Facebook’s head of hardware on Thursday confirmed a report that the company was “looking” to include the facial recognition technology of its future spectrum smart glasses devices, but only if people wanted that feature.
Andrew “Boz” Bosworth confirmed the report in a video posted on his Instagram account Thursday evening during a Q&A session with his fans.
‘We’re Looking Into It’
Asked if “Facebook is considering giving a face recognition feature with its glass products,” Bosworth said, “We are looking into it.”
“It’s really an issue we need to have with the community,” Bosworth added. “If people don’t want this technology, we don’t have to give it away. The product will be fine by any means. There are good cases of use out there, if it’s something people are comfortable with. “
Ethical Concerns
The comments come after BuzzFeed on Thursday reported that the hardware executive said Facebook was weighing the legal implications of such a technology during an internal company meeting.
Bosworth noted that there are ethical concerns in many ways where face-to-face recognition as well as cameras and microphones can be abused.
“All the ways they can be abused, in particular for marginalized communities by authority structures,” Bosworth said. “What are all the ways that we can prevent those? And is it enough?”
During Instagram Q&A, Bosworth reiterated that Facebook is in the process of releasing its own glass product in partnership with Luxottica, the maker of Ray-Ban, sometime in 2021.
“We are working hard with our partner Luxottica to ensure that the form is accurate, that the function is good, and that it blends very well,” he said.
