This is a great AI voice recorder, and it’s totally doomed

Kudos to Plaud for 1 thing: successful a twelvemonth different marred by high-profile failures and ohio truthful overmuch AI vaporware, it made an AI gadget that does precisely what it claims to do and does it beautiful well. The gadget is called the NotePin, and it’s a $169, pill-shaped sound recorder that tin transcribe, summarize, and propulsion important accusation retired of your audio. This is thing existent AI systems tin really do well! There’s bully and mature tech astatine each measurement on nan pipeline here, from mini microphones to speech-to-text transcription to natural-language processing and AI summarization. The NotePin does it well.

But nan logic nan NotePin useful is besides nan logic I wouldn’t urge buying one. AI sound signaling is awesome and useful and being commoditized astatine an perfectly blistering pace. With iOS 18 aliases macOS Sequoia, you get transcriptions and summarization built into nan Voice Memos app. Google’s Pixel Recorder app is terrific and is built into some nan Pixel phones and nan Pixel Watch. You tin besides get akin features from tons of apps. Do you request a dedicated sound recorder?

This is, of course, nan eternal mobility astir AI assistants arsenic a whole. Are they a characteristic of your existing devices aliases a gadget class unto themselves? Plaud’s statement for dedicated hardware is astir nan aforesaid arsenic each nan different AI startups: that easiness of usage is everything. The NotePin’s accessories are halfway to its appeal: there’s a braided lanyard truthful you tin deterioration it astir your neck, a wristband truthful you tin deterioration it Fitbit-style connected your arm, and a clip truthful you tin put it almost anyplace else. 

In my clip testing nan NotePin, I’ve mostly had it astir my neck, and I’ve utilized it to statement reminders while driving, ramble agelong ideas to myself while stepping nan dog, and summarize calls and conversations. It’s surely useful being capable to conscionable scope down, property nan NotePin until it vibrates to bespeak it’s recording, and past yammer distant astatine thing while my necklace dutifully listens. Once, erstwhile I was peculiarly enjoying a podcast, I conscionable played nan full point connected speaker truthful nan NotePin would transcribe and summarize it. The NotePin is easier to entree than my telephone successful my pocket, and it’s decidedly simpler than holding my wrist successful beforehand of my rima for minutes astatine a clip while shouting into my watch. The shape facet decidedly matters.

The NotePin’s mic is perfectly fine: nan audio it records ne'er sounds amazing, but successful each realistic script I tried, it was bully capable for coagulated transcription. Plaud estimates nan device’s artillery lasts for astir 18 hours of signaling aliases 30 days of standby time, and successful my testing, I’ve done astir 4 hours of signaling complete astir 10 days, and nan artillery conscionable deed “Low.” The NotePin charges connected a mini pad, which I’m assured I’m going to suffer very soon, and I wish it was conscionable a elemental USB-C plug. But look: nan point works. It does what it says connected nan tin.

The awesome problem pinch nan NotePin, and frankly each different AI gadget, is that it’s not useful capable connected nan different side. Once you’ve made immoderate recordings pinch nan NotePin, you import them into nan Plaud app, which is comparatively speedy and simple. But past you person to spell into each signaling and manually show nan app to transcribe it, prime a “template” you want to usage for really it’s summarized, and past travel backmost a fewer minutes later to spot what it came up with. (You get 300 monthly minutes of transcriptions and basal templates for free, aliases for $80 a year, you get 1,200 and much templates and features.) That’s excessively overmuch engaged work. Plus, really overmuch effort americium I really redeeming if I person to propulsion retired my telephone — twice! — anyway?

The transcriptions are good, and nan summaries are helpful, and truthful far, I haven’t had immoderate immense mistakes aliases hallucinations. But erstwhile they’re done, they conscionable unrecorded successful reverse-chronological bid successful nan Plaud app. The app correctly noted that 1 of my recordings was a reminder to bargain retinol; it didn’t punctual maine of anything. It conscionable made nan title “Reminder to bargain retinol.” When I wandered my room speaking a market database into nan NotePin, nan app accurately transcribed that database for maine but conscionable titled nan statement “Grocery List pinch Various Food Items and Household Essentials.” 

It’s not really nan NotePin’s responsibility that it can’t do much than move my nonsensical ramblings into matter files. It’s not Plaud’s fault, either. It’s conscionable that what I really want — and what should really hap — is for it to return that market database and adhd it to nan market database I already person connected my phone. It should adhd that reminder to my to-do list. At nan very least, nan app should beryllium capable to harvester my market database statement pinch my other grocery database note, but it can’t do that, either. Ultimately, nary matter what you’re recording, likelihood are you want to do something pinch it afterward, and Plaud simply can’t do astir of those things. Eventually, nan Plaud app conscionable began to consciousness for illustration different inbox I needed to check. 

All that is why your telephone aliases smartwatch might beryllium insurmountable foes successful nan AI adjunct wars. They mightiness beryllium marginally little convenient — you person to propulsion it retired of your pouch alternatively of conscionable reaching down to your thorax — but they’re acold much connected pinch nan remainder of your integer life. Building your full world astir a transcription app conscionable doesn’t make immoderate sense.

It’s possible, complete time, that these things could go much open. Apple and Google could unfastened up APIs that let AI assistants to interact pinch nan different apps connected your phone, aliases theoretically, nan assistants could get smart capable to conscionable interact pinch nan apps connected your behalf. Lots of developers are moving connected some options. But arsenic it stands correct now, nan Plauds and Humanes and Rabbits of nan world conscionable can’t do enough. AI sound recorders are a awesome thought — but they’re not a caller benignant of gadget.