Amazon and Meta face privacy concerns over always-listening AI wearables

Amazon and Meta are facing renewed privacy concerns over their AI-powered wearables. The scrutiny lands in the same week Meta patched a recording bug in its Ray-Ban smart glasses and Amazon rolled out two new devices built to capture everyday conversations. A bug that listened when it shouldn’t have Between October 13 and 15, 2026, multiple Reddit users reported that their Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses were recording audio without the wake phrase enabled. According to those user reports, the glasses captured conversations without the trigger that is supposed to signal the wearer actually wants them listening. Meta acknowledged the problem and fixed it. The bug affected the company’s second- and third-generation smart glasses. The company has not disclosed the root cause of the unauthorized recordings. Around mid-October 2026, Meta also announced a new feature called “Private Processing.” The company says it is designed to strengthen protection for audio data collected by its smart glasses. Meta has shared few specifics on how the feature works in practice. Amazon wants to transcribe your day On October 15, 2026, Amazon launched two devices under its Bee brand. The Bee Frontier is a wr...