A Bracelet That Listens to Everything: How Far Can Artificial Memory Go?

Imagine wearing a device capable of recording every word spoken throughout your day. Casual chats, meetings, phone calls, coffee orders, confidential exchanges—nothing escapes. It sounds like science fiction, but that's precisely what a new device proposes: a wearable with artificial intelligence that records everything you hear, transcribes it, organizes it, and stores it.

American journalist Kashmir Hill, from The New York Times, decided to test this technology in her daily life for a week. Her experience is both fascinating and unsettling: the near-limitless capacity to record life with absolute precision raises questions about privacy, ethics, and the artificial memory that never forgets.

What Is the AI-Powered Bracelet That Records Everything?

The device tested by Hill is called the Rewind Pendant, a prototype wearable developed by the startup Rewind.ai. Designed to be worn around the neck like a necklace or pendant, it features a built-in microphone that captures all surrounding audio throughout the day.

Unlike simple continuous recording, the system utilizes generative artificial intelligence to transcribe, organize, and summarize the captured content. The creators' stated goal is to create a “personal digital memory” that can later be consulted like a planner, diary, or repository of important information.

“You'll never forget what was said in a meeting or a recommendation from a friend,” explains Dan Siroker, CEO of Rewind.ia

The project promises that all data is processed and stored locally, meaning on the user's smartphone or computer, without being sent to cloud servers, as a measure of security and respect for privacy.

The Journalist's Experience: Convenience and Paranoia

During the experiment, Kashmir Hill used the device in various everyday situations. At the end of each day, she could access complete conversation records, filter them by keywords, create summaries, and even ask the system to explain parts of a dialogue in a more “neutral” or “detailed” tone.

She reported that the AI was useful for:

• Accurately recalling what her husband said about a travel plan;

• Retrieving information from meetings without needing to take notes;

• Understanding nuances of conversations that seemed trivial at the time.

However, as days passed, the journalist began to feel anxious realizing the bracelet was always active. She found herself warning friends and family about the constant recording and had to deal with others' discomfort.

“People started to self-censor. Some became tense, others suspicious. Some refused to talk near me,” said Hill.

This tension exposes a central ethical question: how far does the right to personal memory go when it invades others' privacy?

The Advancement of "Perfect Memory"

The idea of having an “artificial memory” at one's disposal is a longstanding technological dream. Companies like Meta, Google, and Apple have explored, to varying degrees, devices and assistants that record routines, locations, usage habits, and voice.

But the Rewind Pendant goes further. It proposes a kind of omnipresent and passive memory that absorbs everything without filters. For its creators, this could be revolutionary: the end of forgetting would mark the beginning of an era of transparency, productivity, and personal information control.

However, experts point out risks:

• Third-Party Privacy: People around the user may not consent to being recorded, raising ethical and legal concerns.

• Data Security: Even with local storage, there's a risk of unauthorized access or data breaches.

• Psychological Impact: Constant recording can lead to anxiety or altered social interactions.

As technology continues to blur the lines between memory and surveillance, society must grapple with the implications of devices that remember everything.

source: The New York Times – nytimes.com

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Image credit to Luke Chesser on Unsplash