Disagree. Apple has been pretty good about that kind of thing *so far* but lately they’ve been drinking the “services” revenue kool-aid and are beginning to dip their toes into the ad revenue kool-aid as well. Companies only know one thing, profits must go up.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
AirPods Pro With AI Cameras Reach 'Advanced' Testing Stage
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Si Vis Pacem
macrumors newbie
Ahem, did someone at apple actually consider that that would make them a no-go for a whole lot of environments with restrictions. Apple can state they wont take pictures or videos until they are blue in the face but how is the ai perceiving the surroundings and that perception part is the problem. If Apple states they will only use photons to detect shapes like desks, chairs etc that already will be too much.
Remember when the internet first rolled out and everyone was like “protect your data!”. Now I get mad if I have to fully enter my credit card number and we are ready to wear earring cameras that will document our every move! 🥴
Then use your camera (phone) and point it at that building. Let's not act like this is NOT a nonsense idea.
Man on the moon
macrumors regular
I do not think anyone wants AirPods Pro to have a longer stem for silly camera integration, to help you navigate or so you can ask questions about your surroundings through AI.
After the Apple Intelligence disaster does anyone really think this will actually work? or will it come with some silly BETA disclaimer.
After the Apple Intelligence disaster does anyone really think this will actually work? or will it come with some silly BETA disclaimer.
rtdunham
macrumors 6502a
Apple's upcoming camera-equipped AirPods Pro are nearing completion and have reached an "advanced" testing stage, reports Bloomberg. The design is almost finalized, as is the feature set, and early mass production could begin soon.
I'm less concerned about commenters' worries about privacy and more about issues of reading comprehension, as in:
"The cameras in the AirPods will not be able to take photos or videos..."
Article Link: AirPods Pro With AI Cameras Reach 'Advanced' Testing Stage
According to the story, no pictures or video is taken (stored). So that just leaves the user's own memory to do the spying which makes us all spies all day according to you.
I guess Apple has determined users wear AirPods for inordinately large time periods. That is the only way this works because no one is going to pull out AirPods and put them in each time they have a question about their surroundings. I like this technology but I use my AirPods to cut off from the world around me, not to interact or integrate better with it.
Apple's upcoming camera-equipped AirPods Pro are nearing completion and have reached an "advanced" testing stage, reports Bloomberg. The design is almost finalized, as is the feature set, and early mass production could begin soon.
The AirPods Pro will have built-in cameras that will feed visual information about the wearer's surroundings to Siri. While there will be a longer stem for the camera in each AirPod, the device will otherwise look similar to the AirPods Pro 3.
The cameras in the AirPods will not be able to take photos or videos, and will solely be used for AI purposes. A small LED light will illuminate when the AirPods are sending visual information to Siri.
Apple wants users to be able to look at an item and ask Siri questions about it, working similarly to image uploads in chatbot apps. The cameras could also offer reminders based on visual information, and give more detailed turn-by-turn directions by viewing what's around the wearer.
The Camera app in iOS 27 is also set to get a Siri mode that incorporates Visual Intelligence, letting users do things like scan nutrition labels on food packaging for calorie tracking.
Apple wanted to start selling the camera-equipped AirPods Pro in the first half of 2026, but the product's launch has been held back because the smarter, AI version of Siri is not yet ready to be released. The new Siri is set to be introduced in September in iOS 27, macOS 27, and iPadOS 27, so we could see the AirPods Pro launch sometime in that same timeframe.
Apple could also opt to wait to launch the AirPods if it is not satisfied with the quality of the Visual Intelligence features planned for Siri.
It is not yet clear how the new AirPods will fit into Apple's lineup. Rumors suggest Apple does not intend to brand them as the "AirPods Pro 4," and they could instead be referred to as the AirPods Ultra, or perhaps AirPods Pro 3 With Cameras.
Article Link: AirPods Pro With AI Cameras Reach 'Advanced' Testing Stage
Virtually
macrumors member
People so far have solved challenges like this just about as quickly but much more cost-effectively and socially engaging by going up to somebody to ask.
I agree that it isn’t a nonsense idea because I see great potential for such tech to be an assistive device for people with impairments.
I have been in so many different places. I would not have needed to be armed with a phone and earbuds to identify the sights I saw. Unlike A.I. driven spoon-fed information for passive consumption, inquiring about it keeps you actively engaged in the discovery process. I prefer brain training strategies to brain draining couch potato tech.
JoeG4
macrumors 68040
Some tech bro would probably argue that in the future, there will be no "no-go" and forward-looking people will freely use their camera-assisted AI headphones in public bathrooms and all. "It's going to happen whether you like it or not so you might as well embrace it."
A practical consideration, while you can kinda see through hair, i have long hair and it would obscure the crap out of any view these earbuds would have LOL. I already find that enough of a problem with the 'transparent mode' mics on my airpods max. The first time I put them on with my hair down I had that epiphany: These were clearly designed by men lol.
I don’t understand how this rumor keeps getting repeated without anyone questioning how it would even work. Can somebody explain how cameras on earbuds would be positioned to be able to see what’s in front of a user? Cameras positioned in a person’s ears somehow being able to see around a person‘s face is already a problem. Then you have to consider that lots of people have long hair or other things that would get in the way, and cause the reliability of cameras positioned in a person’s ears to be low. Apple doesn’t usually produce devices that are going to have an inherently low reliability in a normal use environment.
What about battery capacity? Current AirPod Pro earbuds have an eight hour power capacity to run compressed audio reception and playback. How exactly are batteries in earbuds going to run a pair of cameras? Meta glasses fill one wide temple arm with a battery that runs a single camera. That battery has about quadruple the energy storage of the battery in a single AirPod Pro, which in this concept would have a camera in each bud.
How is the additional hardware for cameras going to fit in earbuds? How is the data going to be handled? Will the AI interpretation of visual information be handled on board the earbuds? That gets back to the question of battery capacity. What about transmission of video data? Currently AirPods don’t have the transmission capacity for lossless audio. How are they going to have the bandwidth to transmit both audio and video data? That once again returns to the question of battery capacity.
So essentially none of this makes any sense. Why does this rumor keep getting repeated without anyone asking and trying to answer those questions?
What about battery capacity? Current AirPod Pro earbuds have an eight hour power capacity to run compressed audio reception and playback. How exactly are batteries in earbuds going to run a pair of cameras? Meta glasses fill one wide temple arm with a battery that runs a single camera. That battery has about quadruple the energy storage of the battery in a single AirPod Pro, which in this concept would have a camera in each bud.
How is the additional hardware for cameras going to fit in earbuds? How is the data going to be handled? Will the AI interpretation of visual information be handled on board the earbuds? That gets back to the question of battery capacity. What about transmission of video data? Currently AirPods don’t have the transmission capacity for lossless audio. How are they going to have the bandwidth to transmit both audio and video data? That once again returns to the question of battery capacity.
So essentially none of this makes any sense. Why does this rumor keep getting repeated without anyone asking and trying to answer those questions?
Virtually
macrumors member
NNo now
No now you just have to pull your hair back if you have a hairstyle that covers your ears. You must wear your hair the way Apple says or their product does not work. It harkens back to the telephone losing connection and Apple saying, "you're holding it wrong."
Mrkevinfinnerty
macrumors 68040
They have this today if they are using AirPods.
The problem is that Siri is too dumb to be useful, not that the "always on AI access exists".
I continue to trust apple to handle my data until the _once_ prove to be untrustworthy.
Apple knows that privacy is one of their competitive advantages and do not want to compromise that.
turbineseaplane
macrumors Penryn
I have to say, for the occasional thing I've ever wanted to ask it, it does ok.
Admittedly though, I'm not interested in conversations with AI nor asking it endlessly about everything around me in the real world.
Usually it's: "what time is the sunset in Boise" so I can plan my run
or "what's the score of the Oilers game"
That's about the extent of it for me. 🤷♂️