The Future of Education and Accessibility: Reflections on Meta’s AI & Wearables Event

By Marco Vargas — CEO, Fifth Sun Pictures | Director of Partnerships, Exponential Destiny

Published Tuesday, November 18, 2025

On November 5th, I attended Meta’s event on how AI technology and wearable devices are transforming accessibility, education, and innovation. The conversation centered on how these tools can expand opportunity for the 1.3 billion people worldwide living with disabilities while redefining how we learn and work in an AI-powered world.

As someone building workforce and education solutions in Los Angeles, I left inspired—and deeply aware that technology’s next frontier must also be about inclusion.

How Meta’s AI and Wearables Empower People

Meta’s latest accessibility tools—like AI-integrated Ray-Ban smart glasses, the In-Lens Display, and a new wrist-based interface—help users see, hear, and navigate in new ways. One compelling example is Be My Eyes, which uses AI to describe a person’s surroundings through visual and voice feedback.

These devices rely on smartphones for internet access, meaning connectivity remains a limiting factor for adoption of Meta AI Wearables in regions where broadband access still lags, this raises questions about digital-infrastructure equity. True accessibility depends not just on devices, but on the systems that connect them.

Education and Workforce Potential

Beyond accessibility, Meta’s work highlights how AI wearables could transform education. Imagine a student using smart glasses to translate text aloud, describe visual materials, or capture experiments hands-free. Educators could use these tools to design multimodal lesson plans that meet diverse learning needs, supporting both inclusion and creativity.

This innovation aligns closely with Los Angeles County’s workforce priorities. According to the Los Angeles Opportunity Youth Collaborative, 57 percent of residents aged 16–24 (≈ 635,000 people) were unemployed or not in the labor force in 2021, and more than 36 percent were not enrolled in school. In the City of L.A. alone, over 62,000 young people are considered “disconnected” from both education and employment.

Programs like Youth @ Work offer paid work experiences for youth 14–24, but many local organizations report carrying unfunded program costs averaging 25–30 percent of their budgets—evidence that we need more sustainable pipelines for career entry and learning.

If applied thoughtfully, AI-enabled learning tools could help re-engage this generation—by reducing reading barriers, providing on-demand tutoring, and making skill-building more interactive.

A Personal Reflection

This issue is personal to me. My sister Jennifer has dyslexia, which shaped her K-12 experience and continues to affect how she interacts with digital content. After several years out of school and work, she’s now enrolled at Santa Monica College, pursuing her dream of becoming an esthetician.

Her Career & Life Transformation Plan maps a realistic pathway: hands-on, people-centered learning at community programs such as Job Corps. But every step—online forms, reading assignments, navigation apps—requires extra effort.

That’s why I see such potential in AI for accessibility. Imagine if wearables could read instructions aloud, simplify online interfaces, or translate technical terms into plain language. For students like Jennifer, that’s not just convenience—it’s the difference between frustration and empowerment.

Her story reflects the broader reality of thousands of Los Angeles youth striving to reconnect to school or work. Technology designed with empathy could become the bridge they need.

Policy and Ethical Frontiers

The Meta event also underscored that inclusion depends on thoughtful governance. Among the pressing questions:

• How do we protect data privacy and youth safety as AI integrates into classrooms?

• Should AI’s use of copyrighted materials in training be considered fair use or require new frameworks?

• What impact will large-scale AI have on energy and water resources, particularly in California’s fragile grid?

• How can tech companies act as responsible civic partners, ensuring environmental and social sustainability?

For Los Angeles educators, nonprofits, and civic leaders, these aren’t abstract debates—they define how we responsibly implement AI across education and workforce systems.

Collaboration Opportunities

Here in Los Angeles County, we can take concrete steps to link technology with opportunity:

• Integrate AI accessibility tools into CTE and Digital Literacy programs through initiatives like Delete the Divide and Fifth Sun Learning Labs.

• Partner with cultural institutions such as Getty to pilot AI-driven art and career learning experiences.

• Host regional summits to bridge industry, education, and policy sectors around AI ethics and innovation.

  
  

These partnerships can help ensure that AI isn’t just powering apps—but powering people.

Closing Thoughts

The future of learning will be defined by how well we merge human insight and artificial intelligence. For communities like Los Angeles—where hundreds of thousands of young adults remain disconnected from education or employment—AI offers a path to reconnect and re-inspire.

Jennifer’s journey reminds me that accessibility and equity aren’t side projects; they’re central to the promise of technology itself. When we design AI with empathy, we make learning more human—and that’s the most powerful innovation of all.