GoKawiilTL;DR Meta has reportedly embedded unreleased face-recognition code for its smart glasses inside the Meta AI app.
The feature, internally called NameTag, does not appear to be enabled yet.
Meta says it is still only exploring the technology, but the new report says core components were added as early as January.
Ray-Ban Meta glasses are already facing fresh privacy questions after a report highlighted how modders are physically disabling the recording LED for covert filming. That’s unsettling enough, but hidden recording may not be the only concern around Meta’s smart glasses. According to a new investigation, Meta has already embedded code for an unreleased face-recognition system for its smart glasses inside the Meta AI app.
What do you think of smart glasses having facial recognition? 63 votes I'm cool with it, and it could be useful. 16 % If it only recognizes people known to the wearer, I guess it's ok. 13 % Oh hell no! 68 % I'm not sure yet. 3 %
WIRED says it reviewed code in Meta’s live companion app and found references to a feature internally called NameTag, which appears designed to identify people seen by the glasses’ camera. The Meta AI app is used with the company’s Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses, and the app has been downloaded more than 50 million times.
The feature doesn’t appear to be enabled for consumers yet. However, WIRED reports that core components of the system were added to the app as early as January, including three AI models that now sit on users’ phones. One model detects faces, another crops them, and a third turns them into biometric data that can be checked against faceprints stored on the phone. If activated, the system would apparently alert the wearer when it recognizes someone. A May version of the app also appears to rebrand the feature as “Connections,” with user-facing text inviting people to “remember the people you met.”
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Meta pushed back on the framing of the report. Company spokesperson Ryan Daniels told the publication that the findings are “merely evidence” that Meta is exploring these types of features, adding that “nothing has shipped to consumers and no final decision has been made.” Meta also said that if it does roll anything out, it will do so with full transparency, and that it is “not building a central face database.”
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