Mark Zuckerberg says Meta was operating on camera-free Ray-Bans before 'pervert glasses' backlash

Don't think Meta made a camera-free type of its AI Ray-Bans fair since of the unpleasant fact that group have been calling the camera versions "pervert glasses." Mark Zuckerberg says they've lengthy been in the works.

Meta fair added an audio-only brace to its lineup of astute glasses. The new Meta Ray-Ban Audio glasses don't have cameras, but you can use them to hear to music, create phone calls, or conversation to your Muse AI agent. The new glasses are additional lightweight, arrive in two styles, and commencement at $349.

Zuckerberg, in an discussion alongside Joanna Stern, denied that the latest backlash had any consequence on the decision to initiate the design. Stern asked if the audio-only specs were a reply to group who are "uncomfortable alongside a camera on people's faces or having a camera on my face."

"No. I mean, we have to activity on these things. We commencement operating on them like, I mean, you cognize how this works," he laughed. "It takes a extremely lengthy period in advance. So if group have a inquiry concerning item and we commencement operating on item that it's going to obtain a brace of years to build the thing, the answer is no. I mean, we didn't decide to scheme this in two months since several group had several questions a brace months ago. This has been a project that's a lengthy way in the works."

It's true that the backlash against the camera glasses has really ramped up in the final few months, particularly since the Kylie Jenner type launched in June. And, of course, there's no way they whipped up this merchandise in multiple weeks' period in reply to it.

But there have continually been concerns and pushback against the Meta glasses since they launched in 2021. It's not a brand new item that group are concerned concerning being filmed without their approval or awareness of these glasses.

It's not equal a new involvement that group power shield or disable the LED ray — I taped complete the ray in my assessment of the glasses whenever they archetypal launched; this has been a item group have been doing since exactly day one. (After Stern's reporting concerning drilling out her light, Meta made it so that the glasses volition essentially brick if you tamper alongside the light.)

Despite Zuckerberg's sensible declaration that the disagreement from this summer didn't immediately power the merchandise lineup, it's difficult to ideate that these years of ongoing involvement had zero aspect in the decision to create an audio-only version.