After a brief delay, Meta has started rolling out certain AI features for users of its Ray-Ban Meta AR glasses in France, Italy, and Spain. As of today, people in these countries can use their voice to access Meta’s AI assistant, Meta AI, to get answers to general questions, like “What are some good gift ideas for my kids aged 6 and 8?” The AI now supports French, Italian, and Spanish alongside English, according to Meta. “We’ve been working diligently since our launch in September 2023 to ensure Ray-Ban Meta glasses meet Europe’s regulatory standards, ” the company stated in a blog post. “We’re excited to introduce Meta AI and its innovative features to parts of the EU and plan to expand to more European countries soon. ” However, the update won’t include multimodal features available in the U. S. , Canada, and Australia, such as the ability to get information about items in view of the glasses’ camera (e. g. , “Tell me more about this landmark”).

Meta is working on bringing multimodality to more countries in the future. Meta has voiced concerns about complying with the AI Act, the EU law that sets a legal framework for AI, describing its implementation as “too unpredictable. ” The company also faces challenges with the GDPR, the EU’s privacy law, regarding AI training. Meta trains AI models, including those used in its Ray-Ban Meta glasses, using public data from Instagram and Facebook users who have not opted out—data subject to GDPR protections in Europe. Earlier this year, EU regulators asked Meta to halt training on European user data while assessing GDPR compliance. Meta complied, while also supporting an open letter advocating for “a modern interpretation” of GDPR that does not “reject progress. ”