Meta plans to upgrade AI glasses with facial recognition in major policy shift: Report

Facial recognition has long been opposed by civil society groups because of their potential for misuse by governments, corporations, and law enforcement agencies.

Meta is reportedly looking to upgrade its AI-powered smart glasses, developed in partnership with eyewear brands Ray-Ban and Oakley, with a new facial recognition feature.

The new feature is internally referred to as ‘Name Tag’ and would be designed to let wearers of the smart glasses identify people as well as obtain information about them via the Meta AI assistant, according to a report by The New York Times. The social media giant initially planned to beta test Name Tag among attendees of a conference for the blind but ultimately did not move forward with the trial, as per the report.

The report further said that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is looking to add facial recognition to Meta’s AI smart glasses in order to differentiate it from other products on the market. The company is reportedly exploring whether Name Tag should be designed to recognise people not known to the wearer or only people who are connected to the wearer via Meta’s platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

Meta’s reported move could mark a sharp reversal for the company. It comes nearly five years after Meta (known as Facebook at the time) pulled the plug on its facial recognition system used for tagging people in photos on its social media platforms amid privacy and legal concerns.

Facial recognition systems have long been opposed by civil society groups because of their potential for misuse by governments to monitor citizens and suppress dissent, by corporations to track unwitting customers, and by law enforcement agencies to wrongly identify and profile individuals based on inaccurate results.

During the Republic Day celebrations last month, Delhi Police personnel monitored crowds around Kartavya Path with AI-enabled smart glasses developed by Indian tech startup AznaLens that were equipped with an integrated facial recognition system (FRS) and thermal imaging technology.

Meanwhile, Meta is also reportedly working on another feature internally referred to as ‘super sensing’ that would allow wearers to continually run cameras and sensors to keep a record of someone’s day, similar to how AI-powered note-taking tools summarise video call meetings. Facial recognition will also reportedly play a key role in the ‘super sensing’ feature in order to identify people that the wearer saw during their day.

The political tumult in the United States appears to have influenced Meta’s purported embrace of facial recognition. “We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns,” Meta’s Reality Labs, which works on hardware including smart glasses, was quoted as saying by The New York Times in an internal document.

In a separate statement, Meta reportedly said, “We’re building products that help millions of people connect and enrich their lives. While we frequently hear about the interest in this type of feature — and some products already exist in the market — we’re still thinking through options and will take a thoughtful approach if and before we roll anything out.”

Meta is reportedly looking to upgrade its AI-powered smart glasses, developed in partnership with eyewear brands Ray-Ban and Oakley, with a new facial recognition feature.

The new feature is internally referred to as ‘Name Tag’ and would be designed to let wearers of the smart glasses identify people as well as obtain information about them via the Meta AI assistant, according to a report by The New York Times. The social media giant initially planned to beta test Name Tag among attendees of a conference for the blind but ultimately did not move forward with the trial, as per the report.

The report further said that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is looking to add facial recognition to Meta’s AI smart glasses in order to differentiate it from other products on the market. The company is reportedly exploring whether Name Tag should be designed to recognise people not known to the wearer or only people who are connected to the wearer via Meta’s platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

Meta’s reported move could mark a sharp reversal for the company. It comes nearly five years after Meta (known as Facebook at the time) pulled the plug on its facial recognition system used for tagging people in photos on its social media platforms amid privacy and legal concerns.

Facial recognition systems have long been opposed by civil society groups because of their potential for misuse by governments to monitor citizens and suppress dissent, by corporations to track unwitting customers, and by law enforcement agencies to wrongly identify and profile individuals based on inaccurate results.

During the Republic Day celebrations last month, Delhi Police personnel monitored crowds around Kartavya Path with AI-enabled smart glasses developed by Indian tech startup AznaLens that were equipped with an integrated facial recognition system (FRS) and thermal imaging technology.

Meanwhile, Meta is also reportedly working on another feature internally referred to as ‘super sensing’ that would allow wearers to continually run cameras and sensors to keep a record of someone’s day, similar to how AI-powered note-taking tools summarise video call meetings. Facial recognition will also reportedly play a key role in the ‘super sensing’ feature in order to identify people that the wearer saw during their day.

The political tumult in the United States appears to have influenced Meta’s purported embrace of facial recognition. “We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns,” Meta’s Reality Labs, which works on hardware including smart glasses, was quoted as saying by The New York Times in an internal document.

In a separate statement, Meta reportedly said, “We’re building products that help millions of people connect and enrich their lives. While we frequently hear about the interest in this type of feature — and some products already exist in the market — we’re still thinking through options and will take a thoughtful approach if and before we roll anything out.”