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Meta’s Reality Labs division, which builds wearable devices like the company’s “smart” Ray-Ban and Oakley glasses, is absolutely hemorrhaging money.
According to the company’s first-quarter earnings report, released Wednesday, the division lost $4.03 billion last quarter on earnings of $402 million. That adds up to more than $80 billion in total losses since late 2020, notes CNBC.
The camera-enabled glasses allow users to record their surroundings and, in theory, ask AI to interpret and add context to what they’re seeing. In practice, however, they’re a bit less polished and, with modification, allow users to non-consensually record.
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In February, workers at a company in Kenya told the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet they’d been contracted to review content captured by the glasses to help train Meta’s AI models. The workers alleged they were forced to view graphic content, including witnessing people using the bathroom and having ***, seemingly without their knowledge.
“In some videos you can see someone going to the toilet, or getting undressed,” one worker told the paper. “I don’t think they know, because if they knew they wouldn’t be recording.”
Meta ended its contract with the company, Sama, last month.
“We paused our work with Sama while we looked into these claims,” the company told the BBC. “We take them seriously. Photos and videos are private to users. Humans review AI content to improve product performance, for which we get clear user consent.”
Meta shares tumbled 10% after reporting earnings, as the tech giant laid out plans to spend tens of billions on AI infrastructure at the same time it faces increased legal and regulatory scrutiny after being found liable last month for harming kids’ mental health.
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