Meta has added code for a yet-to-be-released facial-recognition system to the companion app for its smart glasses. The scoop comes from Wired, which examined the Meta AI app used with devices such as Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley smart glasses. Meta says the feature has not been made available to consumers and that no final decision has been made on a possible launch.
According to Wired, the internal system is called NameTag. The code reviewed by the publication points to a feature that could recognize people through the cameras in Meta’s smart glasses. The software would be able to detect faces, crop them and convert them into biometric data, after which the wearer of the glasses could receive a notification when someone is recognized. The feature is not active in the current consumer version of the app.
The issue touches on a sensitive point in the development of smart glasses and embodied AI. The combination of cameras, AI models and wearable hardware makes recognition in the physical world increasingly easy from a technical perspective. Where facial recognition was previously associated mainly with fixed cameras or smartphone apps, the same technology can be used far less visibly through glasses in public spaces.
Wired reports that the Meta AI app has been downloaded tens of millions of times. This means the code is already present on a large number of phones, even though the feature is not enabled. Meta told outlets including Engadget that no facial-recognition feature has been shipped to consumers and that the company is not building a central database of faces. According to the company, the technology is being explored, but no final product decision has been made.
For Meta, the topic is particularly sensitive. The company stopped using facial recognition on Facebook in 2021 and said at the time that it would delete facial templates of more than one billion users. Meta has also faced legal cases and settlements in the United States over the handling of biometric data.
