Meta Wants Glasses That Recognize Faces—But What About ...
Meta is reportedly planning to add facial recognition technology to its smart glasses. This feature would allow the glasses to identify the nearby people by their names. Furthermore, the company considered adding the same technology to its future AI-powered earbuds with built-in cameras. Those using Meta’s glasses can opt to add the feature. However, the nearby people won’t be able to opt out of it.
Facial Recognition Technology by Meta
When the privacy concerns continue to grow deadly in the age of social media, Meta reportedly wants to take things to a whole new level. According to a report, Meta recently discussed adding a new feature that would allow users of its smart AI glasses to recognize people around them using facial recognition technology, or meaning scanning their faces.
The information reports that the social media giant has previously considered adding facial recognition technology to its smart glasses, but ultimately bailed on the technology for its first version of smart glasses. However, now the company is actively developing wearables that can easily identify nearby people by their names — a feature increasingly raising concerns about user consent and privacy.
Super Sensing Technology
Meta internally refers to this tech as “super sensing”, according to the source. Furthermore, Meta has also reportedly considered adding the facial recognition technology to future AI-powered earbuds with built-in cameras known as “Camerabuds”. These devices would offer two front-facing cameras with real-time AI capabilities.
It’s worth noting that users of a pair of Meta’s glasses could opt in to use the feature. However, the nearby people won’t be able to opt out of it. Current Ray-Ban Meta glasses switch on an LED while recording, highlighting the potential visibility concerns associated with such technology.
Privacy Concerns and Policy Updates
Apart from working again on facial recognition, Meta has updated its privacy policies in April. To opt out of the default artificial intelligence activation in its current smart glasses, users now have to deactivate the “Hey Meta!” trigger face. Furthermore, the users now can’t opt out of allowing Meta to store and train on their voice recordings, raising further questions about data privacy and consent.
As technology continues to advance, the debate around privacy and user consent becomes increasingly important, especially in the context of facial recognition and AI-powered devices.
