Meta’s smart glasses are problematic at best. They’re a major privacy concern, creating issues in classrooms, courtrooms, and for women literally just existing in public. Its glasses do not respect user privacy. A report from earlier this year detailed how Meta is using videos and pictures taken with its “Hey Meta” command to train its AI. Those videos and pictures are sent to real humans for review and contain some very private moments—people having sex, people using the bathroom, and people’s banking information, for instance. Meta, for its part, hasn’t changed a thing about its policies since practices came to light; it just thinks you should read its terms of service better.
To top it all off, Meta is almost certainly looking into the possibility of adding facial recognition to its smart glasses. A report from the New York Times highlighted internal interest in launching a facial recognition feature in a “dynamic political environment,” and a subsequent report from Wired found late-stage facial recognition code dormant inside the Meta AI app just this month. Meta hasn’t ruled out the possibility in an official capacity despite inquiries from U.S. senators and privacy watchdogs about its plans. The list goes on, and with everything I just laid out, there’s also one more thing I have to state. Despite all of the ickiness, surveillance dystopia, and glassholism that abounds with Meta’s smart glasses, seemingly one of the worst big tech companies (where ethics are concerned) still makes the best smart glasses money can buy. 3.5 Meta Fury AI Glasses The Meta Fury are Meta's cheapest and best smart glasses yet but they're hindered by privacy concerns. Pros Cheaper, but better than Ray-Bans Cool "racing green" color More comfort options via adjustable nose pads Muse Spark is smarter than Meta AI Cons Smaller cameras are harder to spot, adding to the ick factor Meta has a bad track record with user privacy Cheaper, but somehow better The Meta Fury are part of several styles of AI glasses released by Meta in June. If I had to distill the experience of using them, it would be like if “the worst person you know just made a great point” were a pair of smart glasses.
