I Am the Great Glassholio!
Remember what a stir Google Glass caused a decade-plus ago when it launched far too early into the world and gave us the "Glasshole"? Also remember the stir Meta causes when it does... well basically anything? Well, here's a new report from Kashmir Hill, Kalley Huang, and Mike Isaac for The New York Times:
Five years ago, Facebook shut down the facial recognition system for tagging people in photos on its social network, saying it wanted to find “the right balance” for a technology that raises privacy and legal concerns.
Now it wants to bring facial recognition back.
Meta, Facebook’s parent company, plans to add the feature to its smart glasses, which it makes with the owner of Ray-Ban and Oakley, as soon as this year, according to four people involved with the plans who were not authorized to speak publicly about confidential discussions. The feature, internally called “Name Tag,” would let wearers of smart glasses identify people and get information about them via Meta’s artificial intelligence assistant.
Look, technology aside, maybe – just maybe – read the room here Meta? People generally seem to at best distrust AI and at worst, dislike AI. Certainly in your core market at the moment. We can debate if this is warranted and how much of it has to do with messaging but... it is what it is right now. And right now, you've managed to get around this issue with the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. I think that's largely been the case because these glasses are not, um, framed around AI, but rather just as decidedly regular-looking glasses (thanks, EssilorLuxottica) meshed by seemingly straightforward, fun technology. You know what will change that perception fast? Turning on facial recognition capabilities. You know how I know that? Because third-parties have already done the helpful field work for you here ahead of time. If and when you enable this, it's going to be a total shitshow.
Naturally, they seem to know this too...
Meta’s plans could change. The Silicon Valley company has been conferring since early last year about how to release a feature that carries “safety and privacy risks,” according to an internal document viewed by The New York Times. The document, from May, described plans to first release Name Tag to attendees of a conference for the blind, which the company did not do last year, before making it available to the general public.
Meta’s internal memo said the political tumult in the United States was good timing for the feature’s release.
“We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns,” according to the document from Meta’s Reality Labs, which works on hardware including smart glasses.
Jesus Fucking Christ. This is like the ultimate crescendo of cluelessness. You tell me, is "the blind leading the literal blind" too on the nose? No? How about putting in writing your plan to try to put this out there when the rest of the world is distracted? I mean, even if there's validity in that strategy, you don't say that out loud. Actually, you do say that out loud, what you don't do is put it in email!
I don't really understand how Meta is so bad that this, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't fun to watch. They're seemingly on the verge of taking a pretty popular product and weaponizing it, turning it into the most polarizing form of AI yet.
What insanely controversial project will Meta think of next?
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M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler