Apple develops AI wearable pin with cameras to compete with OpenAI, targeting 2027 launch

Reviewed byNidhi Govil

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Apple is fast-tracking development of an AirTag-sized AI pin equipped with cameras and microphones, planning to ship 20 million units as early as 2027. The move comes as the company races to compete with OpenAI's upcoming hardware device and addresses criticism over its slow AI progress, while also partnering with Google's Gemini to overhaul Siri into a generative AI chatbot.

Apple AI Wearable Takes Shape as Competition Intensifies

Apple is developing an AI wearable pin that could launch as soon as 2027, according to sources familiar with the project who spoke with The Information

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. The AI-powered wearable pin device is described as a thin, flat, circular disc with an aluminum-and-glass shell, roughly the same size as an AirTag but slightly thicker

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. This camera-equipped AI pin will feature two cameras—one standard lens and one wide-angle—alongside three microphones, a speaker, and a single physical button along its edges

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. The device will use magnetic inductive wireless charging similar to the Apple Watch

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Source: Analytics Insight

Source: Analytics Insight

Apple has reportedly fast-tracked the product to compete with OpenAI, which announced plans to release its first AI hardware device in the second half of this year

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. OpenAI's device is rumored to be a collaboration with Jony Ive, Apple's former design chief who shaped iconic products like the iPhone

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. The company plans to manufacture 20 million units at launch, suggesting Apple does not expect the device to achieve immediate sensational success like AirPods did

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Why Cameras Matter for Apple's AI Strategy

The AirTag-sized AI wearable addresses a critical gap in Apple's hardware lineup: the absence of an outward-facing camera for AI applications

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. Cameras serve as the key ingredient for AI services that need to provide feedback on what users see in their environment, not just respond to voice commands. The microphones and cameras on the AI pin will capture and catalog faces, voices, traffic, and signs, potentially reminding users of names, counting calories, or providing contextual information

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This approach could create a display-free AI experience that bypasses the need for smart glasses, at least in the near term

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. Apple's wearable ecosystem gives it an advantage over competing AI wearable contenders, particularly when combined with gesture-enabled AirPods and Apple Watches that already support taps and wrist movements

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. The company is also expected to compete with Meta in the emerging smart glasses market, where more than two million pairs of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have already been sold

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Learning from Humane AI's Spectacular Failure

The AI pin concept invites inevitable comparisons to Humane AI's failed device, which launched to devastating reviews in 2024 before the company shut down operations and sold its assets to HP for $116 million in early 2025

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. YouTuber Marques Brownlee called the Humane AI Pin "the worst product I've ever reviewed," citing sluggish performance and poor battery life

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. Apple could potentially address these shortcomings by offloading processing to a synced external device like an iPhone, though sources did not specify whether this is the plan or if it will be a standalone device

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Source: Engadget

Source: Engadget

Privacy Concerns and Social Acceptance Challenges

Privacy concerns remain the most pressing challenge for AI wearables. Google Glass turned wearers into walking surveillance systems in the early 2010s, creating social tension so high that "Glassholes" were banned from cinemas and bars

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. University of Washington law professor Ryan Calo told Reuters in 2013 that "the face is a really intimate place, and to have a piece of technology on it is unsettling"

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. Wearing such a device pulls everyone around you into your data collection stream, where private moments could be recorded and eventually used to train future language models.

As privacy philosopher Helen Nissenbaum noted in a 2011 paper, when information flow violates "entrenched norms," the result is predictable: "protest and complaint"

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. Apple's reputation as the "adult in the room" of tech may help build trust, but social acceptance will ultimately depend on usefulness and clear boundaries around data collection

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Generative AI Overhaul for Siri Signals Broader Push

The AI pin development coincides with Apple's partnership with Google to integrate Gemini language models into a generative AI overhaul for Siri

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. Bloomberg reports that Apple will transform Siri into an AI chatbot built into the iPhone, iPad, and Mac by September

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. This move addresses internal turmoil over Apple AI, where former AI lead John Giannandrea's conservative approach failed to produce a usable, true LLM-based Siri or other products analysts expected would keep Apple competitive with other Big Tech companies

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Source: Wccftech

Source: Wccftech

Gemini already powers live and camera-assisted AI features that Google and Samsung will deploy on a new wave of smart glasses this year, and Apple could integrate similar capabilities across its Vision Pro headset and other devices

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. The company is also planning other AI-driven products including smart glasses and an in-home smart display

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. Meanwhile, Amazon acquired Bee, maker of a Fitbit-like AI wristband, and Meta acquired Limitless, a startup with a conversational AI pendant, signaling that the AI hardware device market is heating up across the industry

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