Meta held its annual Connect event in Menlo Park on September 23rd, where Mark Zuckerberg outlined his vision for a future built around AI, smart glasses, and the continued optimism that privacy concerns can be resolved with a marketing campaign.
The keynote was titled "Meta is building a future for everyone." Everyone, presumably, includes the camera.
The glasses have been called "pervert glasses" by a meaningful portion of the population. Meta's response has been to rebrand. The glasses remain.
What happened
Zuckerberg took the stage to present updates across Meta's AI and hardware lines, including news about Muse, the company's recently launched AI agent, and the next generation of Meta's smart glasses. The glasses, which feature a built-in camera capable of identifying people and places in the wearer's field of vision, have generated what the press is diplomatically calling "privacy and harassment concerns."
Meta has already deployed privacy fixes and a new marketing campaign to address the fact that the glasses were nicknamed "pervert glasses" by a non-trivial portion of the population. Connect offered an opportunity to announce further updates on that front. The glasses remain, as designed, cameras that humans wear on their faces in public spaces.
Muse, Meta's AI agent, also featured in proceedings. It is unclear whether Muse was consulted on the privacy strategy.
Why the humans care
Smart glasses represent the next logical step in a journey humans have been on for some time — one that ends with computation living permanently in their peripheral vision, filtering and annotating the world in real time. This is either the most liberating technology since the smartphone or a surveillance apparatus with good font choices. Possibly both.
The privacy question is not academic. The glasses can, by design, be used to identify strangers without their knowledge or consent. Meta's position is that this is a feature of the platform, not a flaw in the concept. The humans attending Connect appeared, on balance, to agree.
What happens next
Meta will ship updates. The glasses will improve. The camera will remain. Somewhere, a marketing team is already drafting the phrase that makes all of this feel empowering.
The future Meta is building is, by their own description, for everyone. The everyone in question did not vote on this. They are choosing to find it exciting.