According to a report published by the Financial Times, the glasses take pictures every few seconds while recording audio continuously, which later allows the user to use artificial intelligence to search for what he saw or heard, or to recall the events of his day via text or voice commands.
The current “Ray-Ban Meta” glasses contain an LED indicator that lights up when taking photos or recording video to alert people around the user, but the report indicated that Meta officials are studying the possibility of not turning on this indicator when the “Super Sensing” feature is activated, which may increase fears of taking pictures or recording without the knowledge of others.
According to the report, the company’s engineers are discussing a proposal to not keep images or raw audio recordings, whether with Meta or the user, and to simply extract metadata from them and send it to the company’s servers, so that artificial intelligence can rely on it in searches and answering user inquiries, which supporters of the idea believe may reduce the risks of violating privacy.
Meta is also exploring the possibility of benefiting from the data collected by the glasses in training its artificial intelligence models, as part of its efforts to enhance competition with companies such as OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic in the race to develop artificial intelligence technologies.
The report indicated that these features may reach the current Meta glasses via a software update, without the need to launch a new device, while stressing that the project is still under development and may be subject to modifications before it is officially approved.
On the other hand, experts in the field of privacy have warned that devices that operate constantly may conflict with data protection and biometric data laws, and may raise legal problems related to recording conversations without the consent of other parties, especially in a number of countries and American states that prohibit this type of recording.
The report pointed out that the current Ray-Ban Meta glasses do not display a visual indicator when using artificial intelligence to analyze the surrounding environment, while the company confirms that it removes basic identifying data in order to protect individuals’ privacy.
Last February, reports revealed the presence of an inactive facial recognition feature within the “Ray-Ban Meta” smart glasses platform, before Meta decided to remove it later.
In a related context, expectations indicate that Apple is preparing to launch its first smart glasses during the year 2027, equipped with cameras, microphones, and artificial intelligence features that allow taking photos, recording video, simultaneous translation, and displaying directions, but they will not support augmented reality technologies, while the company’s mechanism for dealing with privacy issues is still unclear. (aitnews)
