Harvard Students Develop Meta Smart Glasses App That Reveals People's Sensitive Details

I-Xray uses the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses’ camera to identify people and find their addresses and numbers.

Advertisement
Written by Akash Dutta, Edited by David Delima | Updated: 3 October 2024 19:23 IST
Highlights
  • The students used facial recognition models to process the visual data
  • Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses can 'see' a wearer's surroundings using AI
  • Meta refused to confirm if video data collected by glasses is private

The Meta smart glasses' hard-to-see camera is said to have made it possible to be discreet

Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses were used by two Harvard engineering students to build an app that can reveal sensitive information about people without them realising it. The students posted a demo of the video on X (formerly known as Twitter) and showcased the app's capability. Notably, the app is not being made publicly available to users, instead, they made it to highlight the dangers of AI-powered wearable devices that use discreet cameras that can capture photos and images of people.

Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses Used to Build a Doxxing App

The app, dubbed I-Xray, uses artificial intelligence (AI) for facial recognition and then uses processed visual data to doxx individuals. Doxxing, a popular Internet slang which is a portmanteau of “dropping dox (informal of docs or documents)”, is the act of revealing personal information about someone without their consent.

It was integrated with the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, but the developers said that it would work with any smart glasses with discreet cameras. It uses an AI model similar to PimEyes and FaceCheck for reverse facial recognition. The technology can match the face of an individual to publicly available images of them online and scour the URLs.

Advertisement

Another large language model (LLM) is then fed these URLs and an automatic prompt is generated to find out the person's name, occupation, address, and other similar data. The AI model also looks through publicly available government data such as voter registration databases. Additionally, an online tool named FastPeopleSearch was also used for this.

Advertisement

In a short video demonstration, Harvard students AnhPhu Nguyen and Caine Ardayfio also showcased the workings of this app. They were able to meet strangers with the camera already turned on, and ask their name, and the AI-powered app could take over from there to find personal data about the individual.

In a Google Docs file, the developers said, “This synergy between LLMs and reverse face search allows for fully automatic and comprehensive data extraction that was previously not possible with traditional methods alone.”

Advertisement

The students have stated that they do not intend to make the app publicly available and only developed it to highlight the risks of an AI-enabled wearable device that can discreetly record people. However, this does not mean that bad actors cannot make a similar app using a similar methodology.

 

Catch the latest from the Consumer Electronics Show on Gadgets 360, at our CES 2026 hub.

Advertisement

Related Stories

Popular Mobile Brands
  1. Vivo Y500i With a 7,200mAh Battery, 50-Megapixel Camera Launched
  2. These OnePlus, Samsung Phones Will Be on Sale During Amazon's Next Sale
  3. Amazon Great Republic Day Sale 2026: iQOO Smartphone Deals Revealed
  4. Google's New UCP Protocol Will Enable Direct Purchases Within Google Search
  5. Grok Banned in Indonesia and Malaysia Following Deepfake Image Concerns
  6. Google Maps Audio Navigation Problems Could Affect Driver Safety: Report
  7. Apple AirPods Pro 3 Review: The New Gold Standard
  8. Govt Denies Seeking Source Code from Smartphone Makers Amid Calls for Pushback
  1. Grok Banned in Indonesia and Malaysia Following Deepfake Image Concerns
  2. Amazon Great Republic Day Sale 2026: Discounts on OnePlus 15, Samsung Galaxy A55 and More Smartphones Revealed
  3. Govt Calls Demand for Smartphone OS Source Code Fake, Says Consulting Stakeholders
  4. Disney+ to Launch Vertical Video Feed to Rival TikTok, YouTube Shorts
  5. Google Brings Business Agent AI Shopping Tool to Search Alongside New Checkout, Ad Features
  6. Larian Studios Says It Won't Use Generative AI to Create Divinity Concept Art
  7. Vivo Y500i Launched With 7,200mAh Battery, 50-Megapixel Rear Camera: Price, Specifications
  8. Google Launches UCP Protocol Designed to Enable Direct Purchases Within Google Search
  9. Google Maps Audio Navigation Problems Could Affect Driver Safety, Make Navigation Confusing: Report
  10. Amazon Great Republic Day Sale 2026: iQOO Smartphone Deals Revealed
Gadgets 360 is available in
Download Our Apps
Available in Hindi
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2026. All rights reserved.