The Rewind Pendant is a microphone you can wear around your neck to record and transcribe yourself and your conversations. Privacy raises questions.
The idea behind the unusual tech pendant is that you can focus more on the moment, knowing that all your information is at your fingertips. Rewind can imagine use cases like this:
Use cases
- Forget what your spouse just asked you to pick up at the grocery store?
- At an all-day conference and want to share summaries with your co-workers?
- Be more present in your day-to-day and bookmark moments for later.
- Automatic todo list generation whenever you verbally commit to doing something to someone else.
- Have an exciting idea while going for a walk or driving and want to remember it for later? Just talk to yourself.
- Insights into your life: What are you doing when your voice sounds the most excited? When are you the most grumpy? What are most common filler words?
- Capture the incredible things your young kids say so you can replay them later and reminisce (“Daddy, I plugged it in. Can you plug it out?”).
According to Rewind, all recordings are stored locally on the smartphone, which is presumably paired via Bluetooth, so the company can't access it either. Optionally, you can also synchronize your own data between multiple devices via an end-to-end encrypted cloud.
Rewind AI's Pendant raises questions about consent in an age of wearable tech
Rewind AI's mission is to digitally record our lives and unburden our memories. Its software for Mac, iOS, and soon Windows, released a few months ago, has already made headlines by recording everything that happens on digital devices. The Rewind Pendant would be the first step from the virtual to the real world.
Unsurprisingly, the announcement of a device that can record anything and everything has not just been met with enthusiasm. On Twitter, app entrepreneur Sebastiaan de With took a satirical look at the Pendant and designed an iOS notification that warns against recording by "creepy AI wearables".
Coming soon to iOS: Warnings when creepy AI wearables are recording your voice. pic.twitter.com/xig8yz4xkD
— Sebastiaan de With (@sdw) October 3, 2023
Rewind's FAQ on the Pendant landing page is the first to answer the question of how to handle the whole consent issue, but the answer is vague.
What about consent?
We offer features for you to ensure no one is recorded without their consent.
FAQ from Rewind Pendant
Pre-orders are $59
The startup has not yet committed to a release date for Rewind Pendant. The project is still in the early stages of development. Pre-orders are priced at $59. If it turns out to be less, the company will refund the difference.
According to Rewind AI, the money will not be part of the company's funding. In total, the company has raised more than $33 million from investors such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and says it will have $25 million in assets by October 2023, enough for six years of operations. The pre-orders are intended to help gauge demand and give early adopters priority delivery.
