Eavesdropping as a Feature: Meta Buys AI Wearables Company

Hardware, specifically a kind of necklace or brooch that records all conversations. Rewind, now known as Limitless, offered this. Now, sales are being discontinued. Meta has acquired Limitless and is apparently responsible for this decision.

Customers, who apparently actually existed for such a device, will continue to receive support for the time being – but for a limited period. They will no longer have to pay subscription fees. The software, sold under the name Rewind, will no longer be available. It could record all computer activities and thus make them searchable. Microsoft had planned something similar with Recall and launched it in a stripped-down version after protests. Recall takes screenshots on demand instead of simply automatically every few seconds. These can then be searched using AI.

The acquisition is announced by Limitless on their website. Co-founder Dan Siroker writes there that times have changed since the company was founded five years ago. Back then, nobody expected the advances in AI and hardware. They were pretty much alone with their crazy idea. Now there are apparently too many competitors who are bigger. Meta's vision is to bring personal superintelligence to everyone – and wearables are part of this vision. So far, however, Meta has been working more on AI glasses than on brooches. Similar startups like Humans AI Pin and the Rabbit r1 have already crashed and burned with this.

Reasons for Acquisition Unclear

Since Meta has now also immediately stopped selling the small devices, the question arises as to what the actual plan behind the acquisition is. In Silicon Valley, it is not uncommon to acquire companies so that competition does not arise from them. Certainly, the technology, the continuous recording and evaluation of conversations, and the experience gained from it can be helpful for Meta.

Those who are concerned about their data can delete and export it. The extent to which Meta has access to this is unclear.

(emw)