1d ago

Harvard dropouts to launch ‘always on’ AI smart glasses that listen and record every conversation

techcrunch.com Harvard dropouts to launch 'always on' AI smart glasses that listen and record every conversation | TechCrunch

After developing a facial-recognition app for Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses and doxing random people, two former Harvard students are now launching a startup that makes smart glasses with an always-on microphone.

Technology @lemmy.world

techcrunch.com /2025/08/20/harvard-dropouts-to-launch-always-on-ai-smart-glasses-that-listen-and-record-every-conversation/

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Privacy @lemmy.ml

Harvard dropouts to launch ‘always on’ AI smart glasses that listen and record every conversation

techcrunch.com /2025/08/20/harvard-dropouts-to-launch-always-on-ai-smart-glasses-that-listen-and-record-every-conversation/

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Privacy @programming.dev

Harvard dropouts to launch 'always on' AI smart glasses that listen and record every conversation | TechCrunch

techcrunch.com /2025/08/20/harvard-dropouts-to-launch-always-on-ai-smart-glasses-that-listen-and-record-every-conversation/

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Is there anything whatsoever a privacy-minded person can do about something like this, in terms of personal protection?
- I remember when Google glass came out. I was living in New York, and almost every single establishment banned them nearly immediately. You wouldn’t be allowed in if you were wearing them, and if anyone saw you put them on, you get kicked out. No questions.
  This happened in a lot of places, as I recall.
  
  That would be nice, but outside of major cities, I can't see that happening.
  I may just have to start wearing a hoodie and mask everywhere. I really, really don't like the idea of these glasses.
  
  Well, you are far from alone. I imagine that a majority of people will feel this way, especially when they are more privacy invasive than Google glass ever was.
  Also, people are much more privacy focused than they were 15 years ago. I can imagine there will be significant pushback to wearing these glasses anywhere but in open, public spaces. Private establishments will likely ban them.
  
  Google Glass purposefully made it obvious what they were. The newer glasses without cameras from Meta et al basically look like regular glasses if you can't see the waveguide in the lenses.
  
  If you know what you’re looking for, they’re not that difficult to spot. But, yeah, to most people, they would just appear to be regular sunglasses. This is a huge problem. It’s one thing when you’re being recorded by someone who is obviously holding a camera. It’s another one when, potentially, dozens of people around you could be recording everything all the time without anyone else, knowing it.
  Not only is a potential for abuse incredibly high, the fact that Meta ends up owning all of the content so they can harvest it for monetary gain is even worse.
  
  Wasnt there someone who hacked their google glasses and was getting everyone's home addresses around him on facial recognition? I would think the risk would be fairly high to people who work with the public from these folks
- There's a big social stigma against this. Every other version of this that has come out has failed due to the combination of expense and stigma. I suspect this is nothing to worry about.
  Very few people are going to pay hundreds of dollars to be socially isolated. Kill the market, kill the device.
- “The AI listens to every conversation you have and uses that knowledge to tell you what to say … kinda like IRL Cluely,” Ardayfio told TechCrunch, referring to the startup that claims to help users “cheat” on everything from job interviews to school exams.
  “If somebody says a complex word or asks you a question, like, ‘What’s 37 to the third power?’ or something like that, then it’ll pop up on the glasses,” Ardayfio added.
  The product sounds like just another shitty AI assistant but on your face. The problem might fix itself when only 5 idiots buy them.
- Depends on whether you live in the US or EU I guess.
- Wait 'til they come out (if ever), figure out the tech, make/buy a detector, pull your club out ur backpack ...
- Look into microphone jammers
- Maybe those hoodies that fuck with camera sensors so they can't take photos of your face?
  
  Yes an infrared hoodie at night to prevent cameras in night mode to catch your face or something like this to fuck with AI detection

50 comments