Thanks to Meta, smart glasses are getting scrutinized extra intensely as of late. While a lot of that skepticism is mostly focused on Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses, sh*t, as they say, tends to roll downhill, and even non-Meta purveyors of smart glasses might be starting to get bashful about their products.
One of those companies, it would appear, is Inmo, which is promoting a Kickstarter launch for the Inmo Go 3 smart glasses. The glasses, which were officially announced a few months back, include quite a few things we’ve already seen: a binocular monochrome screen, a ring for controlling the glasses UI, AI capabilities, and navigation. There are also some noteworthy surprises, including swappable batteries and something I’ve not seen in other pairs: a physical cover for its built-in camera. According to Inmo’s official launch email, the Go 3 have a “built-in physical camera privacy cover for comfortable use in public.”
It’s not much, but clearly Inmo seems to be aware that you might not want to have a camera visible on your face on some occasions, especially “in public,” as it writes. What’s even more interesting is that I can’t see any reference to that physical cover in prior launch materials, including a video released in February that seems to go through basically every other feature of the smart glasses. I’ve reached out to Inmo to clarify if the cover is a new addition or just now being promoted.
And even if it’s not newly added, the fact that Inmo feels a camera cover is even marketable enough to list among the key features should tell you a lot—namely, that smart glasses are a sensitive subject right now. A big part of that touchiness can be attributed to Meta, which is at the center of a couple of different controversies. One of those controversies has to do with its handling of videos taken with the Ray-Ban AI glasses, specifically that the company has been sending videos to be reviewed by human subcontractors in an effort to help train its AI. Those videos reportedly captured lots of sensitive content, including people having sex, using the bathroom, and banking information.
On top of that, the U.S. Senate is also starting to get involved. In a letter addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley (both D-Ore) inquired officially about Meta’s reported plans to introduce facial recognition to its Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses, painting the idea as a possible threat to personal privacy.
Given all the scrutiny, it wouldn’t be surprising to see non-Meta brands lean into stronger privacy features that distance themselves from Ray-Bans. Maybe that’s just adopting more responsible policies on how they use data from customers, or maybe, in Inmo’s case, an option to cover cameras up, though the last one could also just be a way to avoid scrutiny in public. No matter which way you spin it, the smart glasses environment is a fraught one, and Meta might not be the only one that has to shift the way it makes hardware as a result.