Norway’s education minister has asked schools to ban AI glasses, including Meta smart glasses, arguing that students and staff should not have to wonder whether they are being filmed, recorded or having their conversations processed without their knowledge. Minister of Education Kari Nessa Nordtun (Kunnskapsministeren) said on Saturday that Norwegian municipalities and schools should explicitly prohibit the devices in their local school rules.
In a Facebook post, Nordtun, a member of the Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet), called on schools to treat AI glasses in much the same way as mobile phones and smartwatches.
“Students and staff should feel safe at school. They should not have to walk around wondering whether someone is filming them, recording what they say, or whether things can suddenly be processed and shared further,” she wrote.
Why Norway wants AI glasses out of schools
The request concerns Meta glasses and other AI-enabled glasses capable of filming, recording conversations and processing content.
According to the minister, their use raises questions not only about distraction in classrooms but also about privacy and the ability of pupils and teachers to know when they are being recorded.
Current Ray-Ban Meta models include cameras and microphones and can use Meta AI to analyse what the wearer is seeing. The glasses can also take photos and videos and process voice commands, according to Ray-Ban’s official documentation.
For Nordtun, these capabilities make the devices particularly difficult to reconcile with the school environment.
“It makes fairly little sense for students to walk around with private Meta glasses and other AI glasses on their noses that can film, listen and give them answers as they go,” she wrote.
The minister is not announcing a new national statutory ban. Instead, she is asking municipalities and individual schools to use their school regulations to make clear to pupils and parents that such devices should not be used on school premises.
The AI glasses ban follows Norway’s restrictions on phones
The proposal extends an approach Norway has already taken towards personal digital devices in schools.
Since 2024, the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training (Utdanningsdirektoratet) has recommended strict limits on private mobile phones and smartwatches. For pupils in years 1 to 7, the recommendation applies both during lessons and breaks. In lower secondary school, phones should generally also remain out of use during breaks, while upper secondary schools are advised to restrict them during teaching time.
The government has said that almost all Norwegian primary and lower secondary schools have introduced restrictions on mobile phones.
AI glasses represent a newer problem because many of their functions can be used while the device still looks broadly similar to conventional eyewear.
“Tech giants constantly come up with new products. That does not mean that all of them belong in Norwegian classrooms and schoolyards,” Nordtun wrote.
Norway is also limiting generative AI for younger pupils
The request is consistent with a broader tightening of Norway’s approach to generative AI in schools.
In June, the government announced new national recommendations under which pupils in years 1 to 7 should, as a general rule, not be given access to generative AI in schoolwork. In years 8 to 10, the technology may be introduced gradually and cautiously, provided teachers have sufficient expertise.
At upper secondary level, students are instead expected to learn how to use AI appropriately in preparation for further education and working life.
The government has argued that younger pupils first need to develop basic skills independently. “The most important thing in school is that our children learn to read, write and do arithmetic,” Nordtun said when the new AI recommendations were presented in June.
Exceptions remain possible where AI-based tools are needed for educational support, including language learning or individually adapted teaching.
The government’s latest position therefore does not amount to a rejection of artificial intelligence in education as a whole. Instead, it draws a distinction between controlled educational use and privately owned AI devices that can continuously capture or process information around the wearer.
If municipalities and schools follow the minister’s request, AI glasses could become the next category of personal technology to be explicitly restricted in Norwegian schools, alongside smartphones and smartwatches.
