Some Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses recorded conversations without the wearer saying “Hey, Meta.” Users reported finding audio and transcripts they had not meant to capture. Meta says it has fixed the bug.
One Reddit user, Kindly-Audience-137, said the problem occurred across three pairs of Meta Ray-Bans despite the “Respond without Hey Meta” setting being turned off. The user said the Meta AI app saved the recordings and transcripts in their conversation history.
“Customers should not have to wonder whether their private conversations are being captured when they have not intentionally activated their glasses’ AI assistant,” the user wrote. Android Authority reported the online discussions on Tuesday and published Meta’s response later that day.
“This issue has been resolved. People can manage, review, and delete voice logs of their interactions with Meta AI via settings at any time,” Meta said.
Read nextMeta details Private Processing for AI glassesMeta has not explained the cause or scope
Meta has not said what caused the recordings or how many devices were affected. Kindly-Audience-137 said they first noticed the behavior after a recent firmware update, but Meta has not confirmed a link. Android Authority said it could not reproduce the problem before Meta announced the fix.
The reports add to existing concerns about cameras and microphones built into glasses that can be hard for other people to notice. Meta has pointed to an indicator light that activates during recording. This bug shows that the light does not prevent an unintended recording.
Earlier reports raised privacy concerns
Meta has continued to develop devices with cameras and microphones for homes and for wear. Separately, contractors for Sama, a data annotation company headquartered in Kenya, said they had viewed Ray-Ban Meta footage apparently captured without the wearer or others knowing. Swedish journalists interviewed more than 30 Sama workers earlier this year. Their report described, in machine translation, a “stream of privacy-sensitive data that is fed straight into the tech giant’s systems,” including footage of a wearer’s partner leaving a bathroom naked.
“People can record themselves in the wrong way and not even know what they are recording,” the report quoted an anonymous Sama worker as saying. In the US, that report led to a lawsuit seeking class action certification and an investigation by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
In August, Meta updated its glasses to stop recording when the indicator light is covered. Concerns about covert recording in public have also prompted apps designed to detect smart glasses and proposed legislation. Norway is considering a temporary ban.
Ars Technica has asked Meta how many devices were affected and what it is doing to prevent similar bugs. It said it will update its report if Meta responds.
