5d ago

Harvard dropouts to launch ‘always on’ AI smart glasses that listen and record every conversation

techcrunch.com Harvard dropouts to launch 'always on' AI smart glasses that listen and record every conversation | TechCrunch

After developing a facial-recognition app for Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses and doxing random people, two former Harvard students are now launching a startup that makes smart glasses with an always-on microphone.

Two former Harvard students are launching a pair of “always-on” AI-powered smart glasses that listen to, record, and transcribe every conversation and then display relevant information to the wearer in real time.

“Our goal is to make glasses that make you super intelligent the moment you put them on,” said AnhPhu Nguyen, co-founder of Halo, a startup that’s developing the technology.

Or, as his co-founder Caine Ardayfio put it, the glasses “give you infinite memory.”

“The AI listens to every conversation you have and uses that knowledge to tell you what to say … kinda like IRL Cluely,” Ardayfio told TechCrunch, referring to the startup that claims to help users “cheat” on everything from job interviews to school exams.

Technology @lemmy.world

Harvard dropouts to launch ‘always on’ AI smart glasses that listen and record every conversation

techcrunch.com /2025/08/20/harvard-dropouts-to-launch-always-on-ai-smart-glasses-that-listen-and-record-every-conversation/

197 50

Technology @lemmy.world

Harvard dropouts to launch ‘always on’ AI smart glasses that listen and record every conversation

techcrunch.com /2025/08/20/harvard-dropouts-to-launch-always-on-ai-smart-glasses-that-listen-and-record-every-conversation/

159 45

Privacy @programming.dev

Harvard dropouts to launch 'always on' AI smart glasses that listen and record every conversation | TechCrunch

techcrunch.com /2025/08/20/harvard-dropouts-to-launch-always-on-ai-smart-glasses-that-listen-and-record-every-conversation/

34 18

32 comments

Are they "drop outs" or were they 'asked' to leave the establishment?
- Thiel/Yarvin/ acolytes probably. I didn't look up who owns the VC funds but I expect no one not sociopathic.
  
  Does anyone not sociopathic own a VC fund?

Did we not fucking learn anything from Black Mirror?
"The Entire History of You?"
- Right wing people seem to have no media literacy.
  
  I wish someome would ELI5 media literacy. So if I see an article, but I can read between the lines and know what it really means, or that it is sensationalized click bait, am I media literate? Or does it mean I am aware of trackers and surveillance on everything? Does it mean I know to check international news sources to be more well rounded?
- Black mirror is no longer sci-fi. It is slowly becoming a documentary. - Louis Rossman
- People missed those are warnings. They have no imagination so they took those as advices or even manuals. In a sense, they learnt.

Ew, spyware. This def violates GDPR

“Our goal is to make glasses that make you super intelligent the moment you put them on,”
A bit too late guys, as glasses have always made anyone look super intelligent. If that wasn't the case, why would anyone want to wear them? Because that's the only reason I wear mine, and certainly not because I'm as blind as a bat when I don't.
More seriously, their plan is to kill IRL conversations by making it impossible to trust anyone we would directly talk to?
Impressive. Sad & frightening, but impressive.
Also, I wonder who they will blame the moment they realize the hell they will have made of everybody's interactions?
edit: typos
- Sucks for glasses wearers who are about to be having a lot of blurry conversations when everyone starts to tell everyone to take off their glasses before they talk.
  
  Yep, the first thing I imagined: how shitty would it be to not be able to see who I'm talking to... because I value my (and other's) privacy I would ask them to not wear their glasses and would not be wearing mine ;)

If their glasses make you "super intelligent" when you put them on, then maybe they should put on their own product and finish school? That was my line of thinking, until I got to this part of the article:
Ardayfio called the glasses “the first real step towards vibe thinking.”
...and then I realized I have no idea what the hell they're talking about and stopped reading.
- You won't even have to think anymore, let AI think for you!, you'll be thoughtless and content
- What the Hell even is that?

The sad thing is that people will buy this shit
- i'm glad that my own vanity will prevent me from getting these. lol

Didn't Google try this and canned the project after nobody wanted to wear them or be recorded all the time?
- There's a nice marketing explanation for it: https://youtube.com/shorts/moaeyoc2NI4

Seems likely to run afoul of two-party consent laws.
- “Move fast and break things” - arrogant fucks

TLDR; Two wannabe tech bros drop out of college to make yet another pair of smart glasses that will fail because nobody wants it.

LTT did a hands on with a similar product, the Frame by Brilliant Labs. It sucked.
I do not expect this to fare any better.

let me know when some dropout has an idea that's actually novel with sound engineering to back it up.

Is dropping out of Harvard considered something to brag about now?
- In the tech bro / VC world "Harvard Dropout" equates to an MD title in a hospital. It's instant credibility.

Are they trying to evoke the Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs vibe by saying Harvard dropouts? Do they not realize that those are HORRIBLE people no one should ever look up to?

literally them: 🤓

32 comments