for the health care sector

Almost 253 million people in the world are suffering from various eye problems. There are mainly five common eye problems such as cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and retinal detachment, macular degeneration. Google has been researching smart contact lenses that can help people with diabetes by checking their glucose levels. This idea started in 2014, but Google discontinued the project because the tear glucose levels and blood glucose levels are different.

The AI-powered contact lenses technology may be able to solve these conditions. There are many types of research going on for developing smart contact lenses for better visuals. The technology uses Graphene that will help to pick up the full spectrum of light. The technology will not only sharpen the visibility but also can help with various medical conditions.

AI-powered contact lenses for better vision

AI software development in contact lens technology will give the user an amazing experience. The AI-powered contact lenses include camera technology. Samsung is working on a contact lens that will send the visual project directly to the retina, and the vision will be clearer and more beautiful. Sony is also working on some AI-powered lenses that can even store images and videos. If it works, then it will take the world to the next level.

A smart future

Apart from fulfilling the casual consumer demand AI-powered lenses also can be beneficial for real-world applications. It can help the military, security officers and give them better security. It can also be highly beneficial in the medical sector by providing immediate results about vital signs.

Providing night features is also one of the goals for the researcher. The University of Michigan is working on AI development services and creating contact lenses with a sensor that will allow us to see at night. The technology will come with thermal vision. It will help the soldiers at night by allowing them to see humans through the heat they produce

Amazon brings some AI-powered contact lenses and tools

In 2020 amazon announced the availability of contact lenses with the use of artificial intelligence. The contact lens can analyze the customer calls. The contact lens can help the call center to understand their customer as well as the complex issues during the customer calls. This AI-powered contact lens allows the user to search calls based on the topic, customer sentiment, and conversion.

Some pros and cons of AI-powered lenses

Pros

  • Contact lenses can give better vision
  • They can eliminate the need of wearing glasses
  • They can address many issues

Cons

  • There are some disadvantages, such as cleaning the focal points
  • Some people feel uncomfortable with contact lenses
  • AI-powered contact lenses are costly, and the cleaning will even cost more

Conclusion

So many companies are involved in the development of the AI contact lens that would replace the existing lenses. Smart lenses can give so many benefits apart from improving the vision of the user. Apart from that, it will monitor various conditions and parts of the body.

It is very important to have a flexible, soft, transparent contact lens with the ability to integrate the sensors into the surface. In the coming years, AI-powered contact lenses will have high demand in the market. With all the innovations happening, it would be great to see the role of AI-powered contact lenses in the modern world.

Author Bio: I am Pratik Kanada, founder & CEO of 360 Degree Technosoft, which makes app ideas into reality by providing unique design and development services. I generally write blogs on mobile technology, app development, and app marketing, and trending technologies like AI, ML, IoT, AR, VR, and others.

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I’m Business Development Manager at Cerdonis Technologies LLC - Mobile App Development Company in Chicago, USA. I do have accumulated knowledge of Latest Tech.