{"id":304789,"date":"2025-11-21T08:10:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T08:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/304789\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T08:10:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T08:10:12","slug":"wireless-earbuds-are-going-off-the-rails-thanks-to-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/304789\/","title":{"rendered":"Wireless Earbuds Are Going Off the Rails Thanks to AI"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are a lot of wireless earbuds<\/a> in the world. I\u2019m not a genie or a demigod, so I can\u2019t tell you exactly how many, but I\u2019m just going to go with\u00a0a lot. And given that volume, you\u2019re probably assuming that there\u2019s also a lot of redundancy, which is absolutely true\u2026 to an extent. Despite how many pairs of interchangeable midrange active noise cancellation (ANC) wireless earbuds there are out there, diametrically, things have been going completely and absolutely off the f**king rails. I\u2019ll give you one guess why. Yup, that\u2019s it\u2026 you know the answer.<\/p>\n

If you guessed AI, congratulations, you\u2019ve read at least one tech story this year. Probably a Gizmodo one.<\/a><\/p>\n

AI is, like it has been in every other gadget on this increasingly toxic planet<\/a>, finding its way into more and more pairs of your wireless earbuds, and the results have been\u2026 interesting. Most pairs of AI-centric wireless earbuds seem to have their sights trained on one thing in particular: transcription. Like this Oso AI Earbuds pair that I reviewed earlier this year<\/a>, purveyors of AI wireless earbuds seem to be convinced that you want to walk around recording everything everyone says all the time. Hey, maybe you do! And if that\u2019s the case, go ahead and shoot me your name and a face picture so I can make sure to watch what I say around you.<\/p>\n

\"NothingNothing\u2019s Ear A were among the first to integrate ChatGPT, and since then, things have gotten pretty wacky. \u00a9 Raymond Wong \/ Gizmodo <\/p>\n

Most AI wireless earbuds of this ilk offer the ability to both record and transcribe in a companion app<\/a>, so you\u2019ll never forget anything ever again. On one hand, that ability could be useful for meetings or organization, or if you\u2019re a journalist like me and need to capture what people say for work purposes. On the other hand, you could definitely just pick up your phone instead of buying an entirely new gadget.<\/p>\n

To get around that fairly conversation-ending fact, there are some pushing the AI wireless earbuds envelope even further, purporting to offer LTE connectivity. This pair, called the Moboi TicNote Pods, from a Kickstarter,<\/a> for example, claims to be the first AI notetaking wireless earbuds with a 4G mobile connection. Why\u00a0would you want such a thing? Well, you probably don\u2019t, but if you did, it\u2019d be because you can theoretically use them for AI transcription and summaries without relying on a phone. You heard it here first: you can throw your phone straight in the trash.<\/p>\n

Transcription buds might be the most popular iteration of AI wireless audio, but they\u2019re not the only ones. Some startups are pushing things even further. Why stop at AI features? Why not go full-on AI gadget<\/a> by shoving an \u201cagentic computer\u201d in your ear? That\u2019s what this company, called iyO,<\/a> is pitching, and the results look borderline ridiculous. iyO\u2019s gadget, the iyO One, consists of not only an ear tip that is supposed to be custom-fitted to your ear, but also a tri-driver audio system, and then, the grand finale, an \u201caudio computer disc,\u201d which it claims has processing, memory, and microphones all built in.<\/p>\n

When iyO says it wants you to put a computer in your ear, it seemingly means it, too. The iyO One apparently has a 4nm quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 chip, an option for LTE, and 32GB of LPDDR4 RAM. What are you supposed to do with all that? Kind of the same stuff you\u2019re supposed to do with other AI wireless earbuds, including transcription, translation, and searching the web. As a nice treat, iyO also says its AI wireless earbuds (or I guess earbud singular) can give you super hearing thanks to a lot of beamforming mics and (duh) AI.<\/p>\n

Live in high fidelity. #iyO<\/a> #iyOOne<\/a> #iyOAudio<\/a> #LiveFully<\/a> #HighFidelity<\/a> #Explore<\/a> #BePresent<\/a> #SoundOfNature<\/a> #Adventure<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/50lOZfmqVw<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 iyo.ai (@iyo_audio) September 10, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

This is all to say that things have been escalating in the AI wireless earbuds world, which makes London-based audio\/phone company Nothing and its incorporation of ChatGPT<\/a> in the Ear-series buds from way back in 2024 feel quaint. Bigger companies like Google are also getting in on the action peripherally with features like hands-free Gemini Live, though they haven\u2019t gone full-tilt into remarketing the Pixel Buds<\/a> as \u201cAI earbuds\u201d quite yet.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to be surprised about a trend like this since AI is (for better and often worse) all the rage these days, but it\u2019s also unique in just how far the needle has been pushed. If I were a betting man, I\u2019d bet you should buckle up, too, because as long as AI remains a buzzword, you\u2019re going to keep seeing it shoehorned into your favorite gadgets. Call me old-fashioned, but I personally like my wireless earbuds to have hi-fi sound<\/a>, great ANC<\/a>, and solid battery life, but maybe I\u2019m just out of touch. I guess you can just tap me on the shoulder when the AI earbud revolution rolls around; I won\u2019t be able to hear your impassioned news with my antiquated, non-AI-centric earbuds shoved in my luddite ears.<\/p>\n