I like wireless earbuds because I love music. It’s very straightforward; music exists, and I want to listen to it, and wireless earbuds are the thing that gets me to the thing I love. Problem solved. You can’t see it, but I’m smugly dusting my hands right now like a mathematician at a chalkboard. There’s a symbiosis between the buds and me. A simplicity. A supply and demand so fundamental that in the gadget world, it feels like a law of nature.
But, as much as I love wireless audio, there are some reasons for loving buds that I have never thought of before. For instance, productivity. It has never once occurred to me that wireless earbuds can turn me into some kind of capitalist brain machine, as much as employers would love that. Or using them to “remember everything” and/or “know everything.” I personally like it when they make fun sounds, but I guess becoming some kind of omnipotent techno-deity would be sick, too. I have also never thought to use them as a tool to record every conversation I ever have without telling anyone, either—probably because I ain’t a NARC. But this is the age of AI, and maybe I’m just not thinking big enough; maybe I need to expand my mind; maybe it’s time to optimize my future, maaaan.
Oso AI Earbuds These ChatGPT-equipped wireless earbuds are fine for transcription but nothing else. Pros They transcribe calls and live events
They transcribe calls and live events Mic catches a wide array
Mic catches a wide array Fun on-case screen! Cons Awful for listening to music
Awful for listening to music Mired by paywalls
Mired by paywalls Loose-fitting earbud design
Loose-fitting earbud design Too expensive for the faults
To help open me up to the possibilities of wireless earbuds in the era of AI, I shoved a pair from a brand called Oso in my ears. These $170 AI wireless earbuds were crowdfunded through Kickstarter and promise big things. Marketing highlights include “revolutionizing productivity, one conversation at a time,” and “remember everything, know everything.” And here I was just trying to have a news roundup podcast serenely explain to me how messed up the world is!
To pave the way toward a more productive self, Oso AI Earbuds have zeroed in on using ChatGPT via the cloud to power a few capabilities. Chief among them seems to be transcription. Indeed, with a companion app, you can use your Oso AI Earbuds to listen to your surroundings and then have that conversation, or presentation, or YouTube video transcribed by AI in the cloud. There’s nothing groundbreaking about AI transcription, but I guess putting it in wireless earbuds is a newish approach? I used Oso’s wireless earbuds to record some stuff while I was at a press briefing, and it worked fairly well, despite the fact that the presenters were not native English speakers and the volume of their mics wasn’t ideal. You can also use it to record virtual meetings and calls.
... continue reading