Ask HN: Why hasn't anyone tried building an AI wearable wristband?

4 points by slymersonn 2 years ago | 19 comments

Over the past few months, we've seen a couple of consumer hardware startups come out with their take on what an "AI wearable" will look like. For example, the Humane Pin, Rewind Pendant, Brilliant Labs Glasses, Avi's Tab (Necklace), etc.

However, no one has tried making an AI wearable wrist device that isn't a smartwatch. I'm envisioning a wristband with no screen that is used as a device that passively listens to your conversations and gathers context (but doesn't store your recordings). I imagine this being paired with your phone so that the AI can proactively send you notifications regarding what you've talked about, almost like having a second companion always there, ready to help. This would be super cool to have as a student in a classroom because then I can have my personal AI help me study after!

This sounds cool to me, but I'm not an engineer, so I don't know why no one has attempted this. What are the hardware or software blockers preventing this from happening? Has it not been done due to engineering constraints or is it because it's a stupid idea?

hitpointdrew 2 years ago |

> I'm envisioning a wristband with no screen that is used as a device that passively listens to your conversations

Yikes...

> but doesn't store your recordings

Still, yikes!

JohnFen 2 years ago | |

This line made me think about a future where people have and use these kinds of things. It would mean that I could no longer really engage in conversations with people without vetting them first to know if they're doing this sort of thing.

I'm not sure how to navigate such a world.

slymersonn 2 years ago | | |

i genuinely believe its the world we're heading into. privacy is practically dead, and i think if the device has enough utility, people won't give a shit about it listening to you (look at TikTok). plus, with proper marketing, you can show that the recordings aren't being stored.

gtirloni 2 years ago |

So your requirements are:

1. Reliable speech to text from multiple possibly identifiable speakers

2. Long-term knowledge storage and retrieval

Speech to text is a solved problem, AFAIK with a caveat: single speaker. You'd need to train a local AI to identify all these different voices reliably. No easy feat.

Assuming you have done that, you have to feed that data into a vector database to retrieve it when you're talking to the AI. You can't use it to train the AI because it would be too expensive. But then you hit another roadblock: you either have very good querying capabilities for that database so you're able to retrieve what matters and feed into the prompt; or your context window is huge. The latter is expensive.

Some commercial LLM implementations are already implementing some form of learning based on previous chats, so it might be doable from a cost perspective.

I think you can't fit the necessary computing power into a wristband today. It needs to take care of speech to text (again, multiple speakers), uploading all of that to some cloud, and do it for hours and hours non-stop.

Maybe it could just be a smart microphone that uploads a constant stream of audio to the cloud for processing? A privacy nightmares no one is willing to touch most likely. Would you have to ask permission from anyone in the room before you enter with your microphone?

Someone 2 years ago | |

> Speech to text is a solved problem, AFAIK with a caveat: single speaker. You'd need to train a local AI to identify all these different voices reliably. No easy feat.

The OP asks for “a device that passively listens to your conversations”, so even if single speaker is solved perfectly (I wouldn’t know, but have my suspicions, certainly for a device worn on the wrist, which means it can rotate, be covered with a sweater, etc), that isn’t enough.

slymersonn 2 years ago | | |

does that mean that the only viable wearable is smart glasses? you can say the same thing about necklaces for example (they'll be covered).

slymersonn 2 years ago | |

thanks for the explanation! I'm thinking of creating this just as a project and for me

codingdave 2 years ago |

The first question that comes to mind is if this is a passive device, paired with your phone, then it is just a microphone. Why build a new device for that?

slymersonn 2 years ago | |

the new device would be to avoid the constraints of Apple. Apple wouldn't allow an app that is always listening to you to run, unless it's always open which isn't user-friendly at all.

there's a reason why all these companies are coming out with their own hardware. Apple severely limits your ability to create these as apps.

Someone 2 years ago |

> I'm envisioning a wristband with no screen that is used as a device that passively listens to your conversations

How do you make it reliably listen to your conversations give that you may move your hands around, wear a shirt or jacket covering it, have them below a table, etc?

slymersonn 2 years ago | |

not sure. however, my best guess would be to have the best mic(s) on the market for a wearable, so that it can pick up on voice crisply, and then just go on about your day and see what context the AI extracts throughout the day.

mtmail 2 years ago |

Batteries are not flexible to go around your arm. Maybe it's hard to use a dozen batteries connected together? And if the battery is all in one spot then it would look like a watch anyway. Though without a screen it would be smaller.

slymersonn 2 years ago | |

yeah maybe. although i think of WHOOP and i see that they designed a beautiful wristband. wonder what the hardware is beneath it...

PaulHoule 2 years ago |

How about some smart headphones or ear buds? Or like a pin you can wear on your lapel or chest?

d--b 2 years ago | |

I want it to look like a monkey who sits on my shoulder

slymersonn 2 years ago | |

not a fan of the pin form factor, and i think ear buds are cool but i personally would rather have another form factor

RockCoach 2 years ago | | |

How about a choker then (like a throat microphone)? Or perhaps bone conduction headphones?