Snap representatives have said the Specs “do not record the world to understand it,” noting that the glasses do not use facial recognition to identify people. WIRED found code in Meta’s apps earlier this year indicating the company was experimenting with a facial recognition feature on its smart glasses, but Meta subsequently removed it.
Are We Human?
Snap also wants in on the AI chatbot game. At its event, the company announced a brand-new AI service called Specs Intelligence. The app releases today and will work on iPhone, Mac, and the Specs glasses. You don’t need the glasses to use the app.
Snap calls Specs Intelligence an “anticipatory AI,” meaning it collects data about your day-to-day life and tries to envision what you want to do. The features will sound familiar if you’ve interacted with any AI chatbot that syncs with your calendar, email, or location info. It can help find a hotel, book travel plans, or answer questions.
Snap says its AI service organizes information based on “corners” like work, family, and goals. The AI “builds an understanding of your goals, priorities, relationships, and routines from the apps and tools you choose to connect.” That sounds like a whole lot of data collection will be necessary to build out a holistic picture of what you want in life.
Starting on October 1, people can go to a Specs First Look demo at the Westfield Century City shopping center in Los Angeles to try before they buy.
But Spiegel routinely drums the “making computing more human” line without really reckoning with what its Specs are. Snap wants them to be a social gadget that lets people play games together, but one pair would cost you more than buying a PlayStation 5 for three of your friends. The company wants people to wear them while playing sports, but the glasses are huge and heavy. Will that be comfortable? How do you look down at a soccer ball and keep the glasses on your face?
I guess it’s up to the humans who want to wear them to figure that out.