Meta is preparing to add facial recognition to its smart glasses as early as this year, according to a report by The New York Times.
The report states that the feature, known internally as “Name Tag”, would allow users to identify people they are looking at and receive information about them through the company’s AI assistant.
If approved, it would be a big step in how Meta integrates artificial intelligence into wearable devices.
Company discussions about the feature began early last year. Executives have weighed how to release a tool that carries what the report describes as “safety and privacy risks”. The final decision has not been confirmed, and plans could still change.
An internal memo quoted in the report shows that Meta once considered rolling out “Name Tag” to attendees at a conference for the visually impaired before making it widely available. That launch did not happen.
The same document also says the company has thought carefully about timing. “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,” the document reads.
Meta had explored adding facial recognition to the first version of its Ray-Ban smart glasses in 2021. At the time, the company dropped the idea, pointing to technical limits and ethical issues.
Now, after stronger sales of its smart glasses and closer ties between technology firms and the current US administration, the proposal has returned to the table.
According to the report, Mark Zuckerberg sees facial recognition as a way to make the company’s AI assistant more useful and to distinguish its glasses from competing products.
Meta has not publicly confirmed when or if the feature will be released.
