Why AI necklaces and pins will always fail
AI wearable startups: The future is glasses and watches, not pendants and pins.
WIRED today published a takedown of a new wearable called the Friend AI pendant, a voice-activated gadget that hangs around the user’s neck and can listen, talk, and interact using AI.
The authors, Boone Ashworth and Kylie Robison, hate the Friend AI so much that “hate” is the second word in the story’s headline.
The Friend AI pendant has four fatal flaws, each of which would by itself prevent its survival as a real product. The WIRED article addressed only three.
The three addressed issues are 1) wearing the pendant makes everyone around you uncomfortable and changes their behavior because it’s constantly talking and recording; 2) it spams you by pestering you to talk to it, even when you’re alone; and 3) the device failed to understand contexts and often spews wrong information.
The fourth unaddressed fatal flaw is that it’s a necklace. The public won’t wear a necklace because they’re awkward, conspicuous, and ugly. Anyone interested in fashion or style won’t wear jewelry designed by an AI engineer. They’re unacceptable in business settings. They dangle and strangle.
The best is glasses. Glasses put speakers at your ears and visual data over your eyes. They can have cameras that see what you’re looking at. Glasses are the clear winner in the AI wearables future.
For those who don’t want to wear glasses, the second best spot is AI wearable wristwatches. Watches can look cool. They don’t flop around like a necklace. They don’t damage and pull on your clothing like a pin. They’re visible when you want to look at them. They’re acceptable for business meetings.
The norm of wearing glasses and watches is established. Over half the world wears glasses daily. Almost half wears a watch daily.
Yes, some people do wear necklaces or pins. But these are fashion accessories changed often and very light.
Industry: Don’t waste your time on necklaces or pins. Nobody will wear them. It’s a non-starter. There are two superior hardware platforms for AI wearables that everyone will prefer.
The Humane AI Pin, Limitless Pendant, Plaud NotePin, Rewind Pendant, and now the Friend AI Necklace are all loser devices that never had any chance of success.
AI hardware startups: If you want to succeed, take my advice. The path to success is to create innovative alternatives to the tidal wave of smart glasses and smart watches coming from the established giants. These products will be popular but flawed. They’ll be expensive, heavy, have insufficient battery life, violate privacy, and some will be locked into walled gardens using proprietary technology.
If you want to innovate, create glasses or watches that are cheaper, lighter, longer battery life, private and/or open.
That’s the opportunity for AI wearable startups.
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I wanted to push back on this because I wear a Plaud AI Notepin on a lanyard so I can dictate book chapters as I walk my dogs. It’s brilliant. Increased my productivity by a measurable 40% a day… but, uh, yeah. You’re right. It’s weird to wear a chunky sci-fi tie and people look at me weird when I wear it. So I tend to hide it under my collar on the clip attachment