Meta is set to introduce facial recognition to its smart gases this year, marking a major step in integrating the technology into its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. This shift is expected to move forward despite facing intense privacy scrutiny.
The feature, internally dubbed “Name Tag”, would enable users to identify individuals and access information about them through Meta’s AI assistant. Those plans persist as the company has worked for years to address the significant safety and privacy implications.
The company has been closely monitoring the current political climate in order to strategically launch the feature.
The memo reads: “We will launch during a dynamic political environment where some society groups that would attack us would have their resources on other concerns.”
According to the New York Times, the company has revisited its plans in light of growing ties between the Trump administration and BigTech. The glasses will be only able to identify people who have expressly consented to being recognizable in Meta’s privacy settings.
Conversely, if a person has not opted in, the AI will simply analyze them to delete their biometric data instantly.
Additionally, Google is also considering testing similar visual search capabilities for its next-generation prototypes.