Apple · OpenAI · TechCrunch AI
Apple is trying to get consumers to accept, and even welcome, a new reality: Your tech is always listening
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At Wednesday’s Surprise and Shine event, where the company introduced its new hardware lineup, the real surprise turned out not to be the foldable iPhone, but how the privacy-sensitive tech giant has decided its watches will now be able to process live audio and transcribe what was said.
Key facts
- For starters, the Live Rewind AI feature lets you go back in time 15 seconds and transcribe what was said by double-pressing the watch’s Digital Crown
- However, Live Rewind and Siri Recap move out of the assistive tech space and into a murkier area
- On its own, Audio Intelligence seems to be a useful feature for the deaf or hard of hearing, as it can alert Apple Watch wearers to sounds like sirens, alarms, doorbells, babies crying, and more
- Apple notes that Siri Recap doesn’t default to always being on like some other AI wearables
Summary
Apple is trying to get consumers to accept, and even welcome, a new reality: Your tech is always listening. Does this mean you’re always being recorded if the person you’re interacting with is wearing an Apple Watch? It also raises the question of whether consumers 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, several startups are acting on the belief that AI-powered transcription is a key consumer use case for AI.