Meta adds opt-out for using smart glasses 'visual data from AI experiences' for AI training

What happened: Around Sept 24-25, 2026, Meta confirmed (via spokesperson Dina El-Kassaby, first reported by Engadget) a new setting in the Meta AI app: users can turn off 'Store visual data from AI experiences' so recordings, transcripts, and related data from camera-based AI interactions on Meta smart glasses are not used for AI training. Previously, Meta's privacy policy (in effect since June) allowed sharing voice-conversation recordings with vendors for 'improving, troubleshooting, and training' speech-recognition systems, and a Swedish outlet reported Kenyan annotators reviewed glasses footage from AI-feature use, including intimate moments.

Why it matters to creators: A new consent control over AI training on footage and voice interactions — opt-out rather than opt-in — governing both wearers' and bystanders' likeness captured by widely sold smart glasses (7M+ units in 2025 per reporting). Meta notes the setting covers AI-feature data, not photos/videos saved to the camera roll.

What is not yet known: Whether opting out limits product features (reporting suggests possible trade-offs such as 'visual reminders').