Meta wants to track your eye movements and facial expressions as you roam the metaverse, patents suggest
- Meta was recently granted dozens of patents involving metaverse technology, the Financial Times reports.
- Some involve tracking users' eye movements and facial expressions, the FT says.
Meta appears to be developing technology to track people's eye movements and facial expressions while they roam the metaverse, according to patents unearthed by the Financial Times.
The metaverse refers to a future vision of the internet which people primarily access through immersive technologies including virtual and augmented reality, which require special headsets. Meta is a metaverse evangelist, rebranding from Facebook last October to reflect its mission of becoming a metaverse company.
Some patents discovered by the FT reference eye-tracking technology, which might be used to sharpen graphics inside a VR headset depending on where the wearer is looking.
In a recent interview, Meta global affairs chief Nick Clegg told the FT that metaverse eye-tracking data could help advertisers "understand whether people engage with an advertisement or not."
The FT said it found a patent detailing how sensors inside a headset would track a user's facial expressions to "adapt media content" for them. While this wording is vague, one potential application could be that a user's virtual avatar would mimic their real-life facial expressions.
Technology that is detailed in company patents does not always get built. A Meta spokesperson told Insider: "While we don't comment on specific coverage of our patents or our reasons for filing them, it's important to note that our patents don't necessarily cover the technology used in our products and services."