AI wearables that always listen can break wiretap laws

Amazon launched two AI wearables, the Bee Frontier and the Bee Eclipse, on Thursday. Apple showed the Apple Watch Series 12 in September. Lawyers say that devices which listen all the time and make summaries can break wiretap laws, also when they keep no audio. The user can have the risk, not the maker. No court has decided this question.

What is new

The two Amazon devices record the day of a user and examine it. Apple says that Siri Recap makes summaries of conversations all day. Other devices are:

• Meta smart glasses that make photos and video
• Plaud and Pocket card devices that record notes
• The Friend AI necklace

The legal question

Apple says that the function does not keep audio, send recordings to its servers or use a human reviewer. Amazon says that it does not keep audio from Bee devices. But many state laws look at if the contents of a private conversation were acquired, not if audio was saved.

Colin Zick, a privacy lawyer at Foley Hoag, says that such a device can break the law, also when it keeps no audio.

Who has the risk

Daniel Pi is a law professor at the University of New Hampshire. Pi believes that the Apple Watch functions are interception in the law of New Hampshire. Pi says that a user there can face civil or criminal liability. Pi also says that prosecution is very unlikely when no one is harmed.

Michael Stokes of Veilant says that a person near a device can be recorded if the person has no device.

What to do

Leaders can find out which of these devices staff use at work. Then a lawyer can tell which laws apply.