The word \u201cvibe\u201d gets overused these days, but in that weird Brooklyn TV studio, I felt a palpable vibe shift in mobile computing. Especially with wearables. Where think<\/a> pieces<\/a> and online discourse<\/a> used to argue that wearables were dead, the category is now being positioned as a vanguard for AI.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first 15 years of wearables were very much, \u2018gather data, the quantified self.\u2019 That\u2019s where Fitbit started,\u201d explains Sandeep Waraich, Google\u2019s product lead for Pixel wearables. \u201cIt was episodic data and that\u2019s fast moving to continuous insights because data only goes so far. It\u2019s moving from highly generic to something very personal.\u201d<\/p>\n You can see where this is all going. Wearables generate a ton of data. It\u2019s a lot harder than it sounds to find actionable insights in a way that\u2019s digestible and keeps people engaged long-term. It\u2019s the sort of task that AI would theoretically be good at \u2014 which is why you see every fitness tracker and app on the market hopping on the bandwagon.<\/p>\n At the same time, as Waraich describes it, wearables are the \u201conly one device in our computing lives that is guaranteed on-body presence.\u201d Your phone may seem like it\u2019s glued to your hand, but even it might be left behind on a table, stashed in a purse, or turned off at a show. If you want the most personalized, always-available AI assistant, it has to know absolutely everything there is to know about you. Is there a better way to do that than to be on you?<\/p>\n The problem with AI hardware is that we\u2019re in the spaghetti stage. No one knows what the winning formula is, and so every idea under the sun is going to get thrown at the wall until something sticks. You have your always-listening life recorders that purport to be your second memory. Meta\u2019s hypothesis is that multimodal smart glasses are the platonic ideal gateway to AI. Jony Ive and Sam Altman can afford to be hyper vague about whatever project they\u2019re working on because anything they say at this point could be correct.<\/p>\n But to hear Google tell it, no one form factor is going to reign supreme.<\/p>\n \u201cAny religion you have now is probably premature,\u201d says Rishi Chandra, Google\u2019s VP of Fitbit and Health, when I ask what form factors Google is betting on for Gemini. \u201cThere\u2019s no doubt in my mind, there\u2019s going to be new form factors that will exist. But I think it\u2019s too early to have conviction. What\u2019s interesting is the AI is moving so fast that any point of view you have on the hardware could change very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s interesting is the AI is moving so fast that any point of view you have on the hardware could change very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead, Chandra says Google\u2019s leaning into the spaghetti-ness of it all. Some of that is an openness to experimentation. You only need to look at Android XR, its nascent platform for smart glasses, to see that. The other half is to \u201cmaximize the devices you already have.\u201d The phone is a starting point. The smartwatch and earbuds are natural extensions, but the full potential of AI hardware has yet to be unlocked. The hope, Waraich says, is that by experimenting and maximizing, you end up with a winning combination that hasn\u2019t been seen just yet.<\/p>\n \u201cThe future will be a very diverse set of accessories that people may choose to have that work for them, that\u2019s personalized for them, in their environment and what they care about,\u201d explains Chandra. \u201cOur job is to make it all work [together] so it doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n Waraich agrees. Google, he says, views these overall shifts aligning nicely with its vision for ambient computing, a world where your devices fade into the background, autonomously and proactively answering your every need. (When you walk into a room, for example, your AI lightbulbs might switch to a mellower setting because they can speak to your phone, on which you just texted a friend to say you have a migraine.) But ambient computing will never be unlocked if there\u2019s only one all-powerful gadget. It also won\u2019t work if these gadgets don\u2019t \u201cspeak\u201d a common language. So why wouldn\u2019t Google pitch Gemini as the glue holding it all together? If Gemini becomes the must-have AI, and it\u2019s primarily baked into Google hardware \u2014 perhaps that\u2019s how you really get people to stop caring about green bubbles.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not enough to just have smartwatches\u2026<\/p>\n or earbuds\u2026<\/p>\n or a phone. You\u2019ll need them all and they\u2019ll all have AI.<\/p>\n Some of this shift is because the smartphone is almost 20 years old. A gadget that once inspired awe, these days phones feel more like a Toyota Camry than a Ferrari. Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg said last year that the \u201cexciting times are over\u201d<\/a> and that many people are keeping their phones for three years or more. These numbers fluctuate depending on region and demographic, but Big Tech has publicly admitted that people just aren\u2019t upgrading their phones as often as they used to<\/a>.<\/p>\n Viewed from that lens, the push toward AI hardware begins to make sense. It just feels out of sync with what people tell me they want. Google\u2019s executives tell me the point of Gemini (and AI in general) is to make people\u2019s lives easier, to return their time to them. It\u2019s a noble quest that seemingly aligns with the exhaustion people feel from the always-on modern life. But even if I can see Google\u2019s vision, even if I genuinely see the value in parts of it \u2014 it\u2019s hard to square how adding more gadgets with more AI addresses that existential fatigue.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, this is the bet that Google\u2019s going all in on. It\u2019s why the Pixel 10 and Pixel Watch 4 feel like such opinionated devices in a landscape of iterative updates. I\u2019d argue that\u2019s also why we\u2019re seeing smart rings gain traction, and why Meta\u2019s seeing hardware success with its smart glasses after years of failing to convince people to care about the metaverse. Everyone\u2019s looking for the next turn in the story, and for now, it\u2019s converging on AI wearables. Many, many of them.<\/p>\n 23 Comments<\/a>Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Victoria SongClose Senior Reviewer, Wearable Tech<\/p>\n Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n PlusFollow<\/p>\n See All by Victoria Song<\/a><\/p>\n AICloseAI<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n PlusFollow<\/p>\n See All AI<\/a><\/p>\n GadgetsCloseGadgets<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n PlusFollow<\/p>\n See All Gadgets<\/a><\/p>\n GoogleCloseGoogle<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n PlusFollow<\/p>\n See All Google<\/a><\/p>\n ReportCloseReport<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n PlusFollow<\/p>\n See All Report<\/a><\/p>\n TechCloseTech<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n PlusFollow<\/p>\n![\"Google](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/dsc00946.jpg\"\/)
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