A new category of AI wearables emerged at CES 2026, bringing in the impressive size of small tech devices, but also many concerns and questions.
Do you have a right to privacy in public spaces? We are all aware that most of our actions outside of our homes are being recorded, but there are some public spaces in which privacy should be a given. You shouldn’t worry that your doctor is recording your appointment without your permission or that another person in a public restroom is recording with video and audio in the space. These concerns haven’t stopped tech companies from moving forward with AI wearables at CES 2026.
Lifelogging devices and screenless wearables take center stage
From jewelry that auto-journals your life to clips that record every conversation, screenless AI wearables made a big comeback at CES 2026. Lenovo was at the center of the show with various devices to show off its proof of concept. Whether it’s a piece of Nirva AI jewelry or a card-shaped device that clips to your phone, these tiny devices are designed to help with recall and as memory aids by recording what you see and hear, including phone conversations. The goal is for you to get a daily recap, which could come in handy if you attend several meetings, but are privacy tradeoffs worth the daily recap?
The SwitchBot AI MindClip is a second brain
The AI wearables that have become a huge hit at CES 2026 can give you an AI daily recap, which can be extremely helpful for some professionals. The AI MindClip, made by SwitchBot, records and summarizes your conversations to ensure you remember important details of the conversation. Some professionals who attend several meetings, receive various work-related phone calls throughout the day, or have appointments can enjoy using these devices and the summaries provided, which can make them more productive at the end of the day. A recording device that can also summarize your day could be extremely useful, making it easy to remember important details without going through the whole conversation again.
What is the target audience for AI wearables presented at CES 2026
The customer base for these small recording AI devices has been the expected crowd of sales professionals, business consultants, doctors, and medical professionals, to name a few. These devices have the potential to make a huge difference for these industries, and they are the target audience. It could be beneficial for these items to be used in classrooms, especially at the university level, where students need to remember lectures and take notes. The devices used could summarize the lecture, making it much easier to gather the necessary information. There’s no denying that a market for such devices exists; recording devices have been used in meetings and classrooms for decades, and AI wearables seem to be a simple transition to modern times, but there are serious concerns.
Wearable privacy concerns are going to be a serious roadblock
If the market for AI wearables were limited to professionals and students with monitored and restricted use, they might not present many privacy concerns. Additionally, dressing them up as pieces of jewelry, small card-shaped items that can be hidden, or any other small device that can be covered or hidden, shows a target market of a nefarious sort. There’s nothing stopping users from recording conversations they shouldn’t be listening to, taking videos of private moments, and posting private information in a public manner. People should have the right to privacy in some spaces, and making wearable recording devices that remove that right to privacy is problematic.
Imagine these wearables in the hands of teenagers
The criminal aspect of spying, recording, and gathering information is certainly one concern with the AI wearables presented at CES 2026, but another concern should have parents in a panic. Imagine a video and audio recording device that looks like a pendant on a necklace being taken into a school locker room where students are changing for gym class, athletic events, or using the restroom. This is a recipe for disastrous trouble for the wearer and those they record.
The advancement in technology is admirable, and there’s certainly a market for AI wearables in some places. When recording a conversation, everyone involved should be made aware of the recording and have the right to disallow the recording. That won’t be the case when those being recorded are completely unaware that the device is present, or that everything they say and do can be broadcast online. Maybe this technology needs to be pulled back or restricted so that it doesn’t end up causing problems.
