Chinese fintech giant Ant Group is pushing the wider adoption of smart glasses to facilitate digital transactions, extending the reach of mobile payments beyond smartphones.
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The first such payment outside mainland China was recently completed in Hong Kong using Meizu’s StarV smart glasses, according to a statement on Thursday by the company, an affiliate of Post owner Alibaba Group Holding.
That transaction was made via AlipayHK, the Hong Kong platform of Ant Group’s flagship Alipay app, using Meizu’s smart eyewear to scan the QR code and use voice command. The whole process – including voice interface, intent recognition and voice authentication – was powered by Ant’s artificial intelligence (AI) system.
The mobile payments functionality shows that proponents of AI glasses are expanding use cases to help broaden the adoption of smart eyewear.
The Ant-Meizu initiative comes days after a similar launch on the mainland by augmented reality (AR) glasses maker Rokid with the Hangzhou-based fintech giant. The Rokid eyewear introduced on Tuesday supports in-store payments by scanning the QR code and confirming payment with a voice command.
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“In the coming years, this technology could enable people to complete transactions simply by looking at or gesturing towards a product,” Ant said in an earlier statement on Tuesday.