We saw some exciting tech at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas in January. Among the innovations that were brought to the floor at the annual trade fair were smart glasses, with approximately 60 companies showcasing their new offerings or making some announcements about eyewear products. For instance, RayNeo launched eSIM-enabled glasses, and Meta-Bounds demoed a pair of lightweight smart glasses that helped the company win a 2026 CES Innovation Award. In short, there were many announcements for those excited about these types of devices, and it appears more and more people are embracing smart glasses.
According to EssilorLuxottica, a French-Italian eyewear brand that makes Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses, it sold over seven million AI glasses in 2025, up from a combined two million in 2023 and 2024. However, while the momentum for smart glasses is building and the sales figures are on an upward trajectory, a new investigation has revealed why you shouldn’t buy these gadgets or at least practice caution in using them.
A joint investigation conducted by two Swedish newspapers, Svenska Dagbladet and Göteborgs-Posten, published at the end of February, details how the footage that you’re recording with your AI glasses is handled. According to the investigation, some of these private recordings are reviewed by human contractors for data annotation, a process that involves adding meaningful information to a dataset, making it easier for machine learning algorithms to understand. It’s a concerning revelation that shows just how embracing technology in certain areas of our lives might not be a good idea because it can open the gateway to privacy invasion.
How smart glasses could be invading your privacy
The Ray-Ban AR glasses were launched by Meta’s CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg in 2025, marketed as an all-in-one assistant that could help you “quickly accomplish some of your everyday tasks without breaking your flow.” However, in order to deliver on that promise, they’re equipped with a couple of sensors, including microphones, speakers, and cameras. Besides helping you with tasks such as translation, you can capture moments of your day with the Ray-Ban glasses, like when you spot a nice view at the beach, and Meta is reportedly planning to add facial recognition as well.
However, for people who use these glasses every day, the uncomfortable truth is that the footage they record could end up on someone’s screen for review. Some of the videos being captured are sent abroad for data annotation by Meta contractors in places like Nairobi, Kenya. The investigation uncovers that while Meta says you have control over your data and it can only be saved or used to improve its products if you agree, that’s far from the truth.
According to the investigation, your data (voice, text, image, and sometimes video) “must be processed and may be shared onwards” for the AI function to work, and you can’t opt out of data processing. Speaking to journalists from the two Swedish newspapers, Nairobi-based contractors reveal disturbing details about the kind of footage that has passed their desks for annotation, including “sex scenes filmed with the smart glasses” and people watching pornography. Additionally, the contractors also say that they’ve come across footage of private details like bank cards and personal chats where people discuss sensitive details like crimes.
It’s all buried in the company’s terms of use
These details about humans reviewing deeply private videos might seem illegal, but Meta’s AI terms of use detail everything about how it handles the data. According to Meta’s AI terms of use, the company clearly states that “In some cases, Meta will review your interactions with AIs, including the content of your conversations with or messages to AIs, and this review may be automated or manual (human).” Additionally, the information you share might be retained and used by the AI. As a result, the company cautions that you shouldn’t share any information that you don’t want the AI to use and retain.
Of course, not many people care to read about a product’s or service’s terms of use to know what they’re fully signing up for. Such details might raise eyebrows and scare off some potential buyers, so only those who are keen enough to read through the usually long-winded terms of use and privacy policy can learn about it. However, perhaps if the people whose recordings have landed on a data annotator’s desk knew beforehand how their data would be processed, they might exercise caution in how they use the glasses.
In fact, one annotator tells the newspapers that, “In some videos you can see someone going to the toilet, or getting undressed. I don’t think they know, because if they knew they wouldn’t be recording.” That said, the next time you use your smart glasses (from Meta or any other company) to record anything, be mindful of what you capture since you never know how that will be handled once it leaves your device and lands in the manufacturer’s database.
