GoKawiilThe first five minutes of John Ternus’ first keynote as Apple CEO weren’t a product unveiling or a recap of Apple’s history. Instead, they were a redefinition of the iPhone as an “intelligent personal hub.”
Of all the devices Apple makes, the iPhone doesn’t need to be described or explained to anyone. But this new framing of it as a hub not only set up the debut of the foldable, category-straddling iPhone Duo, an iPhone/iPad hybrid of sorts — it also suggested an AI-infused wearable device future that Apple’s already dipping its toes into.
Of all the things Apple announced during its “Surprise and shine” event this week, the one that hit hardest for me wasn’t the Duo. It was the reveal of Audio Intelligence, a new AI-powered assistive toolset that will live on the latest Apple Watches and even a range of recent iPhone models.
Siri will store Recaps of conversations had previously, provided the always-listening feature is turned on. Apple/Screenshot by CNET
Audio Intelligence: A memory-keeping tool, or a listening device?
Audio Intelligence listens. And in listening, it can make memories. Or recall things. Or, in a sense, act like the sort of AI-enabled wearables I’ve been trying in various forms over the last few years. Live Rewind can check back on things said up to 15 seconds ago, while Siri Recap ambiently summarizes and transcribes conversations when it’s turned on.
Apple promises that Audio Intelligence is encrypted and that no actual audio recordings are saved. But what it does reminds me of Plaud’s AI wearables, or features like the “Conversate” transcription function on the Even Realities G2 smart glasses. Or Looki’s AI conversation summaries.
It’s designed, it seems, to run in the background and record conversations as you’re having them — transcribing them and summarizing them so you can read the text transcriptions later, or on the fly, and available in Siri to search as needed. And if you happen to miss what someone’s saying in a chat, there’s “Live Rewind” that replays the last 15 seconds of a real-life chat, like some real-life version of asking your Apple TV what someone just said on that Netflix show.
Seen here: Meta’s Ray-Bans. Apple’s expected to have its own smart glasses next year. Scott Stein/CNET
A stepping stone for visual intelligence wearables next year
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