Robert Fletcher knows what it is like to have his world change without warning.

At age 41, he went from having full vision to just 4 per cent vision within eight weeks.

He lost his central vision completely, taking away his ability to read, write, watch television and see other people’s faces — and even his own.

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Now, amid a fierce privacy debate, Fletcher told 7NEWS.com.au the possibility of losing access to the technology that has given him back some control and independence would feel like having his eyesight taken away all over again.

The AI smart glasses that allow him to navigate life are now at the centre of a controversy, with bans already enforced in some places and growing calls for tighter restrictions.

‘Everything changes’

Before losing his vision, Fletcher held a senior position at a multinational corporation, had lived in seven countries and travelled extensively.

When a medical condition claimed all of his central vision and most of his peripheral vision, his life changed drastically.

“There is not one thing that you will do in a day that can possibly be the same as when you had vision,” he said.

“It’s everyday things that, as a sighted person, I took for granted. A simple glimpse will tell you a thousand things about what’s going on around you.

“You take all that away and it’s really just a whole loss of information.”

Fletcher discovered Meta’s AI-powered glasses about three and a half years ago through his connections with an international network of people with low vision.

He heard about a totally blind man who had reportedly flown alone from London’s Heathrow Airport to New York’s JFK, using the glasses and other technology to locate his luggage and reach the taxi stand.

An experienced traveller himself, Fletcher immediately asked a friend in the United States to order him a pair before they became available in Australia.

The glasses use a camera and voice-controlled artificial intelligence to interpret visual information, allowing Fletcher to ask questions about what is in front of him and hear a response.

“Even though it certainly doesn’t fill the void, it gives you access to information that previously you would have needed to rely on another human being for,” he said.

“Even if it gives me 15 per cent or 20 per cent of the information that was void before, it’s empowering to actually then be able to make a decision on my own without having to go and ask another person to assist me.

“In life, there is absolutely nothing more empowering than to own your decision, whether you make the wrong one or the right one but you’ve got enough information to own it.”

Independence in everyday life

Fletcher remains highly active, walking about 20,000 steps a day with his Seeing Eye Dog, Hamish, and regularly travelling around Melbourne for public speaking engagements and blind tennis.

The glasses fill the gaps between other forms of assistance — as smart and helpful as he is, Hamish cannot read signs.

“He was missing in training that day,” Fletcher says with a laugh.

For example, at Flinders Street Station Hamish can ask the glasses to read departure monitors and tell him which train to board.

Before boarding, the glasses can help ensure he is on the correct platform. During the journey, they can identify a station if an onboard announcement is not made.

Once he disembarks the train, they can read street signs and help confirm he is heading in the right direction.

At the supermarket, he can ask the glasses to locate a product and describe where it is on the shelf.

The glasses are particularly helpful at the supermarket. Credit: AAP

The technology can also identify banknotes, giving users another way to determine how much cash they are carrying or whether they have received the correct change.

Fletcher said these seemingly small pieces of information allowed people to make choices for themselves instead of relying on someone else to decide what details were worth sharing.

“I know that it doesn’t sound like very much but it’s actually quite profound,” he said.

“Other people when you ask them for help, in all their best intentions, decide what information they give you is important.

“These things empower us to be given everything, and then it’s up to us to make that decision as to what’s important to us.“

Sydney architectural design consultant Seyed Farbod Motahari has also found practical benefits in the technology.

The 40-year-old was born with low vision caused by albinism and uses the glasses to read signs, understand his surroundings and access information while shopping.

Motahari said they could identify different products and read information printed on bottles or cans, reducing the need to ask someone else for guidance.

He described the technology as a “game changer” for people with vision impairment, although he acknowledged it remained imperfect.

“It’s just the beginning of it,” he said.

Passion for travel restored

Before losing his vision, Fletcher had visited between 70 and 80 countries and had taken more than 750 flights.

But travelling without sight was an entirely different experience and, for about a decade, he lost the passion that had taken him around the world.

The glasses helped him find that again.

During a trip to Spain last year, the smart glasses translated Spanish into English and allowed him to independently explore tourist attractions.

At Madrid’s Prado Museum, he could ask the glasses to describe an artwork and then seek more information about its artist, subject and style.

It was a stark change from having another person provide only a brief description of what was in front of him.

“(They’d say) ‘Oh, it’s a lady in a chair.’ Well, that’s helpful,” Fletcher said, recalling the limited information he might otherwise receive.

“Just because I’m blind doesn’t mean I’m stupid.

“I’ve been to most major art galleries in the world. I’d like to know a little bit more about this painting.

“All of a sudden I realised that I can just do this at my pace. I can ask for as much information as I want.”

The glasses also translated conversations from Spanish into English through his earpiece, helping him communicate.

His wife would even stand beside him to listen to the translations.

Calls grow for nationwide restrictions

But the accessibility benefits are at times being overlooked amid growing scrutiny of smart glasses and their ability to record video and audio without being immediately obvious to people nearby.

Some councils and businesses have introduced restrictions at certain facilities such as pools, while the Greens have called for a 12-month ban on importing the glasses as stronger laws and regulations are developed.

The Albanese government has rejected calls for an immediate nationwide ban but is consulting Australians about the privacy risks posed by AI and wearable technology before considering further action.

Attorney-General Michelle Rowland told Sunrise on Tuesday the government was working to balance those concerns against the very real benefits for people with disabilities.

“We’ve had Vision Australia and other disability advocacy groups saying that this type of technology has been a game-changer for them,” she said.

“We want to make sure we don’t unfairly discriminate against people who are using this technology to better participate in society.”

Disability advocates say smart glasses are helping sight-impaired people participate in daily life. Credit: AAP

‘I’m not asking for a lot’

Fletcher said he briefly feared the glasses could be taken away while listening to the debate, but he says he refuses to “let it happen”.

“I’m a fairly determined individual,” he said.

“It would be like going up to you and saying, ‘Can I take your eyesight off you?’

“And you’d say, ‘Absolutely not’.”

His objection is not to safeguards around inappropriate recording, but to treating every person wearing the glasses as though they are using them to covertly film others.

Fletcher said the technology had been available in Australia for several years without attracting the same level of alarm and questioned why the backlash was intensifying so much as cheaper models enter the market.

“It’s only now that they’ve come into a different price point that all of a sudden everyone who wears them becomes a pervert,” he said.

He argued the response risked stigmatising people with low vision and unfairly associating access to cheaper technology with predatory behaviour.

The backlash has intensified as cheaper models enter the market.  Credit: AAP

Fletcher also said the Meta glasses displayed a visible light when taking an image or recording a video, allowing people nearby to see when the camera was operating.

He said he had no objection to someone approaching him or asking how the device was being used if they felt uncomfortable.

“Instilling a fear into people that they think someone’s being recorded against their wishes is so dangerous,” he said.

He warned that portraying every wearer as a potential threat could encourage confrontations with people who were simply using the glasses as an accessibility tool.

For Fletcher, a blanket ban would punish people with low vision for the potential misconduct of others and remove access to information most sighted people receive automatically.

“I’m not asking for a lot,” he said.

“I’m only asking for access to information that a genetic condition took away from me, and I don’t think that’s really getting across to the public.”