Meta’s Ray-Ban Smart Glasses Raise Privacy Concerns Over AI Training

Meta’s AI-powered Ray-Ban glasses feature a discreet camera on the front, designed to capture photos both intentionally and through AI-triggered actions, such as using specific keywords like “look.” These smart glasses collect a significant number of images—some deliberately captured, others passively taken. However, Meta has not made any promises about keeping these images private.

Meta’s Silence on AI Training With Ray-Ban Images

When asked whether Meta plans to train AI models using the images captured by Ray-Ban Meta users, similar to its practices with publicly available images on social media platforms, the company declined to provide a clear answer.

“We’re not publicly discussing that,” said Anuj Kumar, a senior director working on AI wearables at Meta, during a video interview with TechCrunch. Meta spokesperson Mimi Huggins added, “That’s not something we typically share externally.” When further pressed on the issue, Huggins reiterated, “We’re not saying either way.”

AI-Powered Features and Potential Privacy Implications

Concerns are heightened by Ray-Ban Meta’s new AI feature, which captures a significant number of passive photos. Recent reports indicate that Meta is set to introduce a real-time video feature for these smart glasses, enabling users to stream live images into a multimodal AI model triggered by specific keywords. This will allow the AI to provide real-time answers about a user’s surroundings in a seamless manner.

For example, when asking the glasses to help select an outfit, the glasses may capture dozens of images of the room and its contents, uploading them to a cloud-based AI model. What happens to those images after they are processed? Meta remains silent on this.

The Privacy Question: Who’s Watching?

One of the biggest issues with smart glasses like Ray-Ban Meta is the built-in camera, which people may not realize is constantly capturing images. This raises concerns, particularly in public spaces, reminiscent of the discomfort caused by Google Glass—Google's now-discontinued smart glasses. Despite these concerns, Meta has yet to reassure users that their photos and videos are private or confined solely to their face cameras.

Meta’s Expansive Data Usage Policy

Meta has already acknowledged that it trains its AI models on publicly available data from platforms like Instagram and Facebook. The company classifies all public posts on these platforms as fair game for AI training. However, the world seen through a pair of smart glasses doesn’t seem to fit the same definition of “publicly available.”

Although Meta has not confirmed whether it is using Ray-Ban Meta camera footage for AI training, its reluctance to provide a definitive answer leaves room for speculation.

A Stark Contrast to Other AI Providers

Other AI companies are clearer on their policies regarding user data. Anthropic, for instance, has stated it never trains on customer inputs or outputs from its AI models. OpenAI has made a similar commitment, ensuring that it doesn’t train its models using user data through its API.

The Ongoing Privacy Debate

The debate over Meta’s use of Ray-Ban Meta images for AI training comes shortly after the company admitted to using public Instagram and Facebook posts in its AI models since 2007. Despite this, Meta’s failure to adopt a stronger stance on privacy, especially in the wake of the backlash that Google Glass faced, is surprising. Many users still hope for a clear reassurance from Meta that images captured by the glasses will remain private and secure.