Meta very clearly dodged the question of whether its camera smart glasses use user-generated images to train its artificial intelligence models

Anuj Kumar, a senior director at Meta, was asked point-blank during an interview with TechCrunch if the photos taken with the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses are helping train the company's AI

“We don't discuss that publicly,” Kumar told the publication Meta spokesperson Mimi Huggins added: “It's not something we typically share with the outside world”

This comes just a week after Meta announced a major AI-related update to its smart glasses at Connect 2024 During the event, Mark Zuckerberg claimed that the glasses will soon be capable of multimodal video and give “real-time advice” based on what they see through the onboard camera An on-stage example showed a person getting ready for a party, with the AI helping them choose the right items for their outfit

Of course, by capturing all this extra video, the company would have access to a huge amount of images, which could be potential training data

A Meta spokesperson may not have given a clear answer during the interview, but the company's terms of service seem a bit more straightforward Under the subheading titled “Permissions You Grant Us,” users agree that any content they create, share, post, or upload on or in connection with Meta products grants the company permission to: “Meta Company products, or services that support those products or services and permission to store, copy, and share it with others, including providers (again, consistent with your privacy settings)”

Meanwhile, Meta's AI Terms of Service also states the following regarding image processing:

Some locations have the option to share images with AI When shared, you agree that Meta may use AI to analyze those images, including facial features This process can provide innovative new features such as the ability to summarize image content, modify images, and generate new content based on images Furthermore, users agree not to upload images to Meta AI that are known to depict individuals who reside in Illinois or Texas

This clearly indicates that the images you agree to share can be used by the company for product development You have also given implied consent, as you must agree to the Terms of Use in order to use the glasses in the first place

Practically speaking, anyone participating in Internet-connected image sharing should act on the principle that the images are unlikely to be private Each user should weigh the value he or she derives from the product against the privacy he or she must sacrifice in order to use it

And in the case of Ray-Ban's Meta smart glasses, there is no doubt that Meta offers an attractive product In fact, my colleague Jason England claims it is his favorite gadget of the year