Following a slight delay, Meta has stated that it has begun rolling out some AI features to users of its Ray-Ban Meta AR glasses in France, Italy, and Spain.

Starting today, the people of those countries can use Meta's AI assistant - Meta AI - using voice to get answers to general questions (e.g. "What are some good gift ideas for my kids aged 6 and 8?"). According to Meta, the update adds French, Italian, and Spanish to the list of languages in which it supports English.

Since launch in September 2023, we have been working hard to ensure Ray-Ban Meta glasses comply with Europe's challenging regulatory system," the company wrote in a blog post. "We are pleased to start delivering Meta AI and its rich features to parts of the EU and look forward to expanding to more European countries in the near future.

The upgrade won't include the multimodal features that feature on Meta Ray-Ban glasses in the United States, Canada, and Australia—the ability to receive answers to questions about what's in view of the camera on the glasses, for example, "Tell me more about this landmark". Meta says it is working on its plan to bring the multimodality to other countries "in the future".

Meta has already been voicing its doubt over whether it is capable of adhering to the AI Act, the EU law that lays out a legal and regulatory framework for AI — calling the law's implementation "too unpredictable." Also, at stake for the company are provisions in the GDPR, the EU's privacy law, regarding AI training. Meta trains AI models, including the models that power features of its Ray-Ban Meta glasses, on the public data of Instagram and Facebook users who haven't opted out data that, in Europe, is subject to GDPR guarantees.

EU regulators asked Meta to halt training on European user data earlier this year so it could be assessed on the company's GDPR compliance. Meta agreed; meanwhile, it signed off on a public letter calling for "a modern interpretation" of GDPR that does "not reject progress.

Meta said back in early fall that it would resume training on U.K. user data after "[incorporating] regulatory feedback" into a revised opt-out process. And shortly afterward, the company brought select AI capabilities to Ray-Ban Meta glasses in the U.K. (as well as six other countries). But Meta has yet to share an update on its model training practices throughout the rest of the bloc.