In a world where people already often step the boundary when it comes to privacy and security, a new report now reveals that Meta is planning on adding facial recognition technology to its AI-powered smart glasses.
The report elaborates on the different wearables that the company is looking to deliver, including a future version of its smart glasses featuring AI technology and facial recognition.
However, over the years, it has been apparent that the use of facial recognition amongst the public is a massive privacy and security issue, and historically, companies that offer this face significant scrutiny.
Meta Wants to Add Facial Recognition to AI Glasses
The Information shared a report detailing Meta’s latest plans to integrate facial recognition technology into its future development of an AI-powered smart glasses that features cameras. It was revealed that Meta’s reported goal is to have the smart glasses scan the public and identify the faces of people they come across daily with the help of AI.
This facial recognition feature will reportedly be built from its technology present in its latest smart glasses known as “Live AI,” which is capable of scanning objects, items, places, and more before identifying them for the user.
Meta previously considered adding this technology in its first smart glasses development but did not push through with it for unknown reasons.
That being said, the company is now reportedly discussing the possibility of this feature appearing in future AI smart glasses, possibly coming by 2026.
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Will Meta’s Facial Recognition Tech be an Issue?
Meta is no longer new to facing scrutiny when it comes to privacy and security, particularly on its social media platforms. In fact, the company also faced different lawsuits involving facial recognition or profiling on said platforms for allegedly collecting personal information without consent.
Should Meta bring this facial recognition technology to smart glasses, there would be massive privacy issues that the company may face again.
Facial Recognition Technology’s Scrutiny
There have been many companies that attempted to bring facial recognition or other types of identification technology, but so far, none of them have thrived as many raise concerns and issues against it.
Meta’s previous efforts alone faced legal scrutiny from concerned parties, with Texas suing Mark Zuckerberg’s company for illegally saving millions of user data via facial recognition technology.
There is also the infamous ClearView AI, a company that wanted to create a massive global database of humans that begins with collecting photos of people using its facial recognition technology. Many countries and governments have opposed ClearView’s attempts to collect biometric data from their citizens, particularly as there is no consent obtained by the AI facial recognition firm.
While some organizations or countries have their facial recognition technology for their citizen identification or as a deterrent for criminal activity, it is still in a gray area and is not yet widely accepted or permitted. This alone has impeded the wide use of facial recognition amongst the public, as there is no consent to getting profiled for this.
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