In a bid to replicate the wealth and stardom of ChatGPT, Meta have introduced their latest shiny AI product – ‘smart glasses’. By combining glasses with AI technology Meta claims they allow you to translate conversations in real time, get real time advice from AI and terrifyingly, record whatever and whoever you see.
This collaboration has raised concerns about whether this is the next step in an increasingly shorter road to living in a surveillance state.
Of course, we already live in a closely watched society with Newcastle City Council alone having 1,984 CCTV cameras in public areas. People have also possessed the ability to record everything with their phones for years. However, there was a physical element to it, you could clearly see when someone was holding their phone to take pictures or record. AI glasses mark a shift towards increasingly subtle approaches to surveillance.
AI glasses mark a shift towards increasingly subtle approaches to surveillance.
In order to make it clear when the device is recording, Meta glasses have a LED light that automatically turns on while filming and if covered users are notified to clear it before they can record. However, a simple google search provides numerous tutorials on how to disable or conceal the light so people are unable to tell they’re being recorded.
The harmful effects of AI glasses are already being seen, with social media being flooded with hundreds of videos of people who didn’t know they were being recorded. Aside from the terrifying invasion of privacy, this is especially dangerous for women as there are numerous posts of men using AI glasses to film asking out women and posting her response without consent. If the man is rejected, the comments are usually filled with hateful language mocking the woman’s physical appearance and behaviour. It has almost become a trend with some accounts solely posting ‘rejection’ videos filmed with AI glasses.
While it is not illegal to film people in public in the UK, the ability to do it undetected seems worryingly close to a surveillance state. Meta’s website tells users to let others know when they’re filming and turn off the glasses in sensitive places yet this has little practical impact.
It seems we must now be under the assumption that every interaction in public could be recorded. Personally, the idea that any action and conversation you have in public could be filmed and shared without your consent is terrifying.
Personally, the idea that any action and conversation you have in public could be filmed and shared without your consent is terrifying.
That time you dropped all your shopping in the middle of the street? The embarrassing stumble you hoped no one saw? All can now be discreetly recorded and shared by passerby’s without your knowledge or consent.
So it seems George Orwell’s dystopian vision has shifted from a warning to a blueprint of how society should run. In fact we’ve surpassed even Orwell’s worst fears– instead of requiring large ‘telescreens’ to monitor society, the ability to surveil someone can simply be worn and is invisible.