Meta has updated its privacy policy for Ray-Ban Meta glasses, granting the company more power over user data and sparking concerns over the implications for artificial intelligence training and user privacy. According to a report by The Verge, the tech giant has informed Ray-Ban Meta owners that AI features will now be enabled by default, allowing Meta's AI to analyze photos and videos taken with the glasses while certain AI features are switched on.

The updated policy also reveals that Meta will store customers' voice recordings to improve its products, without providing an option to opt out. This move has drawn comparisons to Amazon's recent policy change affecting Echo users, which also removed the option to process voice data locally. The stored voice transcripts and recordings can be kept for up to one year, according to Meta's privacy notice on voice services for wearables.

While the Ray-Ban Meta glasses do not constantly record and store everything around the wearer, the device does store speech that the user says after the "Hey Meta" wake word. This has raised concerns over user privacy, as users may not be aware that their voice recordings are being stored and used to train Meta's AI models. To avoid this, users will have to manually delete each recording from the Ray-Ban Meta companion app.

The driving force behind this policy change is Meta's desire to hoard voice recordings, which are valuable training data for its generative AI products. With a wider range of audio recordings, Meta's AI can potentially improve its ability to process different accents, dialects, and patterns of speech. However, this comes at the expense of user privacy, as users may unknowingly contribute to Meta's AI training data.

For instance, if a user takes a photo of a loved one using their Ray-Ban Meta glasses, that person's face may end up in Meta's training data. The AI models behind these products require vast amounts of content, and it benefits companies like Meta to train their AI on the data that their users are already producing. This raises questions over the boundaries of user consent and the responsibility of tech companies to protect user privacy.

Meta's hoarding of user data is not a new phenomenon. The company already trains its Llama AI models on public posts that American users share on Facebook and Instagram. This updated policy for Ray-Ban Meta glasses is just the latest example of Meta's aggressive pursuit of user data to fuel its AI ambitions.

As the tech industry continues to grapple with the implications of AI development, this policy change serves as a reminder of the importance of transparency and accountability in the handling of user data. With the increasing reliance on AI-powered products, it is crucial for companies like Meta to prioritize user privacy and ensure that their pursuit of innovation does not come at the expense of user trust.