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Meta's smart glasses listen continuously for the "Hey Meta" wake phrase when voice activation is on, and in the US users can no longer stop Meta from storing recordings of their AI voice interactions in the cloud. Users can manually delete these recordings or turn off "Hey Meta" entirely via the Meta AI app's preferences, though the touchpad still activates the assistant and microphones still work for calls and video.
Meta continues to pour significant capital into artificial intelligence development and infrastructure, according to a roundup of recent tech coverage. The same coverage also touches on a budget EV's road trip performance, Demis Hassabis's AI ambitions, and a review of an iPhone accessory.
Meta has released the Ray-Ban Meta Audio, a version of its smart glasses that strips out the camera found in earlier models. The glasses retain features like voice-activated AI assistance and turn-by-turn navigation through 'Hey Meta' voice commands, delivered via built-in speakers.
Meta is delaying enforcement of new business terms, originally set for October 30th, after publishers warned the language could let the company scrape news content for AI training. A Meta spokesperson told The Verge the terms will now take effect November 20th to give the company time to clarify what is and isn't changing for partners.
Meta edited the business terms for its platform, removing explicit language saying it could 'train' AI models on content from linked news websites, after publishers objected. The revised terms, effective October 30th, still permit Meta to use scraped content to 'develop' business products, a term attorneys say is undefined and broad.
Meta is reportedly pursuing creative financing arrangements to support its large-scale AI investments, according to a roundup also noting that a Starlink slowdown impaired Ukraine's defense against Russian attacks, and that U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff called Vladimir Putin a 'humanitarian.'
Meta announced in its third-quarter earnings report that it will create a new class of non-voting shares, with trading set to begin in 2027. The company said proceeds would support AI infrastructure investment, potential acquisitions, and employee compensation. Meta also raised its 2025 capital expenditure forecast to between $135 billion and $145 billion.
A federal magistrate judge has ordered Meta to disclose which executives and managers authorized the torrenting of books from shadow libraries like Anna's Archive and LibGen for AI training data. The ruling, reported by TorrentFreak, affects a class action from authors including Sarah Silverman and Richard Kadrey, as well as a separate suit from Entrepreneur Media. Meta had argued the downloading occurred through an informal process with no clear decision-maker, a characterization the court rejected.
A tech newsletter digest compiles several items: a report on espionage concerns in Silicon Valley's AI industry, comments from Michael Dell on surviving a potential AI bust, news of Apple's new HomeView tablet, and details on Meta's latest move into advanced AI development.
Meta had updated its commercial terms of use to state it could use content from a business account's domains and URLs to develop, train and maintain its products. Legal experts cited by Nieman Lab warned this broad wording could let Meta scrape publisher websites for AI training, prompting the company to remove the provision after The Verge reported on the controversy.
Meta has removed language from its commercial terms that critics said could allow it to scrape content from websites, including news sites, to train its AI. The clause had stated Meta could use content from domains and URLs to develop and improve its products. Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts said the terms were clarified to show they only applied to ads and business products, and that the change does not alter how Meta's web crawlers operate.
Meta is rolling out new commercial terms of service, effective October 30, that give the company broad rights to collect content from websites linked to business accounts, including for use in training AI systems. The terms don't explicitly mention AI but reference automated crawling and a single use of the word 'train,' and offer no direct opt-out for businesses that accept them. Meta says it has no current plans to override robots.txt protections that let publishers block its crawlers.