Here’s How Google Says It’s Making Its Smart Glasses More Private

All of the Intelligent Eyewear glasses have a power switch to turn them off completely, so you can wear them as regular glasses. They also have a recording light that illuminates when the glasses snap a photo or record a video, which is intentionally limited to 90 seconds for privacy purposes.

Here's a collection of the things Google says it's doing to make its smart glasses more private:

• Camera visuals: When you ask Gemini to look at something in front of you, Google does not save that visual data in your Gemini History. For example, if you ask Gemini to translate a menu or add concert details from a poster to your calendar, the visual data won't be saved in Gemini, and Google promises not to use it for AI training or ad targeting. This data is also encrypted on the devices, and Google says if it needs to go to the cloud or your phone for processing, it's encrypted in transit. It has plans to bring its Private AI Compute technology (similar to Apple's Private Cloud Compute) to process this data in a secure space.

• App access: Third-party apps can access the camera on the smart glasses, but they must ask for permission first, and you can revoke access at any time. The Google Play Store will prohibit apps from using the camera for real-time face recognition, social livestreaming, or changing the recording light's behavior.

• Tamper protection: The camera can detect in real time if a user is covering the indicator light while taking a photo or recording a video, or if the LED has been tampered with. If so, it will prevent photos or videos from being taken. Payne says Google's algorithms always check if the LED is functioning properly, and while “it's not perfect,” the company is really happy with its performance so far.

• Redacting faces and denoising voices: If you ask Gemini a question about something in front of you and it needs to use the camera to observe, the image-processing pipeline will redact faces in the background before Gemini processes the visuals—which Google says protects bystanders. “That is designed to get around any kind of face recognition,” Payne says. Similarly, if you're talking to Gemini but someone is having a conversation nearby, Google says the glasses use directional microphones and, by default, only pick up your voice, with a “denoiser step" in the pipeline so that those conversations aren't sent to Gemini.

• Responsible use: When users set up their glasses, they must agree not to record others without permission, not to record in sensitive places, and not to cover the recording indicator light. Failure to comply with these requirements violates Google's terms of service, and “a user's ability to use the glasses may be disabled.” You also need an 18+ Google account to set up the glasses.

• Google Shopping, Google Ads, and YouTube: Google is enacting policies that ban the sale and advertising of stickers or accessories designed to hide recording lights. On YouTube, there are content restrictions prohibiting videos of harassment and unwanted sexualization, though these apply to videos recorded on glasses, cameras, or smartphones. (This is already happening on YouTube, but Payne says Google is ensuring the YouTube team is really aware and ready to enforce the policy as it launches its smart glasses platform.)