At the moment there is a bit of resistance amongst some consumers when it comes to adopting smart speakers. This is because there are some who are concerned about their privacy, and how they think that these smart speakers are eavesdropping on their conversations. If they were already worried about that, then they might not be pleased with this bit of news.According to a report from the Nikkei Asian Review (via AppleInsider), it seems that Apple supplier Inventec has suggested that in the future, smart speakers could also come with facial recognition features. For those unfamiliar, Inventec is the manufacturer of Apple’s upcoming HomePod, and while the company’s president David Ho did not mention Apple by name, it has led to speculation that perhaps Ho could be speaking about future iterations of the HomePod.
Ho was quoted as saying, “We see trends that engineers are designing smart speakers that will not only come with voice recognition but also incorporate features such as facial and image recognition. Such AI-related features are set to make people’s lives more convenient and to make the product easier to use.”
Like we said, those already concerned about smart speakers listening in on them could find this “trend” worrying as they might now worry about being constantly watched. Whether or not we will find facial recognition arrive for smart speakers remains to be seen, so take it with a grain of salt for now.
Filed in . Read more about AI (Artificial Intelligence), Face Id, HomePod, Security, Siri and Speakers.