Apple's AirTag-Sized AI Pendant: Five Features Rumored So Far

[citysnaps]

Normal human beings don’t need this.

I remember all of the "normal human beings" not needing an iPod, judging by all of the "who asked for this/(1,000-songs-in-your pocket)" comments here after Jobs introduced iPod 20 years ago.

Hat-tip to those here with healthy imaginations who commented with interesting use situations for the Air Tag pendant.

 

[xxFoxtail]

What's the point of this thing?

 

[Nightflyer720]

Siri is the "brain"? Okay, so it will be on life support out of the box. This is shaping up to be a must-have item.

 

[disiliquent]

The mid-21st century has revealed Orwell, Huxley, and all their post-WWII dystopian ilk as simpering Pollyannas who viewed the world through an alcoholic pilgrim's progress of rose-colored cocktails. The notion of an authoritarian state forcing omnipresent surveillance on its hapless citizens is now as quaint as whalebone stays or American democracy. To be fair, no one could have imagined a world where billions would pay trillions to be surveilled. We've gone from rightly fearing invasions of our privacy to spending hours every day jumping up and down, screaming "Look at me! Look at me!"

Please click "Like." I'll do anything to be liked. Anything at all.

 

[disiliquent]

What's the point of this thing?

No offense, but what's the point of any product? To maintain and increase the wealth and power of the wealthy and powerful. The things humans actually need are surprisingly few, but what we can be made to want is infinite.

 

[JohnC1959]

Some problems can NOT be solved by pulling out your phone, but require that you had pulled out the phone some hours before, long before you had the problem.

A simple example is asking "Siri, where did I put my car keys?" Siri had to be out and watching two hours ago to have seen where you put them.

An always-on camera can recall the past and answer questions like "What was that guy's name, the painter who was working here a month ago. I need to call him."

That would be great if it could do that. But I'm wondering if that will be practical as far as battery life for the new device. We shall see.

 

[Ben11]

Apple improve Siri then make a ai pin list your priorities

 

[Vasilioskn]

Siri! DOA.

 

[sevoneone]

I just read dozens of comments that in effect say "This can't be any good because I, personally, cannot think of anything it might do."



Try this:



1. You are at the grocery store heading for checkout, and as usual, did not make a shopping list, so you ask Siri "did I forget anything?" Siri has seen your pantry and fridge and saw what you placed in the cart. So it can say "There are only three bananas left at home and not much coffee either. You never told it anything it just passively watched.”



2. You are in China and know only about a dozen Chinese words and can't read it at all. But you would like to walk to a place you heard about for lunch. The Siri-pendant can read the street signs and tell you how to get there. Or maybe it will tell you which bus to take because it can read the LED sign on the front of the bus and tell you "not this bus."



3. You are a salesperson and deal with hundreds of potential customers. Siri-pendant sees a person at a distance and tells you, “That’s Bob, you last saw him 18 months ago in San Diego at that conference, ask him about the server room installation.” No need to ask, Siri-pendant just noticed that Bob saw you and is headed this way. She knows how forgetful you are with things like this because she has been with you for a few years.



4. You are leaving to go out and Siri-pendant sees you are near the door and says "I think you forgot your wallet, it is still upstairs."

Obviously, this is not today's Siri. Apple has already said they are working with others to give Siri's voice a better brain.

Sounds like a pretty lonely nightmare existence.

1. You'd have to live alone to assume the pantry and fridge are the same as the way you last saw them. Family with 2 or 3 kids and thats not going to work. lol.

2. Most people who travel are not introverts and will interact with the locals. You might actually learn to speak more than 12 words. You might find out the restaurant you were heading too is an overpriced tourist trap, or where a better cultural experience is. Meanwhile the AI is just going to be feeding you what it's pulled out of influencer and you tube content.

3. This sounds like being a meat puppet for the company's SalesForce CRM. Someone that's not naturally good with sales is not going to magically become super good at it because their AI is always in their ear. Plus if the person on the other end has one of these things theres a good chance this is happening in their ear at the same time: "Oh no. Remember in San Diego last April when you and that really cute girl at the data expo were making plans to check out that bar in Mission Beach? That guy from the UPS vendor booth awkwardly interrupted, couldn't take a hint and wouldn't shut up about rack mounted server room solutions for 45 min? That's him. Turn around and make a sharp right..."

4. "Good morning Chris, before you leave the house, I just wanted to let you knwo: Your wallet is still upstairs. You didn't apply SPF 30+ sunscreen. I took the liberty of canceling your starbucks order because you ate those oreos last night. I've also detected that your shoes may not match your belt. Are you sure you're ready to go?"

 

[Mitochris]

We will see, but I can see some uses (whether they are compelling reasons is up to interpretation). For example if traveling in another country it could translate signs for you. Maybe identify a building. Look up a menu for the restaurant you are currently looking at. Identify a plant or animal that you see. All these things can be done by aiming your phone's camera but this avoids pulling a phone out.

For all these scenarios you already need to pull out your phone. There is no user experience gain by a pin doing the computational work before you asked it to do it. And since you anyhow need to pull out your phone to see the answer, I see no benefit in this.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

I just read dozens of comments that in effect say "This can't be any good because I, personally, cannot think of anything it might do."



Try this:



1. You are at the grocery store heading for checkout, and as usual, did not make a shopping list, so you ask Siri "did I forget anything?" Siri has seen your pantry and fridge and saw what you placed in the cart. So it can say "There are only three bananas left at home and not much coffee either. You never told it anything it just passively watched.”



2. You are in China and know only about a dozen Chinese words and can't read it at all. But you would like to walk to a place you heard about for lunch. The Siri-pendant can read the street signs and tell you how to get there. Or maybe it will tell you which bus to take because it can read the LED sign on the front of the bus and tell you "not this bus."



3. You are a salesperson and deal with hundreds of potential customers. Siri-pendant sees a person at a distance and tells you, “That’s Bob, you last saw him 18 months ago in San Diego at that conference, ask him about the server room installation.” No need to ask, Siri-pendant just noticed that Bob saw you and is headed this way. She knows how forgetful you are with things like this because she has been with you for a few years.



4. You are leaving to go out and Siri-pendant sees you are near the door and says "I think you forgot your wallet, it is still upstairs."

Obviously, this is not today's Siri. Apple has already said they are working with others to give Siri's voice a better brain.

Idk man I kinda like using my brain.

 

[con2apple]

Our Rubbish talker at it again.

I can just picture him sitting in his office, thinking: “What could I come up with this time that’s total nonsense but still believable to Apple fans? I know! A copy of the Humane AI Pin, which flopped spectacularly a year ago.”

That must be pretty much how it is with Gurman. I can’t explain his “news” any other way.

Humane's AI Pin Failed Because It Ignored What Was Already in Our Pockets

Commentary: It's a lesson other devices could learn from.

www.cnet.com

 

[Jeeve Stubbs]

(Looking at the Eiffel tower)

"Hey Siri, what's that and how old is it?"
"This is the Atari logo, created in 1973."

 

[Moukee]

So a wireless microphone? Or a GoPro with a ******** sensor and lens?

 

[mwhite]

The mid-21st century has revealed Orwell, Huxley, and all their post-WWII dystopian ilk as simpering Pollyannas who viewed the world through an alcoholic pilgrim's progress of rose-colored cocktails. The notion of an authoritarian state forcing omnipresent surveillance on its hapless citizens is now as quaint as whalebone stays or American democracy. To be fair, no one could have imagined a world where billions would pay trillions to be surveilled. We've gone from rightly fearing invasions of our privacy to spending hours every day jumping up and down, screaming "Look at me! Look at me!"

Please click "Like." I'll do anything to be liked. Anything at all.

You lost me at calling the 2020’s “mid” 21st Century.

 

[karnac]

You all realize these are civilian body cams, right? Its a crazy world out there, and they see the writing on the wall.

 

[Bistroengine]

For those commenting on body cams and surveillance, did you read the article? The camera is going to be low resolution for only identifying the surrounding area. Also, given Apple’s privacy stance, my guess faces will be actively blocked out if they come into view of the camera. Apple is no dummy.

 

[Bistroengine]

For all these scenarios you already need to pull out your phone. There is no user experience gain by a pin doing the computational work before you asked it to do it. And since you anyhow need to pull out your phone to see the answer, I see no benefit in this.

I’ll reiterate my prior comment, imagine the pin being a companion device to the also rumored Apple Glasses, with the glasses acting as the ‘screen’. No need to pull out your phone for directions, live translation of foreign languages, etc. Use your imagination a bit and you can think of many use cases with a pin like device and Apple glasses paired together. Privacy will obviously be a huge focus and Apple clearly knows the privacy concerns that made these other pin devices instantly flop. Putting a low resolution camera in the pin to identify surroundings but not faces makes sense to me. This way the glasses can be free of a camera, be as minimal as possible and not freak people out when you’re talking to them.

 

[Arran]

…imagine the pin being a companion device to the also rumored Apple Glasses, with the glasses acting as the ‘screen’…

Splitting it like that means another two devices to charge daily: iPhone, watch, AirPods, pendant and glasses. It’s a lot to ask.

 

[zeus423]

"5. It'll Listen, But Might Not Talk Back"

Does anyone else find it annoying that Siri has to respond with "Mmm hmm" or "On it" when asked to do a simple task like playing music? Just do it. I'll know you're "On it" when the music actually starts.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Call me a simpleton I guess, but I just want iOS/macOS auto-correct to not suggest nonsensical "words".

It's hard to be excited about AI "anything" from a company who is failing with so much lower hanging fruit.

 

[Arran]

Call me a simpleton I guess, but I just want iOS/macOS auto-correct to not suggest nonsensical "words".

It's hard to be excited about AI "anything" from a company who is failing with so much lower hanging fruit.

You too? That happened to me just a few days ago. Autocorrect wanted to replace a correct word with a nonsense one. Surprised me.

 

[turbineseaplane]

You too? That happened to me just a few days ago. Autocorrect wanted to replace a correct word with a nonsense one. Surprised me.

It's totally ridiculous.
How hard can it be to program auto-correct to not suggest things that aren't in a local dictionary database?

 

[Saludos]

“Siri” and “brain”…. sounds like an oymoron

 

[Edsel]

This is amazing technology and will also be very useful for the current National Intelligence Community. Political discourse quietly monitored as well. Government regulated AI will also help Siri interject with corrections as to political thought.

I was going to add the /S to my comment but upon reflection, I'm not.