Meta is planning to add facial recognition technology to its smart glasses, according to reporting by The New York Times citing people familiar with the company’s plans. The feature, called “Name Tag,” would allow wearers to identify people and receive information about them through Meta’s AI assistant, potentially as soon as this year.

The move marks a significant shift for Meta, which previously shut down facial recognition systems on Facebook amid privacy and legal scrutiny. Now, as AI-powered wearables gain traction, the company is revisiting the technology as part of a broader effort to make smart glasses more useful in everyday life — a change likely to reignite debates over privacy, consent, and surveillance.

The development reflects growing momentum around AI devices that move beyond screens into the physical world, bringing digital assistance into real-time interactions. It also highlights how advances in wearable AI are increasingly forcing companies to balance convenience and accessibility with evolving expectations around privacy and public visibility.

The feature would also help Meta differentiate its smart glasses as companies across the AI industry explore wearable devices designed to move AI assistants beyond smartphones.

Here’s what the plans could mean for Meta’s smart glasses, AI wearables, and the broader debate around facial recognition technology.

Facial recognition has repeatedly drawn scrutiny because of how easily it can blur boundaries between helpful assistance and unwanted surveillance. Meta previously considered adding recognition features to earlier versions of its smart glasses but pulled back due to technical and ethical concerns.

The company’s renewed interest comes as its smart glasses — created in partnership with EssilorLuxottica under the Ray-Ban and Oakley brands — have gained unexpected commercial momentum, with more than seven million units sold last year. Internally, facial recognition is seen as a way to make the AI assistant more useful and differentiate the product as competition in wearable AI increases.

People familiar with the plans said the feature would not operate as a universal facial recognition tool. Instead, Meta is exploring options that could limit recognition to people connected through its platforms or users who have public accounts, such as on Instagram. The company said it is still evaluating how the feature might work and emphasized that no final decisions have been made.

In a statement, Meta said, “We’re building products that help millions of people connect and enrich their lives. While we frequently hear about the interest in this type of feature — and some products already exist in the market — we’re still thinking through options and will take a thoughtful approach if and before we roll anything out.”

Meta’s smart glasses have already been used alongside facial recognition tools outside the company’s ecosystem. In 2024, two Harvard students used Ray-Ban Meta glasses together with a commercial facial recognition service called PimEyes to identify strangers on a subway in Boston, later releasing a viral video demonstrating the process. At the time, Meta emphasized that a small white LED light on the glasses indicates when recording is active.

Current smart glasses require users to intentionally activate the AI assistant or recording features. However, people familiar with Meta’s plans said the company is also exploring more advanced glasses internally referred to as “super sensing,” which would continuously run cameras and sensors to capture context throughout a user’s day, similar to how AI note takers record and summarize meetings.

According to those discussions, facial recognition could play a key role in such systems, allowing glasses to provide contextual reminders — for example, prompting a user when they encounter a colleague. People familiar with the plans said Mark Zuckerberg has questioned whether the glasses should keep using the existing LED recording light to indicate when the “super sensing” feature is active, or whether a different signal should be used.

Internal documents described by The New York Times indicate that Meta considered the broader political environment when discussing rollout timing. According to the report, a memo from Meta’s Reality Labs stated: “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 reported language has intensified scrutiny around how the company weighs public response and criticism when introducing sensitive technologies. Privacy advocates have long warned that facial recognition systems can reduce anonymity in public spaces, placing added focus on how companies evaluate risk and transparency when launching new features.

The broader debate has already influenced policy decisions in parts of the U.S. Some U.S. states and cities have already limited or banned police use of facial recognition over concerns about accuracy and abuse.

Democratic lawmakers recently asked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) to stop using facial recognition technology on American streets.

“Face recognition technology on the streets of America poses a uniquely dire threat to the practical anonymity we all rely on,” said Nathan Freed Wessler of the American Civil Liberties Union. “This technology is ripe for abuse.”

Meta has previously faced major legal challenges tied to facial data collection. The company paid roughly $2 billion to settle lawsuits in Illinois and Texas over allegations that it collected facial data without user consent through its earlier Facebook tagging system.

In 2019, Facebook also paid a $5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over privacy violations that included concerns related to facial recognition practices. As part of that settlement, Meta agreed to review every new or modified product for potential privacy risks. Reporting by The New York Times says the company later adjusted that process internally, including limiting how long risk reviews can take and giving privacy teams less influence over product releases — changes that have drawn additional scrutiny as new facial recognition features are considered.

Meta has worked on facial recognition technology for more than a decade, including efforts aimed at accessibility. According to people familiar with the work, Mark Zuckerberg supported projects within the company’s Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) lab exploring how facial recognition and AI could help people who are blind or have low vision identify people around them and navigate social interactions more easily.

The company has also discussed these ideas with accessibility-focused organizations. Mike Buckley, chief executive of Be My Eyes, said he had spoken with Meta for roughly a year about face-recognizing glasses designed for people with low or no vision, calling the technology “so important and powerful” for that community. Mark Riccobono, president of the National Federation of the Blind, said he was not aware of specific rollout plans but would support such efforts.

Supporters argue that these use cases highlight meaningful benefits when facial recognition is applied in controlled or assistive contexts. At the same time, critics say embedding recognition tools into everyday consumer eyewear raises broader concerns because it moves identification technology into ordinary social interactions, where people nearby may not always understand when or how it is being used.

Questions remain about visibility, consent, and how signals — such as recording indicators — would communicate when recognition features are active. Meta said it is still evaluating options and emphasized that no final rollout decisions have been made.

Q: What was announced?
A: Meta is reportedly developing facial recognition features for its smart glasses through an internal project called “Name Tag.”

Q: What would the feature do?
A: It would allow wearers to identify people and receive contextual information through Meta’s AI assistant.

Q: Is this a universal facial recognition system?
A: No. People familiar with the plans said it would not allow users to identify anyone they encounter.

Q: Why is this controversial?
A: Facial recognition highlights a tension between convenience, accessibility, and privacy protections that companies and regulators have struggled to resolve.

Q: Could the technology help accessibility?
A: Yes. Meta has explored face recognition tools aimed at helping people who are blind or have low vision.

Q: Why is Meta pursuing this now?
A: Smart glasses have become a commercial success, and the company is seeking ways to make AI wearables more useful and competitive.

This development matters because it reflects how AI is moving beyond apps and screens into devices that interact with the physical world continuously. Smart glasses with recognition capabilities could change how people navigate daily life — and how they expect to be seen by technology.

Who should care: Developers, business leaders, policymakers, and privacy advocates should watch closely, as wearable AI could reshape expectations around identity, consent, and public interaction.

Why it matters now: AI wearables are moving into mainstream adoption, and decisions made today about privacy safeguards and transparency will influence how much trust people place in future devices.

What decision this affects: Organizations evaluating AI adoption may need to consider not only model capability, but also how always-on sensing technologies align with legal requirements, social norms, and user expectations around consent.

The bigger shift is that recognition technology is no longer confined to fixed cameras or apps — it is beginning to move into everyday objects people wear. How companies design those systems, and how clearly they communicate when they are active, will likely determine whether AI wearables feel helpful or invasive.

This debate reflects a wider shift across the AI industry as companies move assistants from software into always-present devices.

Unlike many AI tools that operate only when users intentionally engage with them, wearable recognition systems raise questions about how technology affects people who may not have chosen to participate at all.

The future of AI wearables may depend not just on what the technology can recognize — but on whether people feel they still have control over when and how they are recognized.

Editor’s Note: This article was created by Alicia Shapiro, CMO of AiNews.com, with writing, image, and idea-generation support from ChatGPT, an AI assistant. However, the final perspective and editorial choices are solely Alicia Shapiro’s. Special thanks to ChatGPT for assistance with research and editorial support in crafting this article.