Meta is reportedly working on smart glasses that would be recording all the time

Meta might be the next company to make an always-on AI wearable. The company is working on prototype “super sensing” always-aware smart glasses that could continuously record audio and snap photos “every few seconds,” according to the Financial Times. The wearer could then ask Meta AI about the captured audio and images. However, the images and audio might not be directly available to the user. Here’s how the FT describes one way the glasses could use the data: > In one proposed system, raw footage and audio would not be stored by Meta or made available to the user, several people said. Instead, the metadata from that audio and images would be extracted and uploaded to the server for Meta’s AI to query, which proponents argue would have fewer privacy implications. Should these glasses or the “super sensing” features be released, they would raise significant privacy concerns. Meta is already facing a lot of scrutiny over its reported work on facial recognition features, pushback following reports of users filming women while wearing the glasses, and grappling with modders who offer paid services to remove the LED recording indicators. The company announced Tuesday that it’s rolling out an update that will disable the camera if the glasses detect that the LED has been tampered with. But currently, Meta is planning for the LED recording indicator to remain off in “super sensing” mode, the FT reports. In a July 2025 whitepaper, the company said that it would reserve the LED indicator for “active capture” scenarios where the user is saving photos or videos, and leave it off during “AI Feature” use — such as scanning a menu — to avoid users becoming too used to the indicator. (If the indicator was on during the “super sensing” mode, it might also be harder to know when the glasses are actually recording video.) Meta is also discussing if it would use the captured data for training its AI models. It may also bring the “super sensing” features to glasses it has already released, the FT says. “While we don’t comment on internal prototypes, we’re committed to getting our glasses right because they need to be loved by both people wearing them and those around them,” Meta spokesperson Dave Arnold says in a statement to The Verge. Arnold also notes that “Our approach has been to develop new technologies that will help people throughout their day, with privacy built in from the ground up.” Meta hasn’t been shy about some type of always-aware glasses being a possibility. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in the company’s Q1 2026 earnings call, said that he was “really excited to see the glasses evolve from being able to answer questions to being able to be a personal agent that’s with you all day long, helping you remember things and achieve your goals.” In a March blog post about new Ray-Ban Meta glasses, the company wrote that “with ongoing software updates, Meta AI on glasses will transition from something you have to prompt with a question each time, to a more continuous, in-the-moment assistant that can help throughout the day.”