Meta has revised the privacy policy for its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, enabling broader data collection capabilities that feed into its artificial intelligence systems — particularly through images and voice interactions.
In an email sent to Ray-Ban Meta users on April 29, Meta outlined that AI features will now be switched on by default, including the “Meta AI with camera” function. This means that while using features like the “Hey Meta” voice command, the glasses will process photos and videos in conjunction with Meta’s AI tools.
However, a company spokesperson tells The Verge that this visual content remains local to the user’s phone and is not automatically used for AI training unless it is actively shared with Meta AI, a cloud service, or a third-party product.
Even with that assurance, the changes signify an important shift. While the glasses aren’t always recording, any user interaction triggered by “Hey Meta” is eligible for analysis. Meta will now store these voice recordings by default — with no option to opt out. According to the company’s privacy policy, these audio recordings can be stored for up to a year to improve Meta’s products. Users must delete individual clips manually through the companion app if they do not wish to contribute to AI training.
“The option to disable voice recordings storage is no longer available,” the company says in a message to users, echoing a recent shift by Amazon, which now processes Echo voice commands exclusively in the cloud.
The Verge notes that these changes are designed so that Meta can compete in the generative AI space by leveraging user-generated content to refine its models. Voice data, in particular, is valuable for training AI to understand diverse speech patterns, accents, and dialects. And while Meta emphasizes that only user-shared photos or videos are fed into AI systems, critics point to the broader concern: that people in those images — family members, strangers, bystanders — may become inadvertent contributors to massive AI datasets.
These updates follow the introduction of a live translation feature in Ray-Ban Meta glasses and the recent launch of a standalone Meta AI mobile app, which positions the company more directly alongside competitors like ChatGPT and Google Gemini. Looking ahead, Meta is reportedly preparing to release a higher-end version of the smart glasses in 2025, expected to retail near $1,000.
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