Meta updates AI glasses to disable camera if recording LED is blocked

Meta announced this week that its AI glasses will disable their camera if the LED light indicating an active recording has been tampered with, addressing concerns that the devices can be used for non-consensual surveillance. The company acknowledged that some users had already been covering the light with tape — which prompted an earlier fix disabling recording when the LED is blocked — and that others have taken more sophisticated steps to modify or destroy the recording light. Touting the update, Meta said “no other kind of camera has done this and we’re proud to lead the industry effort.”

Yet the safeguard sits alongside practices that cut the other way. Meta maintains that only the wearer can see photos and videos captured on the glasses unless they choose to share them, but its privacy policy allows any image shared with Meta AI to be used to train the AI. Meta is also reportedly testing a prototype of AI glasses that would continuously collect audio while taking photos every few seconds, according to the Financial Times, a global business publication.

The company is currently facing multiple investigations and lawsuits over Meta AI glasses privacy violations. One such lawsuit followed Meta’s decision to cancel a contract with an outsourced tech firm after Kenyan workers alleged they had to view graphic content, like sex, nudity, and people using the toilet, while training Meta’s AI using people’s Meta AI glasses’ videos.

These episodes extend a pattern that predates the glasses. Meta’s reputation on privacy has long carried the weight of an alleged lack of child safety measures and desire for growth at all costs, plus the 2018 Cambridge Analytica data scandal. Since 2019, Meta has said it has invested significantly in people, products, and technology to evolve its privacy program — but its recent moves complicate that narrative: Meta AI can use public Instagram photos to generate AI images unless users opt out, it records employees’ keystrokes to train its AI, and it plans to sell targeted ads based on data drawn from AI chats. Apple, meanwhile, refused to partner with Meta over privacy concerns.

Why it matters

Meta’s hardware fix addresses one narrow way its AI glasses could be abused for surveillance, but it does little to resolve the broader tension: the company’s AI strategy depends on collecting more of users’ personal data, even as it works to convince the public its devices aren’t creepy.