Ray-Ban Meta bug recorded chats without "Hey Meta"

The fear that smart glasses might listen when they shouldn't turned out to be real, at least for a few owners. Some Ray-Ban Meta glasses recorded ordinary conversations without the wearer saying "Hey Meta", in a bug Meta says it has now fixed, Ars Technica reports.

What owners found

The reports started on Reddit. One user said the problem showed up on three different pairs. According to Android Authority, these spanned second- and third-generation models. The user said the "Respond without Hey Meta" setting was switched off, yet the Meta AI app had saved audio recordings and text transcripts of conversations in their history. They also said the glasses' internal notification light sometimes came on during normal chat, and that the behaviour began after a recent firmware update. Meta hasn't confirmed that link.

A few other owners described similar unexplained activations. Android Authority, which reported on the threads, said it couldn't reproduce the problem before Meta's fix.

What Meta says

Meta's statement was short: "This issue has been resolved. People can manage, review, and delete voice logs of their interactions with Meta AI via settings at any time."

It hasn't said what caused the bug or how many glasses were affected. Ars also points out that Meta often cites the capture light as a privacy safeguard (in August it stopped the glasses recording if the LED is covered), but this bug shows the glasses can record by accident even when the light works.

The bigger picture

Privacy concerns around camera- and mic-equipped glasses were already growing. Ars cites a Swedish report in which contractors who label data for Meta said they had seen private footage, plus a proposed US class action and a Texas investigation. Norway is considering a temporary ban. For Meta's newest audio-only model, see our Ray-Ban Meta Audio launch story. Rivals such as XREAL's 1 Pro+ are display glasses rather than always-ready AI assistants.