Senators Wyden and Markey press Meta over AI glasses privacy and AI training

Two US senators have put questions about Meta's smart glasses to the company in writing. Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Edward Markey of Massachusetts sent Meta a letter on Wednesday "demanding the company answer for the privacy concerns its smart glasses pose to the public," according to 404 Media, which reported it on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. The report does not include a reply from Meta, and it does not give a deadline for one.

This article relies on 404 Media's quotations of the letter. We could not open the letter itself, so the quotes below are as 404 Media printed them.

What the senators are worried about

The letter cites 404 Media's October 2025 investigation into how people use Meta's glasses to harass massage parlor workers. That investigation found Instagram accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers and millions of views that uploaded videos filmed with Ray-Ban glasses.

The letter's central argument is about AI training. It says imagery processed through the glasses' visual AI features "may be retained and used to train AI systems, including with the assistance of human reviewers." It adds that using intimate imagery for AI development "is itself an invasion of privacy when the people depicted have not consented to that use."

The senators single out one reported practice: "The reported disclosure of intimate footage to contractors for the purpose of AI training is particularly disturbing."

What they asked Meta to answer

According to 404 Media, the letter asks:

• What safeguards, if any, Meta has to prevent the nonconsensual "capture, disclosure, or processing of sensitive and intimate imagery."
• Whether Meta specifically evaluated the potential for its glasses "to facilitate voyeurism, nonconsensual intimate image capture, or similar privacy invasions."
• What imagery Meta uses for AI training.
• Whether people can request that their biometric and other data captured by the glasses be deleted.

The letter also asks several more questions about the glasses' safety and design. 404 Media does not list them, and we don't know the exact number of questions or the date Meta has to answer.

The background behind the letter

404 Media ties the letter to several earlier events:

• In March, Swedish journalists reported that Kenyan data labelers had viewed uncensored footage from Meta's glasses. Meta ended its contract with those workers less than two months later, per 404 Media.
• Earlier this year, more than 70 people sued Meta, claiming their intimate images and videos were exposed to workers hired to label data for AI.
• In August, Meta filed a patent to add facial recognition and highlight reel features to its glasses, according to 404 Media.

What Meta has said publicly

404 Media's report carries no response from Meta to the letter.

Meta's most relevant public statement is a July Q&A on its AI glasses. It says photos and videos captured for the gallery "are stored privately on your glasses." It also says the capture light has no off switch, blinks briefly for a photo and keeps blinking for as long as a video is recording. From the second generation on, Meta says the camera is automatically disabled if it detects the light has been blocked, and it said it was updating the glasses to disable the camera if the light is physically tampered with or destroyed.

That page is about who sees photos, the light and tampering. It does not address the letter's questions on AI training, human review, voyeurism evaluations or deletion.

What it means for owners and bystanders

The letter is a request for answers. 404 Media does not say whether the senators plan a hearing, a bill or any other step.

For owners, the practical question is what happens to what your glasses see. Our guide to what Meta's policies say about storage and AI training lays out the policy language so you can compare it with the letter's questions, and the Ray-Ban Meta privacy settings guide shows where to manage voice recordings and cloud media.

For people who don't own the glasses, our bystander guide covers what the recording light means and what you can do if you would rather not be filmed.

What we still don't know

• Whether and when Meta will reply, and the deadline the letter sets, if any.
• What Meta's answers will be on AI training, human review and deletion.
• Whether the senators will take further action.
• The full text of the letter, which we could not open.

We will update this article if Meta responds.