Daybreak - Meta x Oakley and an ad starring Virat Kohli say “Athletic Intelligence is here”. Is it?

Episode Date: May 20, 2026

Virat Kohli's new Meta Oakley ad has 40 million views in two weeks — more than every other athlete in the global campaign, including the one that aired during Superbowl. The tagline says Athletic Intelligence is here. But the ad shows the glasses answering questions, playing music, and recording a slow-motion shot. The athletic part is mostly just Kohli.India's smart wearables market is set to triple by 2033. Fifty million Indians already make health decisions based on what these devices tell them. Studies show a 30-80% error rate on something as basic as calorie counting. So how intelligent is Athletic Intelligence, really?Tune in.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

On May 4th, in the middle of IPL season, Meta and IWire giant Oakley had an announcement. The phase of their India campaign for their performance enhancement AI glasses would be no other than Virat Koli himself. The cricketer is perhaps one of the most popular and celebrated players in recent history. In his two-decade-long career, he has led India to its first-ever test series victory in Australia and is also the all-time leading run scorer in IPL history with more than 9.5. 9,000 runs over 279 matches. During his term as the team India captain, he has also been known for formalizing fitness tests

as an important criteria to be fulfilled by his players. In fact, his own test scores for something called the Yo-Yo test were treated as a benchmark for other players. Take that, with his millions of fans in India and his undeniable star power, Kowlew is obviously a no-brainer to be the face of a product that is supposed to enhance fitness and training regimes. And about two weeks ago, the campaign also released an ad to go with it.

The two-minute video follows Koli as he, well, to put it simply, struggles to hit a ball. The training montage begins. He asks Meta what the most difficult boundary ever played is. He does calisthenics, hits a punching bag, asks his glasses to play his game on playlist. He keeps trying to hit the ball and at a point even falls over when he overswings. In the last 30 seconds, he asks the glass. to record his POV in slow motion. This time he hits the ball.

It's a fantastic shot and we follow the wall as it sails away. A smiling Kohli then asks the glasses to send the video to his coach. Here, this screen blacks out and says, Athletic Intelligence is here. That's the tagline for the glasses. It's an amazingly well-shot ad and as commenters on the YouTube video rushed to point out, Coley's acting performance in it is also pretty amazing. But there's an important question to ask.

here. Where exactly was the athletic intelligence? As far as the ad is concerned, the glasses do exactly what the meta-ray bands do. Answer general questions, play music, record and live stream. The only person who seems athletically intelligent here is really just the guy who has been playing the game for 20 years. Just this time, he has a camera on his nose that's recording a really cool shot. But all of that kind of just pales in Koli's presence. And you can see in the numbers. If you go to the Meta-Oakley YouTube page right now, it features all the global athletes that are currently endorsing the product. Footballer in Bapa and American football players like Patrick Mahomis and Marshawn Lynch and streamer slash stuntman slash athlete, I Show Speed.

Out of all these videos, including the one that aired during Super Bowl, by the way, Coalies is the one with the most views. 40 million over two weeks. The rest? A couple million news here and there over months. Plus, every other comment under Koli's video is just anending praise. They can't stop talking about how cool and awesome he looks and that they'll buy the glasses because he's endorsing them. You see, India's smart wearables market is projected to triple by 2030. Nearly 50 million Indians right now are using wearable health devices. Smart watches are leading this market.

Which means everyday people are making real health decisions based on what this tech is selling them. In 2024, a study even found that globally, more than 70% of wearable users reported that they applied their output data to inform their personal exercise regimens or recovery strategies. So it would be pretty helpful if athletic intelligence was in fact here. But is it? Technically speaking, athletic intelligence has always kind of existed. Just, you know, not on your wrist or on your face. For years now, specific. tech has been built and adapted to record and study the way athletes move and perform.

To enhance the performance, of course, and also to improve and build training and diet regimes, techniques, strategy, etc. Think Sharukhan studying hours of player footage in Shakti India or Ted Lasso doing the same in the show. In general, you may also have seen athletes hooked up to machines that observe their vitals and other markers while they're running or exercising. But even with fancy machines and data gathering tools, the data itself that's means nothing unless it comes with expertise. Like a coach with years of experience or a physiotherapist or a sports scientist.

Smart variables at track fitness markers are basically just supposed to collect that data and give you an estimate number that you can then base your decisions on. It doesn't really give you the insight. But at least so far. Now, take the most popular products right now. Whoop, ORA and Garmin. Whoop is a screenless band. ORA is a ring and Garmin makes watches.

Every day, these devices give you scores for recovery, readiness and body battery. If your numbers are in the green, it means you can work out some more. If they're in the red, then you should probably take some rest. The way they come up with these scores is by collecting your data in a variety of aspects. The main marker is HRV or heart rate variability. You see, even when you're completely still, there are small gaps between each heartbeat. When you're well rested, these gaps vary between each other more. When you're more stressed, they become more uniform.

Along with your HRV, these devices also study your sleep data, your activity levels and your resting heart rate. All of this is run through their own respective proprietary formulae, which is then what gives you the score. And that number is what 70% of variable users rely on to make their decisions about fitness. All of this is great, but there's a slight catch. You see, what these devices give you is an estimate, not a specific, measurement. And studies have shown that data collected from variable devices is calibrated towards the average, which means highly trained individuals like athletes or even highly untrained individuals get the least accurate information. So these devices are actually the least

useful to the people at the beginning of the fitness journeys and the ones at their peak. They work best for the people who are somewhere in between. But even for that middle population, there are some bumps. For example, for even more general use cases like calorie burning, a Harvard study from this year found that smart watches have a 30 to 80% error rate. What doesn't help is that these consumer variables are not subject to any kind of regulation. And because there is no regulatory body to ensure their accuracy, they kind of don't have to be.

Plus, because of consistent software and hardware updates, even the data quality could get compromised over time. That being said though, there seems to be some things these variables are doing right. Stay tuned. Remember how I said data by itself is kind of pointless without the expertise? Well, it turns out one of the studies that found variable data to be slightly finicky also stated that Carmen's proprietary AI coach is quite a useful workout buddy. The researchers wrote that the AI coach creates easy-to-follow training plans

which adapt daily based on the user's recovery and performance metrics when used with a compatible Garmin device. This approach optimizes training efficiency and success resulting in above-average performance with minimal risk of burnout and injury. Isn't that exactly what you'd imagine athletic intelligence to look like? And guess what? The meta-Oakley vanguard glasses, the wraparound ones that Koli is wearing in the ad when he's batting,

has an integration with Garmin and Strava, the running stats app. Actually, a lot of the glasses coolest features are also what comes with the Carmen Syncup. For example, the LED light on the glasses flash a different color if your garment score is getting into the red, so that you know when to stop. It can even take highlight real videos automatically once you reach a milestone speed or finish running or biking a specific distance. You can also ask for your current stats and it will tell you so that you don't have to look at your watch during the workout. That's a pretty useful feature for cyclists or cricketers or footballers where looking at your wrists could be a genuine distraction.

But that feature has actually barely been a mention in the ads. In fact, not even the Super Bowl ad, which you would assume would be the most detailed, really shows it. Marshawn Lynch listens to a playlist while he skydives, A ShowSpeed uses the hands-of-record feature while he's performing a stunt, and Spike Lee, the filmmaker and actor, uses it to record a slam dunk in slow-mo. None of that demonstrates athletic intelligence. And of course, even the most successful ad, which is quote, police, at least by YouTube metrics alone, doesn't mention it at all.

Now, in India, there's a very specific reason for this. You see, Garmin is still quite a niche and premium product in India. So niche, in fact, that Garmin's own general manager acknowledged in an interview last year with Business World that while the company is pretty much synonymous with fitness in European and North American markets, India is a slightly different case. He said that India presents its own unique challenges and opportunities. and those require an accelerated investment in brand awareness and customer education. Plus, garment watches are also kind of expensive.

The cheapest variant sells at about $25,000. And if you're getting it to use with the glasses, those are roughly another $40,000 to $50,000. Considering how price-sensitive the Indian market is, this omission makes sense. And here's another thing. Most reviewers found that the garment integration was pretty buggy, which, to be fair is a fixable problem and some of these bugs do come with being first generation products. For example, the automatic highlight reel function broke almost immediately for a UK reviewer and he ended up returning the product. All in all, it seems like whatever athletic intelligence

the glasses do have to offer really just come from these smart watches and the glasses themselves don't do anything that different from what the meta raybans do. Of course, the hardware and fit is far more sports-friendly and it's supposed to have a longer battery life, though the jury is still out on that. Reviewers also mention that the camera is far, far better than the Raybans. DC Rainmaker, who is a pretty popular fitness tech reviewer, said that the camera was good enough to replace a GoPro for cycling and running. But even that is more of a plus for content purposes, not really for athletics. Let me explain. You see, years of sports research has shown that the best performance footage as well, not point of view. It's perpendicular to the athletes movement

from a fixed position, usually from the side, so that their form is clearly visible to the viewer. This third-person view is what is the most helpful for athletes and their teams to analyze. Recordings of what the athletes themselves are looking at are kind of close to useless for these kind of training purposes. The best argument against the efficacy of the glasses themselves is probably Koli. He said, in one of the press releases for the campaign and I'm quoting here, I have always relied on instinct, but also on understanding my game better over time.

What I find useful about Oakley Meta Performance AI Glasses is that they add small layers of insight without getting in the way. Small layers of insight. That's not saying a lot. And it shows in his performance as well. Just days after the ad was released, Virad Kohli hit 105 rounds during an IPL match for Royal Challenge. Angeles, Bangal. And he did that without the classes.

Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of the Ken India's first subscriber-focused business news platform. What you're listening to is just a small sample of our subscriber-only offerings. A full subscription offers daily long-form feature stories, newsletters and a whole bunch of premium podcasts. To subscribe, head to the Ken.com and click on the red subscribe button on the top of the Ken website. Today's episode was hosted and produced by my colleague. Rachel Vargis and edited by Rajiv Sien.