I tried an AI wristband that listens to you 24/7 – and makes IRL conversations searchable

Like most individuals, the minute I heard of an AI-powered wristband that listens to you all day and evening, my quick concern was privateness. Nevertheless, as I went by way of the Bee Pioneer Band’s demo, these considerations light, with the worth turning into evident.

Bee Pioneer Band

The Bee AI wearable appears like an odd health tracker; nevertheless, it makes use of a twin microphone system to hearken to your whole conversations and interactions. This data is used to get to know you higher, transcribe and summarize your interactions, and extra.

The conversations and summaries are all accessible on the app in a clear, organized, and digestible method. You can too ask the app questions relating to your conversations, very like you’ll after recording on Otter.ai. In my view, that is probably the most useful use case for the band, as I typically discover myself questioning if I remembered one thing appropriately or eager to reference again to what somebody mentioned.

The way it makes use of your conversations

The Bee Pioneer makes use of your whole conversations to higher reply your questions, very like ChatGPT’s Reminiscence function. The most important distinction is that ChatGPT solely has the context of your conversations within the chatbot, whereas the Bee Pioneer has context of every part in your day, permitting you to ask a lot deeper questions.

For instance, within the app, you possibly can ask one thing about your private life, similar to, “How is my parenting method?” or “What can I do to enhance these behaviors?” Based mostly on its transcriptions, it may offer you suggestions, referencing your actions. Past answering questions, it supplies actionable insights similar to recommended to-dos, day by day summaries, and reflections.

Privateness and safety

After all, one massive concern stays: privateness. There’s a button on the wristband that you could click on if you need it to be muted and never have it hearken to you. The founders of the product, Maria de Lourdes Zollo and Ethan Sutin, assured me that privateness was a high precedence. In keeping with Sutin, no human can see the conversations, and the information is not going to be offered or used for coaching.

Dialog knowledge would solely be shared with regulation enforcement if required by legitimate court docket orders. The corporate doesn’t retailer the audio and shares that the information is protected with enterprise-grade encryption and undergoes common third-party safety audits.

Sutin mentioned that, though there are variations with edge processing, proper now, the battery consumption on the telephone for operating on a regular basis is just not possible for on a regular basis operation.

Past safety, I nonetheless have some considerations, similar to what makes the wearable geared up to investigate your behaviors and provides suggestions in your relationships. And, nearly extra importantly, what concerning the privateness implications for individuals who do not know they’re being recorded?

I do see the benefit of getting AI that’s continuously conscious of your actions, because it turns into extra of a proactive assistant, at all times prepared to assist, somewhat than an assistant that’s reactive and solely steps in when you need assistance.

From different merchandise I noticed and demoed at CES, it appears AI {hardware} is in the end transferring on this path. 

For instance, the Natura Humana HumanPods are earbuds meant to be worn all day, putting “AI individuals” — LLM-based AI brokers with distinctive personalities and voices — in your ear, accessible on a regular basis with a easy double faucet. Nevertheless, we’re nonetheless on the early levels of any such know-how, particularly for widespread adoption.

Availability

If you wish to attempt it out for your self, the wearable prices $50 and is out there for buy now for iOS solely, with an Android providing coming later this month earlier than the official launch. The Bee Pioneer is modular and can be worn as a pin; nevertheless, that attachment is but to be offered on the positioning.