A new startup called Deveillance (pronounced dee-veil-ance) announced its first-ever gadget earlier this week—a sleek, portable tabletop orb that aims to jam nearby devices from recording voices.
Called Spectre I, the microphone jammer is a combination of ultrasonic frequency emitters and AI smarts designed to not only block devices trying to capture someone’s speech, but also detect and log nearby microphones, all while being small enough to carry around. It’s still very much in development, but the company expects to sell the Spectre I in the second half of 2026 for $1,199.
The announcement caused quite a stir on social media. It was boosted by some as cyberpunk-style resistance tech against the ever-growing category of always-listening AI wearables, but also became the target of a firestorm of skepticism by blue-check critics on X who were eager to call it too good to be true.
The Deveillance Spectre I. Courtesy of Main Irtiza Aftab/Deveillance
“I didn't expect it to go this viral,” says Aida Baradari, a recent Harvard graduate who founded Deveillance and developed the Spectre I. “I'm grateful that I've been given the opportunity to work on this. I'm also really grateful, honestly, that people care.”
Baradari was motivated to build the device as a counter to these always-listening devices that the AI boom has ushered in, like the bracelet from Amazon-owned Bee AI or the Friend pendant.
“People should have a choice over what they want to share, especially in conversations," Baradari says. “If we can't converse anymore without feeling scared of saying something that's potentially taken out of context or wrong, then how are we going to build human connection in this new age?”
Private Time
It’s easy to see why that anxiety about privacy has heightened, as government surveillance is en vogue in the US. ICE is building out its own surveillance systems around everything from social media to everyone’s phones to its own employee roster. That tension runs deep within the private sector, too, as big tech fuels ICE while also collecting, buying, and using every scrap of your personal data.
Last month, when home security camera company Ring ran a Super Bowl commercial about using its cameras to find lost dogs, viewers were appalled at the privacy implications of a neighborhood panopticon and responded with immediate pushback. It caused Ring to backpedal. A week later, the company announced it would no longer pursue a planned partnership with the similarly controversial security company Flock Safety.
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