Meta makes AI glasses slightly less creepy with limit on nonconsensual recording

Meta is pushing out a small but telling fix to its AI glasses after complaints that people were using them to record without anyone noticing. The issue centered on the tiny LED that’s supposed to warn bystanders when the glasses are capturing video or photos.

The problem wasn’t that the light existed. It was that users found a way around it. Meta had already set the glasses to stop recording if someone tried to start video capture after covering the light with a sticker. But people figured out a neat little dodge: start recording first, then block the light.

On Friday, The Verge reported that Meta had closed that loophole. Alex Himel, Meta’s executive vice president of wearables, said in a post on Threads that an update would soon make the camera stop working if the light is covered during a recording.

That means the warning light is supposed to become an actual warning light again, instead of a suggestion. Himel said the idea is for the capture LED to reliably alert bystanders when photos or videos are being taken for someone’s gallery. The whole episode is a reminder that with wearable cameras, the creepy part is often not the tech itself, but how quickly people work around the guardrails.