Meta reportedly testing prototype AI specs that record everything the user sees and hears
Meta Platforms Inc. this week sought to reassure consumers about the privacy safeguards of its controversial artificial intelligence-enabled glasses, yet at the same time it’s reportedly pushing even creepier capabilities in its “internal prototypes.”
The company’s AI-powered eyewear has a growing reputation as a creepy technology, but in a blog post this week the company announced it’s taking steps to change that opinion. It revealed it’s making a key update that will disable its glasses’ cameras if the LED light that’s meant to indicate they’re recording is blocked or tampered with.
The move appears to be a concession to the growing sentiment that AI specs aren’t just fashionable high-tech accessories, but also have serious implications with regards to people’s privacy. For it has become quite apparent that the specs can be abused in nefarious ways, such as by secretly recording people without them knowing.
Which is why it’s concerning that Meta is now testing a new prototype of its smart glasses that will record everything, all of the time. That’s according to a report by the Financial Times, which said the new “super-sensing” glasses would take photos continuously, every few seconds, in order to record everything that the wearer has seen and done throughout the day. The idea, according to sources with knowledge of the project, is that the AI glasses could act as an “always-on assistant” and help to summarize people’s days, tell them where they left their car keys or something that someone told them earlier in the day.
