GoKawiilApple is trying to get consumers to accept, and even welcome, a new reality: Your tech is always listening.
At Wednesday’s “Surprise and Shine” iPhone event, where the company introduced its new hardware lineup, the real surprise turned out not to be the foldable iPhone, but how the famously privacy-sensitive tech giant has decided its watches will now be able to process live audio and transcribe what was said.
Does this mean you’re always being recorded if the person you’re interacting with is wearing an Apple Watch? Not exactly — though it may make some people uncomfortable regardless.
It also raises the question of whether consumers actually want this technology, or if Apple forged ahead in this area because it was afraid that another company, such as OpenAI, would soon introduce a competitive AI device of its own.
Today, a number of startups are acting on the belief that AI-powered transcription is a key consumer use case for AI. So far, this more often involves transcribing meeting notes or recording lectures or interviews. Some companies, like the AI pendant Friend and Amazon’s Bee, ventured into other areas, too, with always-available AI companions that can help you remember your day by passively taking notes.
Apple decided to go a slightly different route. With its new watches’ “audio intelligence,” “Live Rewind,” and “Siri Recap” features, the company is straddling the line between accessibility and utility on one side, and what starts to feel like invasive technology on the other.
On its own, Audio Intelligence seems to be a useful feature for the deaf or hard of hearing, as it can alert Apple Watch owners to sounds like sirens, alarms, doorbells, babies crying, and more, using on-device AI. This can work even when the wearer’s iPhone is not with them and, in some cases, could provide life-saving assistance, such as when a fire alarm or carbon monoxide detector goes off. It’s doubtful anyone would take issue with this type of audio AI.
Image Credits:Apple
However, Live Rewind and Siri Recap move out of the assistive tech space and into a murkier area.
While Apple’s data protections may make these features more palatable to some, there’s still the possibility that normalizing listening technology may not be the best move for a privacy-conscious company. This is especially true given the broader consumer backlash against surveillance technology like Flock cameras, AI data centers, and AI apps in general.
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