Update 5/1: A spokesperson for Meta tells Laptop Mag that only voice prompts that use Meta AI will be collected and used in training. That means "Hey Meta, take a picture" will not trigger the collection process, but "Hey Meta, what kind of car is this?" will.
Meta rolled out a critical change to its privacy policy that makes the best smart glasses a little less desirable.
On April 29, Meta implemented a drastic change to its privacy policy for Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses by removing the option to disable storage of your voice command data in the cloud.
This means you now have no choice but to allow Meta to store and analyze your voice command recordings if you choose to use Meta AI with your Ray-Ban smart glasses.
Unfortunately, the move is sacrificing user privacy to get more data for training its AI, which begs the question: Is a smarter AI assistant worth compromising your data privacy?
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Meta makes a major (creepy) change to its smartglasses privacy policy
In a notice effective as of April 29, Meta stated, "We will store voice recordings even if you unintentionally activate a voice interaction. If our systems detect that you didn’t intend to activate a voice interaction, we will label these voice interactions as 'false wakes' or misactivations, and delete them within 90 days of detection. Voice transcripts and stored audio recordings are otherwise stored for up to one year to help improve Meta’s products."
When Meta says your data is being used to "help improve Meta's products," it's most likely referring to its AI platform, which requires massive amounts of data to analyze and learn from.
Meta noted that you can still delete your voice recording data at any time, which will prevent Meta from using that data to train its AI.
However, it's frustrating that Meta is forcing users to manually do this. If you use your Meta smart glasses frequently and don't want your voice data stored, you now have to remember to manually delete your data on a regular basis.
In addition to storing your voice data, Meta may also be storing some of the pictures and videos you take using your Ray-Ban smartglasses. If you use Meta AI to analyze something you're looking at, that image data will be stored to help train the AI.
Luckily, in this case that only applies to image content shared with certain services, like Meta AI. It doesn't apply if you're just taking a regular photo or video.
As Meta clarified in a comment to Laptop Mag, "The photos and videos captured on Ray-Ban Meta are on your phone's camera roll and not used by Meta for training, including photos or videos captured by using the 'Hey Meta, take a photo/video' voice command. If you share those photos to a product — for example, Meta AI, cloud services or a third-party product — then the [data privacy] policies of that product will apply."
So, you can still use your Ray-Ban smart glasses to take regular photos and videos privately, but be aware that whenever you use Meta AI to analyze visual content, that content will likely end up stored in the cloud, where it could be used to train Meta's AI.
Are smart glasses worth sacrificing your data privacy? Probably not.
These privacy updates come as rumors begin heating up about the next generation of Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses, which are expected to arrive by the end of the year. Meta has been putting increasing emphasis on smart glasses and AR glasses recently, but as impressive as some of the demos have been, privacy updates like this should give you pause before slipping on a pair of Meta's glasses.
Any time you consent to allow a company to store voice recording data, you run the risk of your data being misused or sensitive data getting mistakenly picked up.
For instance, imagine you order a pizza while wearing your Meta Ray-Ban glasses, and Meta's AI accidentally records your credit card info? Or say you answer a phone call from your doctor while wearing the glasses, and Meta AI wakes up on accident?
There are countless situations where voice recording (with no real opt-out option) can pose a serious risk to your privacy and your data. As impressive as smart glasses can be, you might want to think twice about them after these policy updates.
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