{"text":[[{"start":8.35,"text":"Meta is testing a prototype of “super sensing” AI glasses that would use cameras and audio recordings to capture a wearer’s every moment, as it pushes into the contentious market for all-seeing, all-hearing devices."}],[{"start":21.75,"text":"The $1.5tn social media platform has been advancing a new hardware line of smart glasses that would continuously collect audio while taking photos every few seconds, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. A user could then use AI to help query what they saw or heard, or recall their day."}],[{"start":39.95,"text":"The glasses have prompted internal debates over how to handle novel privacy challenges, including non-wearers finding the technology invasive."}],[{"start":48.6,"text":"With Meta’s current AI smart glasses, an LED in the corner of the frame lights up to signal to others when a wearer is taking photographs or filming."}],[{"start":57.8,"text":"However, executives are planning not to activate the LED when the super-sensing features are being used, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. That would make it harder for bystanders to know when they were being recorded, potentially intensifying the privacy concerns surrounding the technology. Those plans could still change, however, several people said."}],[{"start":78.5,"text":"The super-sensing features could also be activated on Meta’s existing glasses via a software update, the people said."}],[{"start":85.7,"text":"The move comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has argued that AI glasses could one day replace the smartphone as the main device people use to access AI tools including translation or chatbots."}],[{"start":97.35000000000001,"text":"In one proposed system, raw footage and audio would not be stored by Meta or made available to the user, several people said. Instead, the metadata from that audio and images would be extracted and uploaded to the server for Meta’s AI to query, which proponents argue would have fewer privacy implications. "}],[{"start":115.25,"text":"The company is also discussing whether data collected through the glasses and their features could be used to train its own AI models, as it pours billions into rivalling competition such as OpenAI, Google and Anthropic in the AI race."}],[{"start":131.45,"text":"Meta declined to comment on “internal prototypes” but said its approach focused on “privacy built in from the ground up”. It also pointed to a recent AI wearables research project, Aria, which it said “uses privacy-protective technologies to help people without capturing photos and videos the way traditional cameras work”, including features that automatically convert speech into readable text."}],[{"start":154.6,"text":"The Information has previously reported some details about the super-sensing glasses project."}],[{"start":159.65,"text":"Zuckerberg hinted at the technology during Meta’s first-quarter earnings, saying he wanted glasses to evolve from “being able to answer questions to being able to be a personal agent that’s with you all day long, helping you remember things and achieve your goals”."}],[{"start":174.8,"text":"Meta is also exploring other kinds of always-on devices beyond glasses. In December, it bought Limitless, a maker of AI-powered pendants, which can record and transcribe conversations in real time and allow users to search that information via the company’s app."}],[{"start":191.65,"text":"Meta has curbed its costly push to build an avatar-filled “metaverse” that needs headsets to access, after the concept failed to gain consumer traction."}],[{"start":201.55,"text":"Instead, it has shifted its virtual and augmented reality strategy towards AI glasses following the success of its Meta Ray-Bans, smart glasses with inbuilt speakers and cameras, sold in partnership with eyewear group EssilorLuxottica. Last month, Meta launched an even cheaper version of those glasses, including one product with frames designed by influencer Kylie Jenner."}],[{"start":224.95000000000002,"text":"A more advanced version of the Ray-Ban glasses, released last year, includes a display that can overlay text messages or video calls on to one of the lenses."}],[{"start":234.25000000000003,"text":"With the super-sensing glasses, Meta is likely to face novel legal and regulatory challenges as well as fierce resistance from privacy-conscious consumers."}],[{"start":243.30000000000004,"text":"Privacy experts argue that always-on devices could violate data privacy or biometric data laws, for example. It is also unclear whether the company or the wearer will be responsible for any breach of wiretapping laws, as it remains illegal in multiple US states to record audio of a third party without their consent."}],[{"start":262.80000000000007,"text":"Some are calling for fresh regulation to tackle the nascent space. “There’s no one law that addresses all the different dangerous ways these tools have been designed and built,” said Woodrow Hartzog, professor of law at the Boston University School of Law. “Lawmakers have to take this seriously and update to accommodate this reality of always-on, always-seeing devices.”"}],[{"start":285.8500000000001,"text":"Meta’s current range of Ray-Ban smart glasses already do not light up when a wearer is using AI to ask questions about the world around them. In a 2025 policy paper, Meta said: “If the LED blinked for extended periods at a time (like whenever there was an AI interaction), people could stop noticing it — reducing the awareness of when photos or videos are being captured by users to have for later.” "}],[{"start":309.55000000000007,"text":"However it added that when glasses were used for AI features, it would “take steps to protect people’s privacy, like removing key identifiable information”."}],[{"start":317.9000000000001,"text":"Meta has faced privacy snafus related to the existing Ray-Ban glasses. In February, contractors in Kenya told the press that they had to view graphic material captured by the glasses, such as users having sex or going to the toilet. Last month, Wired magazine also uncovered code for a facial recognition system that was embedded in Meta’s smart glasses platform but unreleased. The company later removed the system."}],[{"start":351.1000000000001,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1783500589_1506.mp3"}