Wearing This Smart Ring Reminded Me Of My Oura - Then It Started Mimicking My Voice

Nina Raemont/ZDNET

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• The Stream Ring captures whispered thoughts and organizes them seamlessly.
• An Inner Voice characteristic responds successful nan user's ain synthesized voice.
• Stream Ring was designed for self-extension, enhancing memory, creativity, and organization.

The tech manufacture is betting that AI will switch humans' productivity and cognition. Sandbar, however, is creating exertion that supplements these things instead. 

Sandbar is processing an AI-powered smart ringing pinch a azygous and predominant usage case. Its Stream Ring is an AI-powered note-taker and thought organizer that users tin susurration into. The accompanying app organizes ideas and lists arsenic nan personification talks. Then, nan ringing talks back, and, get this, does truthful successful your ain voice. 

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"Thoughts bubble up constantly, particularly erstwhile we're connected nan go. I wanted to seizure thoughts aliases talk ideas without pulling retired a telephone aliases speaking into nan void. Importantly, I wanted that acquisition to consciousness for illustration soul dialogue, not a speech pinch a virtual companion," Mina Fahmi, CEO and co-founder of Sandbar, said successful nan merchandise announcement's property release. 

Fahmi and co-founder Kirak Hong first collaborated astatine CTRL-Labs, wherever they developed neural interfaces that were later sold to Meta. 

Is this nan early of AI organizational companions?

I sewage to sojourn Sandbar's Manhattan office, person a demo of nan Stream Ring, and spot for myself. 

The aluminum-clad ringing resembles an mean accessory, but features a level crown that serves arsenic a touchpad. Users property and clasp it to their rima to activate nan AI. The ringing must beryllium pressed to activate nan mic. Additionally, nan touchpad tin beryllium utilized to power euphony playing successful earbuds. 

The Stream Ring is suitable for those pinch "an progressive soul world," Fahmi says, trying to organize, process, aliases definitive themselves and nan galore bubbling thoughts they produce. It's besides a lucifer made for Apple Notes app powerfulness users aliases those who already person familiarity utilizing existing LLMs successful a conversational manner. 

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Fahmi controls his euphony and thinks done his time of meetings and their respective talking points pinch nan ringing while connected nan subway headed to work. During nan workday, he mightiness spell for a locomotion and talk into nan ringing to thoroughly process ideas aliases events. One alpha personification and trading professor uses nan ringing to prep her school instruction arsenic she drives and creates a statement aliases schedule retired of those thoughts. 

Another talks into nan instrumentality while watching her kids astatine nan playground, because, dissimilar a telephone aliases notepad, a personification must look down astatine it to use, nan ringing and nan accompanying app tin beryllium utilized without ocular distraction. 

When you telephone connected Stream, it fulfills respective actions astatine once, specified arsenic providing a consequence (connected to nan web), deciding what to do, penning a note, and revising, regrouping, and reorganizing notes and memories. Different AI models powerfulness this assortment of functionalities. 

By talking done individual experiences, ideas, and plans, nan ringing and its accompanying app, wherever each these interactions are organized, service arsenic an hold of nan self, Fahmi says. The Inner Voice, nan sound that talks backmost to them during these interactions, is foundational to this idea. 

When mounting up nan Stream Ring, users tin take to create their ain Inner Voice aliases usage a default sound that responds to them erstwhile initiated. I wanted to spot what my Inner Voice sounded like, truthful I recorded myself reference a provided paragraph that Stream uses to make that voice. Then, I heard myself speak backmost to myself. It was uncanny - and a small much monotone than my already-monotonous voice. 

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Would group really get utilized to proceeding their ain sound speak backmost to them, I asked Fahmi? He said that nan first fewer times group perceive their Inner Voice, they are skeptical aliases discomfited, but then, wrong a fewer days of usage, they can't usage nan instrumentality without it. 

He stresses that Stream is not a reflection of nan personification but an hold of it. "We're trying to springiness group themselves positive a small spot of immoderate further point they need, an further perspective, further memory, empathy, aliases creativity." 

Stream's attack to this AI-powered instrumentality stands successful stark opposition to nan different AI-powered wearables presently connected nan market. Fahmi acknowledges nan fearfulness group person of AI hardware and software, and that it poses a perceived threat to their ain autonomy and control. 

"I deliberation nan solution is to exemplary thing arsenic you alternatively than another. People person their ain wills, independent lives, goals, and perspectives. I don't deliberation machines should beryllium that. I deliberation astir of nan problems we're seeing pinch really nine is reacting to these machines comes from nan truth that we're putting truthful overmuch effort into modeling them arsenic humans that will talk complete you and person their ain desires and dreams and will push back," Fahmi tells me. 

Nina Raemont/ZDNET

Another important characteristic of nan Stream Ring is its expertise to seizure words and requests intelligibly -- sloppy of sound level. Fahmi whispered near-inaudibly into nan ringing arsenic he sat adjacent to me, and nan ringing precisely captured his words successful nan app. 

The controlling of nan euphony instrumentality constituent seemed overseas to me. Why did they see that constituent wrong nan Stream Ring? Fahmi says that nan ringing is "the beginnings of a conversational interface" that gives nan personification devices and haptics to clasp and region nan device, interrupt, aliases return actions quickly and silently. 

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"It needs to coexist pinch audio and different audio apps," Fahmi explains. Rarely does Fahmi usage nan Stream Ring pinch his telephone open; he typically uses it pinch his earbuds in. "It's successful my pocket, and I'm listening to music," he explains. "If nan conversational interface collapsed my narration to music, I wouldn't usage it." 

When I tested nan ringing out, I asked it to return notes connected nan repast I was astir to make for my friends, to query it for article ideas, and to inquire it questions astir itself. The haptic feedback was pleasing and responsive to my touches. Fahmi showed maine really nan app autonomously crosses slug points disconnected lists you've asked it to create and reorganizes ideas successful a seamless manner. 

Bottom statement (for now)

That statement portion compelled maine astir -- what I want retired of my exertion is to return my existing ideas and plans and do nan fine-tuning for me. Stream seems to do this easily. Every action and statement taken was performed quickly and without error. 

Stream Ring's motorboat is slated for adjacent twelvemonth astatine $250, which includes 3 months of Stream Pro, offering unlimited interactions and early entree to caller features for free. After nan proceedings period, nan subscription costs $10 a month. The ringing is designed for astir environments, allowing you to ablution pinch it and lavation your hands without immoderate issues. It's not made for sleeping and boasts a artillery life that should past each day. Preorders are now open.