Meta will allow users of its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses to opt out of having their visual data used to train the company’s AI models, Engadget reported on 23 September 2026. The setting also prevents those images from being sent to third-party contractors in other countries who label data for training purposes.
Meta explained that a user who has opted out and asks the glasses to translate a menu will have their visual data used to answer the question and then discarded. “It isn’t used for training and nobody reviews it for product improvement,” the company said, according to Engadget.
The change applies only to visual data. Audio interactions with Meta AI remain eligible for training and review by contractors, though users can manually delete those recordings.
The concession follows privacy criticism and at least one proposed class-action lawsuit over the handling of camera-captured images. Earlier reporting had indicated that contractors reviewing such data had encountered personal and intimate images. Meta has maintained that photos saved to the camera roll are not used for training, but visual data from AI interactions — such as asking the glasses to identify an object — was being retained and used.
Meta also revealed a new lineup of Ray-Ban-branded glasses without cameras.
