Meta wants its AI glasses to look less scary. Its AI strategy says otherwise.

Meta’s AI glasses have a growing reputation as Scary technology. The company hopes to change this opinion by announcing an update that will disable the camera if the LED that indicates that the glasses are recording is tampered with.

This move appears to be a concession to consumer Feelings Glasses are not just fun, fashionable accessories that Kylie Jenner happily promoted, but they have serious implications for consumer privacy: they can be misused as surveillance devices.

However, even as Meta is touting the new guarantee this week, the company is also promoting products and features that ask users to surrender more of their privacy to the company.

Be it that Train AI on your photos, Enable AI features with your personal content Unless you opt out, or explore ways to do so Record continuously Or use Biometric facial recognitionMeta’s vision of the future always seems to depend on collecting more of your personal data.

In it Blog post Regarding the new camera security feature, the company is congratulating itself, noting that “no other type of camera has done this, and we are proud to lead the industry forward.” However, Meta also admits that the move was necessary because some people were using tape to cover the LED light, which actually forced Meta to adapt its technology to disable recording when the LED light is obscured.

The Meta announcement states that it is determined that the same AI glasses creep will use “sophisticated efforts to modify or destroy the capture LED.”

In other words, Meta asserts that some people using AI glasses have hidden agendas – a desire to record situations or people (mostly slim) without their consent.

Despite this, the company is said to be testing a prototype of AI glasses that would “continuously collect audio while taking photos every few seconds,” sources said recently. Financial Times.

Meta’s blog post about the glasses feature attempts to allay people’s concerns about device privacy by answering questions like “Who can see the photos and videos I take with my glasses?” Meta answers by promising, “You, you, and you alone—unless you choose to share them.” However, dead privacy policy Make it clear that any photo you share with Meta AI It can be used to train its own artificial intelligence.

Meanwhile, the company faces many problems Investigations and Lawsuits Concerning Meta AI Glasses Privacy Violations. One lawsuit is yet to come Meta notably canceled a contract with an external technology company after some of its Kenyan workers alleged they were forced to watch graphic content, e.g. Sex, nudity and people using the toiletwhile training Meta’s AI using videos of people’s Meta AI glasses.

This isn’t Meta’s first brush with privacy breaches or safety measures, either.

Meta’s reputation for privacy was arguably tarnished for years afterward numerous Leaks And lost lawsuits on Its alleged lack of child safety measures and The desire to grow at any cost. there Whistleblower books Document his claims Violationsnot to mention previous large-scale privacy disasters, such as Cambridge Analytica data scandal and Others.

After the Cambridge Analytica scandal of 2018, Meta is now insisting on this Privacy progress update page, “Since 2019, we have invested significantly in people, products and technology to further advance our rigorous privacy program.”

However, the company is moving forward with what many people might consider privacy-invasive ideas. Case in point: On the same day I announced the new protection for Meta glasses, I shared this Meta AI can now use anyone’s public Instagram photos To create artificial intelligence images, Unless you unsubscribe.

It also has features built for Use Meta AI on photos in your camera roll that you haven’t shared before And implement it like this Poor privacy controls in its Meta AI app, essentially pushing users to do it themselves Detect embarrassing searches.

This is the same company that Apple will not cooperate over privacy concernswhich It records the keystrokes made by its employees to train its AIAnd that You plan to sell targeted ads based on the data in your AI conversations.

So, while LED protection on AI glasses may be a necessary feature, it’s clear that consumers still have many reasons not to trust how social media uses their images and data, especially in broader AI plans.