Something remarkable happened the other day: I tried an AI device I didn’t instinctively loathe. It was a smart ring, created by two former Meta Platforms Inc. employees, that finally met some of the key criteria I think about when it comes to wearable tech and artificial intelligence, an intersection already fraught with failure and no shortage of justifiable anger.
Let’s call it the Molotov’s Test — the likelihood of attracting unwanted attention as a result of using wearable technology, so-named after one of San Francisco’s best dive bars, where a wearer of the much-maligned Google Glass headset was harassed in 2014. Of course, that’s not to be condoned. But the Molotov’s Test serves as a useful starting framework: I don’t think any new device can go mainstream without passing it.