Meta filed for a patent that includes a "memory recall" system that appears to detect people via facial recognition and record them automatically, and show you a highlights real later.
Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses have garnered a reputation as "pervert" glasses, with many reports of them being used to record people surreptitiously using the onboard camera.
The glasses feature a light that's meant to indicate when video is being recorded, but people have been going to great lengths to disable it. Meta has released updates trying to disable the camera when the light doesn't work or is covered. They explain how it works in a press release:
EachpairofourAIglasseshasawhitelightcalledacaptureLEDthatblinksto signifywhencontentisbeingcapturedforyourgallery—coveringordisablingthis captureLEDautomaticallydisablesthecamera.
They even brag about it being superior to smartphones, which lack the same outward-facing indicator light, but smartphones aren't always out and constantly pointed at everyone you're looking at:
Whilemobilephonesandactioncamerasdon’thavethis ontheircameras,ourshavehadthemsincedayone.
Later, it came out that a future version of the glasses might record without the indicator light at all, essentially ruining the entire point of the light in the first place.
Combined with this latest news it seems even more creepy. The patent provides illustrations of how the potential feature is mean to work. It would scan and identify people performing actions, then automatically record them.
Source: US Patent and Trademark Office
One example Meta gives is using this feature during a dinner party. The AI says "I've generated some highlights of tonights' dinner party. Would you like to see them?"
Source: US Patent and Trademark Office
There's no example of a prompt asking if you want to record, it just does it when it thinks something important is happening.
It's important to note that this patent doesn't mean the feature will exist, but the fact that Meta is even considering it is concerning.
Meta earlier was caught earlier this year sending video clips of "bank details, sex and naked people" to workers to train, with almost no privacy protection in place.