In 2023, global smart glasses shipments increased by 210% year-on-year, and ABI Research has predicted that shipments will grow from 5.9 million in 2024 to 114.1 million by 2030.

The technology is moving faster than awareness, regulation or governance, and South Africa is sitting closer to the edge of privacy and regulatory controversy than most people realise.

This controversy has already affected East Africa. In early 2026, Kenyan and Ghanaian authorities identified Vladislav Luilkov as the Russian vlogger who travelled through Kenya and Ghana wearing the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, recording intimate encounters with women without their knowledge and posting the footage online for profit. In the UK, a BBC investigation documented how a woman was covertly filmed at a beach, with the footage receiving around one million views online.

By May 2026, a second victim was also reported by the BBC. She was told that the footage would only be removed as a paid service, which was effectively extortion.

Smart glasses with inconspicuous cameras extend patterns already seen with smartphones – they make it easier to capture and distribute images or video of women in public and private spaces without their knowledge, in a society where harassment, exploitation, and violations of privacy remain widespread.

Wearers can potentially discover a person’s identity, address, and other personal details and share these, along with video footage, with anyone they want, on any platform they want, and this creates significant security and privacy risks.

Two Harvard students recently showed how the footage streamed through these glasses could be linked to external AI facial recognition tools allowing strangers to be identified in real time with names, home addresses and personal information pulled from the internet.

Smart glasses are also an Internet of Things (IoT) device with connected hardware running software that can be targeted in the same way any connected device can.

Research by ESET has found that specific attack vectors such as unpatched firmware vulnerabilities, compromised companion apps, and malicious Wi-Fi hotspots are gaining in momentum and capability.

These threats can compromise the glasses or the device they are paired with, and the attacker gains access to everything the wearer sees.

South Africa has begun to adapt its legal framework to digital abuse, including the Cybercrimes Act, the Protection from Harassment Act, the Domestic Violence Amendment Act, and the Film and Publications Act. These all apply to online harassment, harmful content and image-based abuse. Smart glasses are already changing the boundaries of privacy.

These devices represent high-risk AI systems that capture biometric data in public spaces without meaningful consent mechanisms, process footage through offshore contractors beyond South African data protection oversight, and directly challenge POPIA’s consent framework, designed before invisible, wearable surveillance became normalised.

Under POPIA, biometric information is categorised as ‘special personal information’ with processing generally prohibited unless authorised.

South Africa has both the constitutional foundation and the legislative architecture through POPIA to lead African wearable AI governance.

The country, as Africa’s most technologically advanced economy with BRICS ties and a mature data-protection framework, is uniquely positioned to do for African wearable regulation what the GDPR did for Europe and establish a high-water mark that neighbouring jurisdictions can copy. And now is the time to get it right.

Standing before stakeholders of the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance, Inuwa painted a picture of a nation ready to define its technological destiny, deeply rooted in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

“Our goal is not just to consume AI; we want to create it, own it, and make sure it reflects who we are as Nigerians,” he declared.

At the heart of this bold ambition lies the National AI Strategy, a framework that lays the foundation for how Nigeria intends to lead the continent into an intelligent future.

According to Inuwa, this strategy begins with building the right infrastructure, expanding connectivity, developing sovereign cloud platforms, and creating clean, representative national datasets that ensure inclusivity.

One of the proudest milestones so far, he said, was the launch of Nigeria’s Multilingual Large Language Model in New York, an innovation designed to make sure that African languages and cultures are not erased in the coming AI revolution.

“For us, it’s not enough that AI understands English or French,  it must also understand Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, and our other local dialects,” Inuwa said. “Our identity should live in the algorithms that shape the world.”

But infrastructure alone is not enough. Inuwa emphasized that people remain the heartbeat of innovation.

Through initiatives like the Nigerian Startup Act, NITDA is nurturing a thriving ecosystem where founders, investors, and policymakers collaborate to build solutions that matter.

“Innovation does not happen in isolation,” he explained. “That’s why we are deliberately prioritizing inclusivity, especially giving women founders space to thrive in tech.”

He also painted a picture of how AI will transform critical sectors, from helping doctors diagnose faster, to empowering farmers to predict yields more accurately, and enabling manufacturers to eliminate inefficiencies.

“AI will not replace people,” Inuwa clarified. “It will amplify human capacity, making us 10 times more productive than we are today.”

However, he issued a warning, one that reveals the moral heart of Nigeria’s AI journey: technology without inclusion is injustice.

“If you are digitally invisible, AI will not see you,” he cautioned. “That’s why every NITDA initiative insists on at least 40% women representation. We must build a future that includes everyone.”

As Nigeria continues to craft its AI governance framework, Inuwa said collaboration remains key, between government, innovators, academia, and the global community. The goal is simple: to create policies that protect innovation while safeguarding citizens.

In closing, the NITDA DG summed up Nigeria’s intent in one powerful statement:

“We’re not waiting to be carried along in the AI revolution. We are building the future, one innovation, one ecosystem, one Nigerian language at a time.”

With this vision, Nigeria sends a clear message to the world: its journey into the age of AI is not just about technology, it’s about people, prosperity, and purpose.

Posting on his Truth Social account on Sunday, Trump declared:

“Any country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS will be charged an additional 10% tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy.”

His remarks follow the 17th BRICS Partner Countries Meeting held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Saturday, where the bloc, now expanded to include Nigeria and eight other partner nations, intensified its call for reforms to global financial institutions and expressed concern over trade-distorting tariffs.

Speaking at the summit, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu urged the international community to rethink the structure of global governance, calling for more inclusive financial and healthcare systems that fairly reflect the voices of low-income and emerging economies, particularly in Africa.

“Environmental degradation, the climate crisis, and widening healthcare inequalities are stalling progress,” Tinubu stated. “We must reform global institutions to better serve the interests of all, not just a few.”

Tinubu reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to the BRICS partnership and pledged continued support for South-South cooperation and inclusive global reforms.

He stressed that sustainable development cannot be achieved while Africa and other underrepresented regions remain on the margins of global decision-making.

Nigeria officially became a BRICS Partner Country in January 2025, joining Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, and Uzbekistan, following the bloc’s historic 16th summit in Kazan, Russia, in 2024 which introduced the partner category.

Trump’s latest remarks reflect growing unease in Washington over the rising influence of BRICS, which has been pushing for reduced reliance on the U.S. dollar, reformed multilateral institutions, and alternative development finance frameworks. With BRICS increasingly positioning itself as a counterweight to Western-dominated systems, the bloc’s expanded partnerships have not gone unnoticed.

As global alliances continue to shift, Nigeria’s growing role within BRICS signals its ambition to shape international discourse even as it risks facing retaliatory economic measures from Western powers.