When the AI assistant talks back to you, it’ll sound eerily like your own voice—just like your inner monologue. During setup, you’ll be asked to say a few phrases, and the app will process that data and generate a voice that sounds very similar to your own. (This is powered by generative AI models from ElevenLabs.) I tried this out, and it indeed sounded like me, just slightly off—a bit deeper than my already-deep voice—which Fahmi says is intentional. There will be other voices you can choose if you don’t want to hear a weird version of yourself.
You can use it to simply ask a question as you would run a Google Search. (During my demo, the ring didn’t have real-time internet access; Fahmi assures me it will have it when the product ships.) In usage so far by a close-knit group with demo rings, Fahmi says there’s about 20 percent note-creation, 20 percent single queries, and 60 percent conversation. That means most of the people testing the ring right now are having more back-and-forth conversations with the Stream Ring, whether that’s a discussion around the optimal plants to place in the backyard or prepping for a job interview you’re heading to.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
Fahmi says the ring has “all-day” battery life, and there’s a nifty little charger you can place the ring on to top it up, though that’s a far shorter window than most smart rings that promise multiple days or even a week of run time. That’s likely because you’re interacting with the Stream Ring far more frequently, and many other smart rings just passively track your health. There’ll be a desktop interface to access your notes, the ability to share notes with other people, and create time-based reminders.
“One way that we view this is that it’s the lowest friction interface to thought,” Fahmi says. “You can begin to do a lot of interesting things with that, like a running log of things you’ve eaten, or workouts you’re planning. For some people, rather than tracking their heart rate, they want to track their thoughts, and this is a particularly powerful tool for that.”
Thought Ring
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
It’s a complicated time for AI chatbots. There’s an uptick in people claiming AI psychosis after conversations with ChatGPT. More recently, the company behind the always-listening Friend AI pendant saw its subway ads defaced by New Yorkers. Fahmi doesn’t want you to think of the Stream Ring as a friend, but as an extension of yourself. The Stream Ring isn’t an always-listening wearable—you decide when you want to talk to it. “You have to be in control; you can’t just ambiently record everything,” he says.