Meta's Ray-Ban Glasses Footage Reviewed by Workers in Nairobi
Data annotators at Sama say they regularly view private, intimate footage captured by Meta's smart glasses.
Workers in Nairobi hired by outsourcing firm Sama are watching your most private moments. That's the finding of an investigation by Swedish outlet SvD into the hidden human workforce behind Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses.
Data annotators report routinely viewing deeply personal footage — bathroom visits, bank details, sex acts, and naked individuals who appear unaware they're being recorded. Some of the footage is blurred, but plenty isn't.
The revelations expose an uncomfortable reality behind Meta's AI-powered wearable: training the tech requires real humans to sift through real people's most intimate recordings. It raises serious questions about consent, user awareness, and the working conditions of annotators processing disturbing content.
Meta has leaned heavily into its Ray-Ban smart glasses as a flagship hardware product. The human cost of that push is now becoming clearer.