Meta might be the next company to create an always-on AI wearable. The company is working on prototype “always-sensing” smart glasses that would continuously record audio and snap photos “every few seconds,” according to the Financial Times. The wearer could then ask Meta AI about the captured audio and photos.
However, the photos and audio would not be immediately available to the user. Here’s how the FT describes one approach the glasses could use the data:
In one proposed system, raw photos and audio would not be stored by Meta or made available to the user, several people said. Instead, the metadata from that audio and photos would be extracted and uploaded to the server for Meta’s AI to query, which proponents argue would have fewer privacy implications.
Should these glasses or the “always-sensing” capabilities be released, they would raise significant privacy concerns. Meta is already facing considerable scrutiny over its reported work on facial recognition capabilities, pushback following reports of users filming women while wearing the glasses, and grappling with modders who offer paid services to remove the LED recording indicators. The company announced Tuesday that it’s rolling out an update that will disable the camera if the glasses detect that the LED has been tampered with.
But currently, Meta is planning for the LED recording indicator to stay off in “always-sensing” mode, the FT reports. In a July 2025 whitepaper, the company said that it would reserve the LED indicator for “active capture” scenarios where the user is saving photos or videos, and leave it off during “AI Feature” use — such as scanning a menu — to avoid users becoming too accustomed to the indicator. (If the indicator were on during the “always-sensing” mode, it would also be harder to tell when the glasses are actually recording video.)
Meta is also discussing whether it could use the captured data for training its AI models. It might also bring the “always-sensing” capabilities to glasses it has already released, the FT says.
“While we don’t comment on internal prototypes, we’re committed to getting our glasses right because they should be enjoyed by both the people wearing them and those around them,” Meta spokesperson Dave Arnold said in a statement to The Verge. Arnold also noted that “Our approach has been to build new technologies that can help people throughout their day, with privacy built in from the ground up.”
Meta hasn’t been shy about some form of always-sensing glasses being a possibility. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, on the company’s Q1 2026 earnings call, said that he was “really excited to see the glasses evolve from being able to answer questions to being able to be a personal agent that’s with you all day long, helping you remember things and achieve your goals.” In a March blog post about new Ray-Ban Meta glasses, the company wrote that “with ongoing software updates, Meta AI on glasses will transition from something you can ask a question at any time, to a more proactive, in-the-moment assistant that can help throughout the day.”
