Quick Summary
Meta is reportedly testing smart glasses that will have super-sensing features where the microphones and cameras are always active.
And this comes just days after the company released a welcome update to disable the camera if the privacy light had been tampered with.
When you think of smart glasses, there’s a very good chance the Ray-Ban Meta models will spring to mind. They have been instrumental in making smart glasses fashionable accessories, though understandably, not everyone is on board.
While an interesting portal to AI assistance, smart glasses also raise privacy concerns, as it’s not always obvious when someone is recording video or taking photos using the in-frame camera.
All Meta smart glasses – across Ray-Ban, Oakley and its own brands – have an LED light that is supposed to come on when recording or capturing is happening, though there have been some reports of people tampering with those lights so they are deactivated.
What will these super-sensing smart glasses do?
The other day, Meta announced it was pushing out an update that was said to be “mandatory” for all its smart glass users, which disables the camera if the privacy light has been meddled with. That was very well received.
Unfortunately though, the good news hasn’t appeared to have lasted long. A Financial Times report (via 9to5Google) mentioned Meta’s upcoming “super sensing” smart glasses, which, ironically, are said to have cameras and microphones that are always-on.
Worse, the FT says that the privacy light won't always let you know when that's happening: “Executives are currently planning not to activate the LED when the super-sensing features are being used," its sources revealed.
The paper does suggest plans could change, however.
It’s also been suggested that the new super-sensing features, which might include capturing pictures “every few seconds” rather than full video all the time (imagine the hit on battery life if the latter were the case), could come to existing models.
The data is expected to be used so that those wearing the glasses can recall their day, 9to5Google says, or get answers from AI about what they might have seen or heard, rather than to capture people without their permission.
There’s certainly a very grey area here, and it will be interesting to see how Meta navigates the inevitable backlash if these super-sensing glasses do arrive.
