Imagine this. On a typical workday, you and your coworkers walk around the office with a small recorder clipped to your clothes. Glasses on your face allow you to identify what you’re looking at almost instantly. The bracelet records and analyzes all your conversations.
This is the future that tech companies envision in the AI era, whether consumers want it or not.
Big tech companies and startups are developing new types of wearable gadgets that can “see” or “hear.” Meta has sold millions of EssilorLuxottica AI glasses with built-in cameras and microphones. Samsung plans to launch its own line of smart glasses later this year.
Wearing these items will give your AI assistant instant access to your life. Technology leaders expect AI agents to provide users with tailored advice and, ultimately, the ability to do things. for you.
I personally have tried to live in that future by integrating various wearables into my work and personal life. It was useful in certain situations. However, I often felt uncomfortable having friends or colleagues record my interactions.
Devices that can monitor you and others also put your privacy at risk, experts say.
Unlike cell phones, they are difficult to detect, said Irina Reik, director of the Internet Ethics Program at Santa Clara University’s Marckula Center for Applied Ethics.
“So the whole concept of consent is collapsing,” she says.
try out
Technology companies have been tracking our lives for years through our online search trends, shopping habits, location, fitness habits, and more. AI-enabled devices now open up the possibility of using a wider range of inputs from real-world environments.
Over the past few months, I’ve had three devices on my person. Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses, Amazon Bee Pioneer wristbands, and Plaud’s Notepin S, a small recorder that clips to your clothes. I took them to the office, on business trips, and even on vacations and social gatherings. (The companies provided them to CNN for testing.)
At times, I understood the appeal.
On my trip to Lisbon in April, I didn’t even have to take out my phone to Google information about one of the city’s most iconic landmarks, the Jerónimos Monastery. Meta’s smart glasses took a photo (with my consent), analyzed the image, and responded almost immediately.
The Amazon Bee Pioneer is a small recorder worn as a wristband that listens and provides advice, useful for networking events. Recording conversations without my phone (with permission) felt more natural, and the app suggested contacts to follow up with later. The same goes for the Proud note pin S that I always wear on my shirt.
However, these gadgets were often buried in backpacks or desk drawers. That’s because I felt uncomfortable using them socially.
As a journalist, I’m used to asking permission to record interviews, but it felt weird, even on game nights with friends or one-on-one meetings with colleagues. Was social anxiety worth recording these conversations?
Sometimes things took a strange turn. That board game night, I talked about moving into a new apartment in the fall. The next time I opened the Bee app, it reminded me to book movers in October, which was helpful.
Bea then suggested that my words indicated that the move was causing anxiety about “stability” and “a sense of home.” It suggested taking a photo of a “beloved corner” of your current space and taking it with you.
This was a glimpse of what happens when an AI assistant observes you and tries to draw conclusions, rather than what you specifically tell it. I didn’t feel anxious about the move, and I wasn’t going to tell anyone about it. Not my friend, not my husband, and certainly not my AI bracelet.
Amazon said Bee is designed to surface insights and recommendations based on what it learns about users over time, and that initial insights can be less accurate when pulled from limited context. Users can also mark specific Bee insights as inaccurate to surface more relevant advice in the future.
“We’re constantly improving how Grow works, and the experience will continue to improve,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement to CNN.
Promoting AI gadgets
My experience is probably only part of where things are heading.
Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon told CNN and a small group of journalists in June that “some of the biggest companies in the world right now” are developing gadgets like AI pendants, pins and jewelry.
For Amazon, Bee is key to the future of the Alexa assistant. Panos Panay, Amazon’s senior vice president of devices and Alexa, told CNN that most people want a personal assistant that can keep track of their entire day, not just their time at home.
“The more they know, the more they can complete tasks for you and help you with the next task, which is very powerful,” he said. “So it comes down to this: What are the future devices that will connect you and your assistant?”
Plaud CEO Nathan Xu believes his company’s recording devices could one day shorten the work week. He believes the information captured on devices could help AI models better understand our work with fewer prompts, allowing people to complete tasks faster.
OpenAI is working on a series of hardware gadgets, President Greg Brockman told reporters Thursday. As AI agents advance, the days of the keyboard and mouse will soon be over, Brockman said.
“It was a step to click something or type something,” he said. “It wasn’t what we wanted.”
“It will be exploited in a dangerous way.”
The tech industry’s rosy outlook contradicts how many people feel about AI, especially AI gadgets that can record users.
Nothing has received more backlash than Meta’s AI glasses. The women reported that the man used the glasses to record videos of them without their consent and post them on social media.
That inspired pop singer Lorde’s harsh words.
“For the record, glasses are shit,” she said on stage recently.
Meta has now removed these videos from Instagram. Meta’s glasses also have a light to indicate when they’re recording, just like the Be Pioneer Bracelet and Proud Notepin S. Mehta said the glasses’ cameras won’t work if they’re covered.
“We built privacy into the glasses’ cameras from the beginning. When you take a photo or video that can be saved or shared, the capture LED flashes bright white,” Meta spokesperson Dina El-Kassaby said in a statement to CNN. “This light doesn’t have an off switch, so it’s comfortable for both the person wearing the glasses and those around them.”
However, the lights on some devices can be difficult to see because most people don’t look at your wrist or shirt when they’re talking to you.
Kari Schroeder, senior advisor and director of the AI and Human Rights Program at the Electronic Privacy and Information Center, said wearable gadgets with microphones and cameras are dangerous because they can be worn discreetly in private places like locker rooms.
“There are some big concerns about the potential for this to be exploited in dangerous ways,” Schroeder said.
But tech giants seem obsessed with the idea of computers that can observe our surroundings. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg suggested in an earnings call last year that AI glasses could give people a “cognitive” advantage.
“If you don’t have glasses with AI or you don’t have some way to interact with AI, I think you’re at a pretty significant cognitive disadvantage compared to…other people you work with and compete against,” he says.
