Engineer creates ad block for the real world with augmented reality glasses
An experimental “ad blocker for the real world” built on AR glasses has renewed interest in using computer vision to hide billboards and other physical ads from view. Commenters weigh the appeal of reclaiming public visual space against technical limits, platform control by companies like Apple and Meta, and the risk that AR could just replace real ads with even more intrusive targeted ones. The thread also revisits earlier research such as Steve Mann’s wearable computing work and raises broader concerns about privacy, copyright, and how immersive AR could manipulate or fragment shared reality.
Business model & platform control
- Discussion of a likely arms race: users paying to block ads vs ad-tech paying to become unblockable.
- Comparisons to browser ad-blockers: one “unbribable” blocker can win, but hardware platforms (e.g., tightly controlled ecosystems) might restrict such tools for profit.
- Skepticism about buying glasses that block only “some” ads; counterpoint that people already buy devices that block none, so partial blocking could still sell.
- Some refuse to buy if it relies on Google’s AI, seeing irony and risk in using a major ad company to block ads.
Technical feasibility & UX
- Many find the red box overlays uglier and more intrusive than the ads; suggestions include desaturating, freezing motion, or doing generative inpainting to blend ads into the scene.
- Debate over whether real-time, scene-correct AI fill is currently too computationally heavy, with proposals to precompute masks for common locations.
- Explanation that most current AR is additive (can only overlay), while true blocking needs XR/passthrough or fine-grained electrochromic layers. Even then, optics/focus issues can make “black bars” appear as blurry blobs.
History and prior art
- Multiple references to earlier “mediated reality” and wearable computing work decades ago that already demonstrated ad recognition and blocking, albeit with bulky hardware and remote compute.
- Some frame the new system as late to the idea but timely in execution now that hardware and ML have caught up.
Billboards, regulation, and externalities
- Strong resentment toward bright, animated billboards, including boats and drones used as mobile ads.
- Examples of cities or regions that banned or strictly regulated billboards are praised for preserving vistas.
- Framing billboards as a classic “tragedy of the commons” where governments failed to protect shared space, forcing individuals toward expensive tech fixes like AR ad-block.
AR, privacy, and dystopian scenarios
- Fears that commercial AR will not block ads but replace physical ads with targeted ones, possibly forcing attention (e.g., blanking everything but the ad until you look at it).
- Concerns about pervasive tracking: AR that knows everywhere you go and everything you look at.
- Worries about people being constantly captured, analyzed, or recorded by others’ glasses in sensitive places; analogies to Street View face-blurring.
- Speculation about copyright/trademark being used to remove real-world objects from view (e.g., buildings), enforced via DRM-like AR filters.
Manipulating reality & social/ethical issues
- References to “They Live,” “Black Mirror,” and similar stories to illustrate how easily AR could rewrite perception—blocking people, altering their appearance, or turning out-groups into “monsters.”
- Some foresee filters that erase or transform certain demographics, further eroding shared reality.
- Debate around altering a partner’s appearance (e.g., replacing a girlfriend’s face) via AR: analogies to makeup vs. objections that it’s disrespectful and non-consensual when done on the receiver side.
- Broader worry that AR may deepen tribalism, letting people literally not see those they dislike.
Is AR even desirable?
- Several commenters doubt mainstream appetite for always-on AR outside work and entertainment, citing social awkwardness, privacy fears, and “digital drug” dynamics already seen with smartphones.
- Others propose concrete useful cases: navigation HUDs, industrial/technical overlays, snowboarding terrain visualization, name-tags in social settings—if implemented locally, privately, and in lightweight hardware.
- Some note this project as one of the few AR use cases that feels immediately appealing: a countercultural tool to push back against surveillance advertising and visual clutter.