Mark Zuckerberg is known to the general public as the founder and owner of Facebook, now known as Meta. Recently, however, much has been said about the company’s investment in smart glasses, which Zuckerberg has claimed could replace mobile phones in the future.
However, this technological development is highly controversial. In addition to receiving calls and playing music, users can take photos and record videos with the glasses - a feature that has come under scrutiny.
Has been secretly filmed
Videos have been posted on social media showing women being secretly filmed. A woman who was filmed told the BBC in January that a man approached her on the beach, asked for her number and then posted the video on TikTok without her knowledge.
The criticism has prompted investigations in France. In Norway, there are calls to ban AI glasses in public places.
In Sweden, Synsam is one of the retailers that sells the glasses. In the company’s interim report, published on Thursday, it said that “we continue to see significant long-term growth potential in the category”.
It is absolutely unfortunate when they are used for the wrong purposes, and regrettable. After all, smart glasses are not the only product that can be used in this way; there are a number of products, says CEO Håkan Lundstedt to TT.
According to Håkan Lundstedt, Synsam’s employees will inform customers, who will ultimately have to accept Meta’s terms of use.
It is very important to compare smart glasses to a smartphone and understand that users need to follow the same rules.
At the same time, it is much more obvious to those around you that you are being filmed with a phone than if you are being filmed through glasses.
There is a light that shines very clearly when the glasses are being used. If you put something in front of that light, the glasses will not work. The manufacturers are trying to take privacy into account and ensure that the glasses are not used incorrectly.
Built-in hearing aids
At the same time, new versions of the glasses are being developed, some of which have had the recording function removed. Another feature is built-in hearing aids.
These glasses provide incredibly good aids, so I think it is very sad that they are receiving this negative criticism because a few percent use them incorrectly, says Håkan Lundstedt.
What do you think?