Meta plans to add facial recognition to its smart glasses as early as this year, according to a new report in the New York Times. The feature, known internally as a “name tag,” allows the wearer of the smart glasses to identify a person and retrieve information about that person through Meta’s AI assistant.
Meta’s plans are subject to change, the report notes. The tech giant has been considering how to release features that pose “security and privacy risks” since early last year.
According to an internal memo, the company originally planned to show Name Tag to attendees at conferences for the visually impaired before making it available to the public, but ultimately decided not to do so.
Reportedly, Meta thought the political turmoil in the US was a good time to release this feature.
“We will be launched in a dynamic political environment where many civil society organizations expected to attack us will focus their resources on other concerns,” the document says.
Meta considered adding facial recognition technology to the first version of its Ray-Ban smart glasses in 2021, but scrapped the plan, citing technical challenges and ethical concerns. The NYT reported that the company revived the plan after the Trump administration grew closer to Big Tech and the unexpected success of its smart glasses.
