Meta plans to add facial recognition to its smart glasses, a report says

Meta plans to add facial recognition to its smart glasses later this year, according to a new report from The New York Times. This feature, internally known as the “Name Tag,” will allow wearers of the smart glasses to recognize people and learn more about them through Meta’s AI Assistant.

Meta’s goals may change, the report says. The tech giant has been in discussions since early last year about how to release a product that has “security and privacy risks.”

According to an internal memo, the company planned to release the Name Tag to attendees of the conference for the blind before releasing it to the public, but was unable to do so.

Meta says he saw the political turmoil in the United States as the perfect time to release the feature.

“We will usher in an era of power politics where many of the groups that we might expect to attack us will have their wealth invested in other things,” the document read.

Meta considered adding facial recognition technology to the first version of its Ray-Ban smart glasses back in 2021, but abandoned those plans due to technical and ethical concerns. The NYT reported that the company has revived its plans as the Trump administration grows closer to Big Tech, following the unexpected success of its smart glasses.