Meta brings AI glasses with cameras to Germany despite data protection concerns

Menlo Park. The Facebook group Meta is bringing its AI glasses with a camera and small display to Germany in the midst of an ongoing data protection debate. The device will be available in several European countries almost a year after its US launch from October 13th at a price of 899 euros, as the company announced at its Meta Connect developer conference.

Meta also offers various AI glasses with a camera without a display and also presented a new model without a camera at Connect. The cameras in the glasses are not only there to take photos and videos, but are also intended to tell Meta's artificial intelligence (AI) what the users are currently seeing so that it can adapt its answers accordingly.

A bright light indicates when the camera is active. At the same time, there has recently been controversy surrounding the devices. Some users tried to cover or remove the light, while others used it to record harassment and post it online. There are also calls in Europe to ban camera glasses.

Meta is taking action against abuse, said the responsible top manager Alex Himel of the German Press Agency on the sidelines of the Meta Connect developer fair. “We take this very seriously.” All glasses in which the display light had been manipulated were switched off. And it was less than 0.1 percent of the devices.

Meta also scans platforms like Instagram and Facebook to find videos of harassment - “and then we not only delete the content, but also block the accounts.” Finally, Meta is trying to make it more widely known that the light indicates that the camera is running. “We want people to know that.” From Meta's perspective, the display is also more visible than other types of devices that can be used to capture images.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg also announced at Connect that some of users' interactions with their glasses would be processed with complete encryption, so that Meta would also have no access to the data.

Meta worked on the glasses version without a camera for two years, said Himel. It is intended for situations in which audio is sufficient. Externally, the models can hardly be distinguished from conventional glasses and the battery can last practically all day.

There were reports in the winter that Meta was considering adding facial recognition functions to the glasses. The software code that indicated this then disappeared again in the summer. Himel emphasized that Meta has “absolutely no interest” in building a database that could be used to identify strangers or even allowing the use of such a function on the devices.

But there could also be differentiated scenarios such as help for the visually impaired or situations in which the AI ​​could help users remember the names of acquaintances or colleagues. “But if we were to develop something like that, we would have to do it carefully and responsibly,” said Himel. However, Meta is currently not spending “a lot of time or energy” on such ideas, he emphasized.