--- title: "Influencers Are Using Meta’s AI-Glasses to Film Manipulative Feel-Good Slop of People in Public" description: "A content creator is using facial recognition software paired with Meta's AI glasses to film \"joybait\" of people without their knowledge." date: "2026-09-17" modified: "2026-09-17" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins.md" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/influencers-using-meta-ai-glasses-film-content-public-cruelty" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Ethics" - "Future Society" - "Meta" - "Privacy" --- # Influencers Are Using Meta’s AI-Glasses to Film Manipulative Feel-Good Slop of People in Public ![A close up of a person wearing Meta's AI smart glasses.]() *Shutterstock / Futurism* After only a few months on the market, Meta's new AI-integrated smart glasses are already being exploited for nefarious purposes. Dubbed "pervert glasses" for their incognito ability to film anybody in public, the new specs have enabled voyeurs and content creeps the world over, leading to widespread [harassment](), [bullying](), and [privacy violations](). And now the pervert glasses are also feeding another grim genre of content: joybait. You may have heard of ragebait, which is online content deliberately designed to piss people off, therefore driving clicks and views. Joybait is ragebait's seemingly innocent twin: content designed to stir up those warm fuzzies and make you smile. A [now-viral clip]() uploaded by public prank content creator Levese shows that a user of Meta's AI glasses shows how the scheme unfolds. The video, [first spotted]() by journalist James Vincent, shows Levese catch a glimpse of the author Travis Schick as he shops with his partner in a Walmart. Crucially, Levese doesn't approach Schick right away, but rather uses his phone to snap a photo of Schick's face, which he then searches using a facial recognition site. After the service uncovers Schick's social media accounts — revealing the random man as an aspiring novelist — Levese makes his approach, recording with his Meta glasses as he catches the unassuming writer off guard. "Wait, Travis?" Levese asks as Schick tries to check out. "You wrote the book 'The Readhead?'" "Yeah?" the confused writer confirms. "No way I love that book man! Yo I love that book bro," Levese replies disingenuously. "It was a really good novel." "Yeah that was me," Schick says, trying to contain a smile. https://www.tiktok.com/@1evese/video/7683996932192161055?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7597491167711036958 As positive as the interaction seems on its surface, it's all based on a false premise constructed through use of facial recognition software, without which Levese never would have known who Travis Schick actually was. Of course, Schick himself is ancillary to the entire scheme, which was really about making some content — joybait — for Levese to post to his 225,000 TikTok followers. And as content, the stunt was wildly successful. The reel has over 60 million views and 30,000 comments on Levese's TikTok page alone, and has become easy fodder for content farms on every social media feed you can think of. On uncovering the clip, the journalist James Vincent remarked that it embodies "individualized surveillance culture posing as feelgood content." Falling for the original premise of the bait, some excused the privacy violation, arguing the exposure is boosting Schick's work. Sure enough, comments under [Schick's novel]() "The Redhead" on the creative platform Quotev are flooding in by the hundreds, full of well wishers and supporters who otherwise never would have found his work. Schick's TikTok page has likewise exploded, going from around 150 followers to well over 12,700 in just a few short days. But Schick's viral moment is beside the point, as Vincent observes: "there may be positive outcomes from this one video (which stem from its novelty as short form content) — but the larger effect is creating a society where we monetize kindness, exploit the goodwill of strangers, and destroy the right to privacy in public," he wrote in a comment [on X-formerly-Twitter](). And the aspiring novelist is far from alone. Levese has dozens of videos following the exact same format, each with millions of views. For his part, the content creator is well aware that he's crossing a line. The first one, in which the content creator stalks a man buying bananas, prominently features pinned text reading "day 1: stealing people's digital footprint." "This app is dangrous \[sic\]," Levese wrote in the [video caption](). **More on Meta:** *[Mother Horrified When Meta's AI Scours Instagram and Facebook for Invasive Information About Her Young Daughters]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()