Writing this super quick before I go to bed, definitely as a note more than anything else, but it looks like semantic agents are coming down the pipeline.

Dezeen have reported on a ring you can speak to and give voice commands, probably for AI-powered assistants and that kind of thing.

From Dezeen:

The Wizpr ring proposes a new way of interacting with artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual assistants – by bringing a hand to the lips and unobtrusively speaking into it.

There is no need to push a button or use wake words, as the device is activated by a proximity sensor that detects when the ring is close to the user’s mouth.

According to VTouch, this recognition is immediate and terminated when the hand moves away, with none of the delay associated with wake words. The device will filter out background noise so the user doesn’t need to raise their voice and can even whisper.

The ring is designed to be used in conjunction with the user’s choice of earphones so that they can hear the responses from their AI assistants.

That kind of interaction reminds me of the Apple Watch. I had a Series 3 for 6 months and the most useful thing about it was asking Siri to do things for me when I didn’t have my phone nearby. Like adding a reminder, changing my Slack status or sending a text to someone (usually while washing the dishes).

So maybe this is…the Apple Ring? Although the article suggests they may be working on that anyway…

I’ve no idea how this will work. Presumably the ring connects to an app on your phone which either handles interfacing with a virtual assistant or AI.

It’d be nice if it let you choose which service to use, whether through your phone’s operating system or a cloud-based service of your choice. For example, I don’t mind passing everything to Siri because I have a shortcut where Siri will use ChatGPT if I ask it to.

It would suck if you had to use VTouch’s choice of virtual assistant or AI, and given how much the market is hotting up, it seems like it wouldn’t be sensible. Better to let users choose a service, be interoperable in some way. Be the bridge.

(I guess this is kind of part of a series on AI now, so I better tag my other posts in that topic.)