Meta Mulls ‘Name Tag’ for Smart Specs

Consumer technology company Meta is planning to integrate facial recognition technology into its smart glasses, according to a report by The New York Times. The report says the controversial feature could be introduced on a trial basis later this year. News of the development was also covered by Engadget.

Internally referred to as “Name Tag,” the feature would allow users to identify individuals in front of them through the smart glasses and, with the assistance of artificial intelligence, access information about those individuals. The technology is being considered for inclusion in smart glasses developed by Meta in collaboration with Oakley and Ray-Ban.

Meta had previously taken a cautious approach to facial recognition initiatives due to privacy and ethical concerns surrounding the technology. According to internal documents cited in the report, the company believes that amid the current political turbulence in the United States, civil society organizations may be focused elsewhere, creating an opportunity to move the initiative forward.

As competition intensifies in the smart glasses market, Meta sees the feature as a potential competitive advantage over rival products — including possible future devices from companies such as OpenAI.

The report notes that the technology may be designed to identify individuals already connected to the user or display information drawn from publicly available social media profiles. However, there are reportedly no plans to offer universal identification capabilities for all individuals, particularly those with whom the user has no prior connection.

It is worth noting that in 2021, following widespread criticism over privacy concerns, Meta shut down the facial recognition system used for photo tagging on Facebook. The company later reintroduced the technology on a limited basis to detect fraudulent advertisements.

DBTech/BMT/OR