Someone Built an Ad Blocker for Real Life, and I Can’t Wait to Try It

I use as many advertising blocking programs as possible, but no matter the number I install, real advertising is still there, attracts my attention when I just try to walk. Fortunately, there can be a solution on the horizon. Software engineer Stijn Spanhove recently published a concept video showing what the blocking of advertisements in real time and real on a pair of Snap shows, and I Really I want it. Check it:

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The idea is that AI in your smart glasses recognizes they I want you to see.

While Spanhove’s video shows a red block on incriminated advertisements, you could in theory cover this Wendy announcement with everything you want – an abstract painting, a photo of your family, an ad for Arby, etc.

How close is we close to the blocking of real advertisements?

Although this is a test currently, blocking real advertisements for people does not seem far away. The technology is there now: the general public glasses at current generation such as meta-ray prohibitions can already identify what you look at with frightening precision.

The replacement of advertisements is however a little more delicate. Although there are intelligent struggles on the market, such as XREAL tunes, and instant specifications to come, and AR experiences in VR headsets like the Meta Quest 3 can already delete parts of the real environment and replace them, there is nothing on the market with a complete AR which is practical enough to wear all the time. The lifespan and the weight of the battery are the problems, but these are solved. There are so many companies in competition for the smart glasses market, it seems to be only a matter of time until it is practical to block the advertisements of real life.

Companies against the consumer and the creation of the Ultimate Echo Chamber

I could see that it is a killer application for smart glasses in the near future: this is the kind of things that consumers would really like. But it is also the kind of thing that advertisers and marketing specialists not It wants, and it could be the biggest obstacles to real advertising blockers. You can imagine a “cat and mouse” game similar to the one that has been online for years, with companies trying ingenious means of thwarting advertising blocking glasses, such as disguising advertisements as something else. Would there be legal challenges? Would there be problems with a mega corporation that releases intelligent glasses not wanting to piss all other societies? And what happens if you want to modify advertisements for the device even you wear?

There are also sociological concerns. People would probably not stop to replace advertisements with pixels. They publish everything that would annoy them personally: the homeless, construction sites, other humans who have features they do not like. The conservation of your own visual experience in the real world could lead to the creation of personal echo rooms that make the world more look for your taste, but less as it is, the ultimate echo room.

Aside from ethical concerns, I would be the first to the line for a pair of glasses that edit reality for my taste. I know I would use them in a responsible manner, even if I am not sure of everyone. Maybe I wouldn’t wear them all the time. Just almost all the time.